This paper describes methods used to investigate the effects of post-European settlement land-use on the structure and species composition of a central Pennsylvania woodlot. Historical accounts and witness tree analysis used to reconstruct the pre-settlement landscape describe a prairie/savanna occupying the Penns Valley region of central Pennsylvania. The historical information suggests the woodlot originated following European settlement, when land uses such as farming, grazing, and eventual land abandonment altered the original landscape, allowing development of closed canopy woodlots on hilly areas with poorer soil quality. Dendroecological analysis of the woodlot also supports post-settlement origin. The oldest tree individuals established around forty years after settlement indicating the woodlot is not a pre-settlement origin remnant but a result of post-settlement land-use patterns. In addition, subsequent land-use in the woodlot was recorded in the tree ring record. Numerous growth increases in residual trees correspond with multiple selective removals of timber from the stand since settlement. These small gap openings fostered regeneration of more shade tolerant red maple. Due to fire suppression and selective harvesting of dominant oaks the stand is currently undergoing oak replacement by red maple.