The legacy of past disturbance can shape forest structure, dynamics, and biomass. Reconstructing the history of forests development can be accomplished through tree-ring analysis. However, there are limitations in these data. However, the tree-ring record is limited in revealing how mortality events or natural thinning influence forests because they might not fully capture the missing or ‘ghost trees’ that have faded from the forest without leaving a strong signal in living trees. The PalEON team is working on a sampling protocol to better understand the ghost tree issue. One way we are trying to better understand the uncertainties of ghost trees is to compare tree-ring records to repeated measures from plots in the Harvard Forest (HF) established in 1969. Of the two most important species in the HF plots, Acer rubrum experienced increased growth in the 1940s, a decline in the late-1960s, and reduced growth since the 1990s while Quercus rubra data contain only the 1940s event. Both species impacted by gypsy moth defoliation in 1981 and show a brief surge in growth during the 2000s. Gypsy moth maybe have tipped the ecological balance in the favor of Quercus rubra, but there is much more to explore with these records. These data and ecological analyses will give greater insight on how temperate forests sequester atmospheric carbon.