Holly is a versatile and popular timber species, known for its white color and consistent pale white appearance. It is made from carbon in chains with hydrogen and other elements like nitrogen, oxygen, and trace minerals. Holly wood is used in joinery, cabinet making, engineering, mathematical instruments, wood engraving, and veneering. The heartwood of Holly is pale white, while the sapwood is almost white. The grain is interlocked and irregular, with a medium to fine uniform texture.
Holly wood is considered the world’s whitest wood, with heartwood being pale white and sapwood being almost white. It has been traditionally used as an ornamental or decorative object, such as brush backs, turnery, and scroll saw work. It is also used in veneer and is an important component of various products.
The bark of Holly is smooth and usually light grey in its youth, but as it grows older, it becomes progressively rougher. The wood is hard, white, and dense, making it good for carving. It burns easily, and its bark can be found in various colors.
Holly has been used as a winter decoration for hundreds of years, showcasing the red and green colors commonly associated with this time of year. Mature trees can grow up to 15 meters and live for 300 years. The bark is smooth and thin with many small brown “warts”, and the stems are dark brown.
Sapplings of Holly are green to light brown in color and slightly hairy, but as they mature, their bark becomes thin, smooth, and light gray. Older American hollies, with their bright red berries and green glossy prickly leaves, are used in garlands and wreaths to decorate front doors and interiors or as table centerpieces. These native plants attract wildlife to gardens throughout the seasons.
📹 If You Find A Bent Tree In The Forest, You May Have Just Stumbled Upon A Centuries Old Secret
Trees come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors – but one of their few unifying characteristics is that they stand tall, reaching up …
What is the color of holly wood?
Holly is a hardwood with a color range of white to ivory and is cut in winter to preserve its white color. It has a close irregular grain with little to no figure, and common knots reduce its usable area. It is hard, dense, and fine-grained, with a specific gravity ranging from. 50 to. 64. The average dry weight is approximately 40 pounds per cubic foot, with Janka Hardness at 1, 020 pounds. Drying and shrinkage can be challenging, and logs harvested in winter are preferred. Most drying is done at the sawmill site, with an average shrinkage report of 4. 8 radial, 9. 9 tangential, and 16. 9 volumetric.
Is wood from a holly tree good for anything?
Holly, a wood used in woodturning, carving, marquetry, and instrument parts, is a versatile material that can thrive in temperate climates. American holly (Ilex opaca) grows in tree form from east Texas to Florida and north to Delaware, while further north in southern New England, it shrinks to shrub size. Despite being fairly abundant, holly trees are not very large (50′ tall maximum) and produce comparatively little clear wood due to their many branches.
The wood does not constitute a mainstay commercial lumber, and where it grows the largest, along the Mid-Atlantic coast, it is often left to produce its annual growth of shiny green leaves and red berries for holiday decoration.
What are the characteristics of holly wood?
Holly wood, which is the whitest wood, is characterized by its heavy, hard, and fine-grained composition. It is utilized in the production of furniture, engraving tools, walking sticks, and firewood. Holly wood can be stained and polished, and is commonly used in engraving work and walking sticks due to its strong heat-burning properties.
What color is wood from a holly tree?
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What color is tree bark?
Bark is the protective and life-supporting layer of a tree, etched with its years of bounty and hardship. Each species has its unique bark pattern, often serving as a means of identification. Bark can be red, green, gray, white, orange, or striped, thorny, smooth, rough, or deeply furrowed. It can peel away to create a multicolored tapestry. When seen close up, bark invites comparison to abstract art.
As a design element in the garden, bark is the last frontier, interesting in winter but also providing texture and pattern all year, enhancing foliage and flowers. Bark adds color and texture to a landscape throughout the growing season.
How do you identify holly wood?
Holly trees, native to the Atlantic and Mediterranean, have green stems that aid in photosynthesis, turning silvery or dark grey as they age. Their hard, white, dense wood is ideal for carving and fires, even after being cut down. Holly trees thrive in mild winters and summer rain, preferring acidic soil. They thrive in semi-shaded areas but require full shade in Mediterranean climates. These trees can live up to 300 years with the right conditions, and can grow slowly in acidic soil.
What does holly wood look like?
Holly Lumber is a white hardwood with an irregular, close grain and even texture. It weighs approximately 36 lbs per cubic ft and exhibits a whiter hue than heartwood.
What color is the bark of a holly tree?
