Forest or land restoration in general features large on current environmental agendas. Multiple examples exist of past efforts to restore tree cover. Forest restoration proliferated in the 19th and early 20th centuries in Europe, but it has been pursued in multiple locations around the world and during different historical periods. This chapter reviews past forest restoration efforts and their outcomes in Japan, Germany and Poland, the United States, and in colonial territories until the mid-20th century. A forest restoration legacy can be recognized by the imprints on contemporary forest landscapes. Some early forest restoration controversies have their counterparts in 21st-century forest restoration debates.