Sunday, February 17, 2008

Signal Trees


I love trees and am very sad when an old one dies or is cut down. Last year we lost our old "Indian Tree" and I felt a great loss. It was a huge sugar maple that was bent into its zigzag shape about 200 years ago by American Indians. They are actually called signal trees and they were used by the Indians as guideposts in the deep woods. It was bent into shape when it was a sapling and held in place with a leather rope. When the leather rotted away, the tree was permanently growing in the desired position. The tree was pointing toward the river, so my guess is that the Indians were marking that route. I'm glad we were able to enjoy this beautiful and unique bit of history for the last 20 years at Willow Manor. Our Indian Tree will be sadly missed.

I am posting a picture of it in winter, and after it was damaged by storm, along with my little second cousin, Carter.


7 comments:

  1. I always mourn the loss of a tree friend, too! We had to have a couple of pines taken down last year as they were threatening the house. I miss their shade (but not the pine cones that they dropped on the lawn).

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  2. A few years ago we had to cut down a huge old pine because of disease. Before we made the decision to take it down, I went out, rubbed its bark and said a little prayer for it. It was my friend.

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  3. That is an awfully cute boy sitting on that tree...if I don't say so myself :-) ValGal in STL

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  4. That boy is absolutely adorable!!! ;)

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  5. "Indian trees--also known as marker trees, trail trees, message trees, water trees, thong trees, and buffalo trees--were once common features that dotted the landscape of the eastern woodlands of the United States and served as an unwritten form of communication among members of Native American tribes."


    I believe you are right about the river or hunting grouds. I remember climbing that tree!

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  6. Sammy....I didn't know it was known by all those other names...interesting! I think maybe ours was a water tree...what do you think? I wish I had a picture of you climbing that tree. I think I have one of you up in a pine. Remember how hard it was to get that sap off? It stayed on your skin for years. ;)

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  7. Oh, wow. That's pretty cool. I've often wondered how some trees got their shape... almost a "duh" moment reading this.

    I like learning stuff!

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)