The holly tree is characterized by smooth, grayish-brown bark, dense branches, and a spreading crown with a pyramidal silhouette. The foliage of this species is evergreen and characterized by stiff, leathery leaves with prominent spines.
What does Hollywood look like?
Holly Lumber is a white hardwood with an irregular, close grain and even texture. It weighs approximately 36 lbs per cubic ft and exhibits a whiter hue than heartwood.
📹 Every Bushcrafter Needs to Know this Tinder! Is Holly Bark better then Birch Bark?
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Back in the late ’60s and early ’70s, we did similar things to trees on my grandpa’s farm as most of it was heavily wooded. Most of the northern and western boundary didn’t have any marks so when we were about to figure that out, we arched several small saplings at various points along it. Occasionally, we’d take a few, tie them together, and bend them toward the house, so that if we ran into them at night, we’d know the way even if we couldn’t make out landmarks. I haven’t been there in 20 years, and I have no idea if they are still there or not. The family doesn’t have it anymore, so not much chance of spending a day looking for them now.
I am thankful to know of 2 of these near my home in North Carolina and 1 is near a fresh water spring the other near a Indian settlement,now a corn field. I believe they should be protected from harm if possible, I am of Cherokee decent and believe nature is a very important part of all our lives. Thank you for such a beautiful article.
The estate woodlands in Britain have many such characteristics. Some are marker trees that can be found at various junctions of paths and ancient tracks. Others are formed that way for shipbuilding and construction of timber framed structures such as crook barns. Some are simply old coppice trees that have developed into these forms through neglect after the First World War, when labour became less cost effective. Either way, they are magnificent living history and it’s great that you highlighted them.
Growing up on my grandparents land there was a marker tree, we even used it for our own trails, as youngsters we’d refer to it as the “butt tree”, what’s honestly baffling is the consistency in the bends and shaping, it was without a doubt Native American made, I hope to one day explore that area again and catalog my findings, we found anything from Native American artifacts to 1800’s dump sites, that land was full of history.
This is the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a while. You can find young trees in the same condition. You mean to tell me a native American used “mile” markers? You cannot navigate the forest but you can find a bent tree? “The marker tree is 150 years old…I’ll show you ones much younger. If you spend time in the woods you come across these of various ages frequently. I’ve found them from five to ten years to 75 to 100 years old. The old trees are because of logging and storm damage. The older ones were spared for early American logging because they had no value.
sometimes when a tree falls down it takes a sapling with them. The sapling wants to grow up so it reaches for the sky. A decade or so later the old tree rots away but by that time the sapling has grown and become strong. I have also made trees’ like these at various places I frequented as I grew up. Now, I can go back to these places and admire “my” tree.
I dunno… Looks like deliberate shaping alright, but the configuration screams “boat keels” to me. That kind of natural knee shape makes a tree quite desirable for the bow end of a boat, and thus more valuable than a straight trunk. The age quoted also fits an era when wooden boat building was a HUGE industry here. Is it possible they are basically “engineered lumber” for an industrial demand that has since dried up? The tail end of the date range is basically the dawn of iron boats, and such a trunk would need several decades to grow from freshly bent sapling to usable boat lumber. As many tribes plied rivers and lakes, it doesn’t seem inconceivable for it to be a “traditional” technique for insuring future availability of stock suited to the task.
There was a colonial trading path through on my parents property. I was told that it was once an Indian travel route. There’s a spring there. While hunting the area in the 1950s and 60’s I saw a few of these trees. I remember one big one along this old trail. I don’t do not think any of the trees are alive now.
Shipbuilders used to search forests for just the right natural formations in trees to be able to cut specific shapes of lumber for their designs. So, they started going into forests and manipulating the growth of trees in preparation for future shipbuilding. Problem is, technology advances faster than trees grow, so many of these trees were simply not cut down.
My dad, now 93 years old, saw a tree like this when we were driving a back road in West Virginia and he said that years ago people bent the saplings of trees in this shape to make walking canes. Of course you had to wait a while to get the wood to make your cane. That tree is still there, and it is not old enough for Indians to have shaped it this way. I believe my grandfather had one of these, because I remember the odd shape of his cane.
Interesting, I had one such tree on my ranch that was on a edge of a down slope leading to the creek flowing through my property. The tree was an oak and was older and the right angle section of the trunk sat a good 4-5 foot off the ground. Never really put much thought into it other than taking some pictures with my children sitting on it.
