Timber real estate investment trusts (REITs) are companies that own and manage timberland and generate revenue by harvesting and selling timber or other forest-related products. Due to their popularity with investors, timber REITs in the United States attracted growing research interest in the recent decades. This necessitates a review of existing knowledge on timber REITs’ evolution and their financial performance over the years. In this review, we summarized the history and development of timber REITs, discussed tax policies applicable to timber REIT growth and their implications. We also reviewed past studies focusing on the financial performance of timber REITs and synthesized methodologies used in those studies. At the end, we posited the possibility of consolidation waves in the timber industry and identified some opportunities for future research. This review can shed some new light on the evolution of public timber REITs and their financial performance.