I’ve seen these strange trees in my many travels in Kentucky woods. I always assumed they arose from natural causes. It’s easy to imagine a tree falling and bending a smaller sapling horizontal and it continued to grow that way, but the unrestrained end responded to phototropism and continued to grow vertically. Eventually, the dead fall tree decays away and only the bent tree remains. I couldn’t help but wonder if people didn’t cause some of these bent trees.
I have several younger trees in my woods with these growth characteristics, and no human was responsible. The tree was pushed and bent down to some degree by another larger, naturally falling tree, rendering the smaller tree pinned down for years. The small tree, still able to survive, sends several “water sprouts” vertically out of the now horizontal trunk. The strongest sprout now becomes the main trunk and over time, it’s former and now useless trunk rots away. As does the larger fallen tree which caused this. The smaller, now disfigured tree continues to grow into what we see here.
I grew up about 10 miles west of downtown Dallas, near Loop 12 between Shady Grove Road and Irving Blvd. It wasn’t uncommon to see bent trees like those described here. Also, I was told the legend of how bent trees were created by American Indians. Most of the bent trees in this part of Texas are found in the CrossTimbers region.
Fascinating. There is a giant bent Fir tree on my property. I’m guessing around 150 years old. The bottom rises a couple feet off the ground and turns sharply for several feet before reaching straight for the sky! It is the exact shape of A GIANT HOCKEY STICK! I have always called it the hockey stick tree. I’d like to believe it is a marker tree but more likely it was deformed as a sapling long ago when another tree fell across it. I reasoned that because there are 2 other fir trees in close proximity that also have some deformity, although nothing spectacular like my reach for the sky hockey stick tree. 💚
I have one of those trees on my property. I thought it was natural until this article. This one is much much larger than the ones on the article. The horizontal portion is around 30′ or more and then radius upwards another 40-50′. The circumference is probably 40″-50″ inches. I’m very interested now and will be taking good measurements tomorrow evening.
Native oak and pecan trees along the Llano River in Texas can be found to have such shapes, often located in canyons or “draws” that are frequently temporarily flooded when the river gets high. Some trees get buried in debris and silt, resulting in them rooting along branches and the new growth shooting upwards to reach the sun. Some trees get partially uprooted and tipped over, with similar results. When subsequent floods wash away debris around previously buried parts the roots die back, leaving the odd twisted and angled parts above ground. The same mechanism can affect many species of trees in many locations, again resulting in such growth habits which may appear man-made. This of course doesn’t mean that humans shaping trees to form particular shapes does not happen/has not happened.
Takes forever for trees to grow that way. They may be used as landmarks but normally a tree that isn’t quite heavy enuf to break a smaller tree falls on it & bends it over. The upper end then grows upward, the original stock remains bent & the tree that fell on it rots away. They have to be small when bent & it takes a lifetime for them to get that big, so if Natives made them they started so small they would have been hard to find, not the best landmarks for at least a decade or 2.
In the forest of pittsboro,nc there was the perfect example of that very tree in the first clip, it was easily 150 years old or more, it was white oak. I use to love riding my mountain bike past it on the trail by the creek there, but then the developers who cared nothing about nature, only profits. The development was to close to it, so they cut it down, fortunately there are quite a few there. When I was living there in 2012, it was a large 500 acre or more farm, then by early 2014 the development had sprung up like a rapid growth spurt faster than I had ever witnessed. It was sad to see the change. I’m glad I moved. There is so much open space here in Southern Utah., and not many trees, so I have been planting my own 😊
Vast majority of these are caused simply by other trees falling on them when they’re young fortunate trees to grow in wonky ways to get around the dead tree. Not too complicated especially when you go out in the forest now and you can find multiple examples that are younger than a hundred years which would negate natives pretty quick.
There is a tree in a park where I live, the trunk of the tree runs on the ground for about 8 to 10 feet. before it turns skyward. the reason this tree is like that, is because when it was a sapling the wind blew it over. and it grew like that, if someone would have propped it straight up it would grown normally.
I grew up in eastern NC in the Rosewood district of western Wayne Co. We had one of these very distinctive marker trees on our 3-acre property. It was a very large pine with the classic distinctive “saddle”. As kids in the early 70’s, we climbed and played on it, not realizing what it actually was. I know I have pictures of it but I’m not sure where. Interestingly, in the weeks we staked out the foundation of the house (1974’ish) my sister found a very large spearhead point in the newly dug irrigation ditch on the roadside front of the lot. Now, I’m beginning to put together all of the other interesting “facts” of the property we experienced.
Thank you for sharing this ✊🏾 definitely some information regarding the native people of the lands, it’s amazing that no one listens to them on their way and especially what had happened to them in Canada with the residential schools and all the abuse they had suffered from, and that’s everything you could think of up to death 😢
My first guess before viewing the article was that they were bent to those shapes by ship builder’s. Wooden ships required many bent beams with the grain following the bend. Water proof adhesives came into being in the early part of the Twentieth Century lowering the need for bending saplings in the wooden boat industry. “Natural” bends are still desired in the custom wooden pleasure boat industry. It looks like I was mistaken here.
Interesting. There are trees like this on the far side of my garden – they’re not marker trees, but as saplings, they were cut and laid to grow into a hedge, along the top of a low stone bank that used to enclose the field beyond. That was probably a couple of centuries ago, from the size of the trees, some of which have grown upwards again in some bizarre shapes, with one having a stretch of thick, horizontal trunk that’s almost like a seat. Just shows how humans can influence tree growth, with dramatic results even centuries later.
I’ve seen these type of trees as well and can see how this can happen to trees naturally especially given that I also see lots of young trees bent to the ground (usually from another tree fallen). Given this, meaning these natural oddball trees could be confused with supposed “marker” trees, the age of typical trees, and the time period of Indians last living traditionally, I don’t buy it unless there is some historical documentation.
As a child I lived in poet Carl Sandburg’s home on a bluff along Lake Michigan in Harbert, MI. We had several locations with code names to meet. The best was called Hook located in the woods not far from lake. And yes it was a tree shaped like a hook, never knew why tree grew that way. We’d say meet at hook, and us kids knew the location.
I have seen many of those types of trees near where I grew up in Michigan, especially along a river. One that was a particular favorite of mine was bent in a arch with branches growing out along the outside of the curve making it look like the sun with rays shining out from it. I have no idea if it is still there.
As a young timber-feller in the ’80’s I felled a fir onto a madrone sapling that simply bent the sapling into the shape described in this article. 20 Years later upon my return, that very madrone maintained it’s bent shape permanently and remains a 2ft thick double “U” shape to this day! No big mystery here!
Mature or dying trees often fall onto saplings and remain in place for years. These saplings would in turn grow under and up as the mature trees rot away leaving no trace. This happens in all forests. There is a possibility that some were used as markers by native americans, but I would venture to say the majority were just part of nature as described and a lot of this is idealistic conjecture.
Doing trail work in ohio there were many of these, at times involving two trees…we recreated another generation of them by binding them together and forming the right angles…in the same manner as the old ones we found, trying to use the same species. This was 20 years ago, they are still doing great
I’m a logger. I see trees like this fairly often of all ages. Felling a tree that falls on smaller trees weather by man or nature could cause this. Tops breaking out of trees on smaller trees during storms or tornados can cause that to happen. Then the evidence starts to rot away or is harvested for whatever reason. Such as firewood. I’ve seen trees that lean into or fell on other trees make those kinds of deformities. Ice storms cause that to happen as well. Hurricanes cause it as well. Man can cause it during harvesting as well. When I first started logging we did a lot of “select cuts” meaning we just took out the mature trees and left as much of the younger trees as possible. Unfortunately it was more dangerous for the loggers. Bigger trees with big tops like Oaks require a lot of space to fall completely to the ground a lot of the time younger tress got bent over, broke off, trees hanging in other trees, tops and big limbs hanging in the tops of other trees causing “Widow Makers” hanging limbs that could fall on loggers while working. Sometimes causing “spear poles” that would come in the cab of machinery and push the operator up into the roof of the cab causing him to not be able to reach controls of the machinery to stop the machine.
When I was a child, there was a large park with a pond near a kids playground. There were three huge willow trees near the pond each with a bend like this going in different directions. My dad looked at them and mentioned that long ago there must have been Indian villages somewhere in those directions. Those trees were enormous, so big you couldn’t put your arms around them. Sadly, they are gone now….
There was a tree exactly like this outside my house where we used to practice shooting bows. It was an elm tree and dad always called it the “L tree”. It’s been gone about 15 years (we cut it to do landscaping) but hardly anywhere else around here has been touched in miles. Im doing some hiking first chance I get.
These bent trees might also have had a religious meaning. Multiple artifacts of Native Americans carry symbols giving importance to a region of sky famous the world over. The area of Orion was seen as a Unicorn (like these trees and nearby Monoceros). As Bull of Heaven (like nearby Taurus). As a Hand of God. As a hare god of Egypt and the Maya (like nearby Lepus). As the plumed God or Eagle Priest that slays a Serpent. As the Eye of an Eagle. As Z-shaped stones recalling multiple pole shifts. As triple indentations or bas reliefs recalling Orion’s Belt. So … just hypothetically … it’s a symbol of Creation and Apocalypse. The radiation event around 4500 BC or the flood event around 3100 BC. Times their God remade the world. A recurring catastrophe highly due.
There is a confirmed practice of nomadic people creating marker trees, well documented by anthropologists of the time. It’s in the coniferous forests of Lapland and Northern Russia where reindeer herders marked winter campsites and caches. In winter when the ground is snow covered reindeer eat moss and lichen from tree trunks, so forests are where the Lapp (Sami) people used to follow/drive the herds. The trees used as winter campsite markers were of manageable height, because they were marked with decorative ornaments . Items such as brightly coloured ribbons, beads, glass baubles and shiny bits of metal etc were affixed to the tree so it would be easy to spot… and a happy return of course, knowing you buried some goodies like a teapot and jar of spices, a quality knife, a flute. The herders travelled light by dogsled so bulky items like a nice set of dishes would be cached. Of course when breaking camp you’d bury some supplies under the tree for next winter and renew the festive decorations so you could find it again.
Ya’ll obviously ain’t been to a florida forest, where hurricanes carry 200 mph wonds, trees shaped all wierd from breaking and regrowing, in some spots of my forest they all point one way, right next to it, they all poing the other way, that was two different hurricanes ..i own a tree company so i see alot of speciel trees
Indian Oak. When I was a Boy Scout in Southern New Jersey we use to camp near a tree we called Indian Oak. Two branches on opposite sides of the tree were perpendicular to the main part. They continued out for approximately five feet then they both turned 90 degrees and went straight up. It looked like an Indian dancing. If the article is correct one of the arms would be pointing directly to the Delaware River. The native Indians in that area are the Lena Lenape Indians and they were known for fishing in the Delaware.
I mark boundaries for a living. These trees follow boundaries everywhere in perfect rectangular or square tracts. Colonizers used this technique to mark their farms and wooded land. In 25 years of seeing this type of tree, I have never seen one done by native Americans. Im not saying it didn’t happen but Im willing to bet most of the trees shown here were in fact directly on property lines.
Trail markers or not, I saw a tree on the dangerous slopes of the foothills in the Rocky Mountains on the northern border of British Columbia and Alberta while I was clearing old logging roads with a D6 Cat. It was only about 35 feet tall and maybe 7 inches in diameter. About 18 feet from base it made a direct left turn to about 2 to 3 feet and made another 90 turn straight up. Who knows how old it was but when you talk about tampering, I’d would say the Lord who created nature. That’s what I think. Nothing is too difficult for him.
I personally balm it on the Deer Rut. I’ve witnessed a Large Rutting antlered buck deer interacting with trees by rubbing and jousting with the young trees or other bucks. I’ve seen Mature Buck Deer permanently bend but not break young trees in two or more places one way than the other. Plus make many more broken rubs along their path. Thus the trees grow up bent as pictured. But the trees were not killed. They prefer young pine trees but most any hardwood tree will do too. I’ve used my compass to see if the tree marker would lead in a certain direction or places like Indian pictographs. The destination is always just over the hill and through the woods to & from a bedding ground or food source. Timber operation’s over the years have removed the old tree markers evidence. I’ve witnessed virgin forest land on the 24,922-acre (10,086 ha) Alabama Sipsey wilderness areas. Always thought it would lead me to some island pictographs or pottery.
Any forest that was logged buy early settlers has all kinds of these trees. I think it’s because the growing saplings were trampled and or left pinned down buy cut limbs. Crown land that’s been logged in cycles shows this as their usually the biggest trees, only left behind because not straight enough to use for lumber (select cutting). so there are many “freaky forest” areas around the ottawa valley
The Sasquatch people also do this to trees for markers, shelters etc. I’ve lived here 24yrs. & the trees weren’t this way (April 17th 2000) when I moved here & immediately began exploring. The Sasquatch moved onto my property (God’s property) & they have made their presence known & created some very interesting structures. They use the natural artesian well on top of a hill not far away from the house. We coexist peacefully now ( the ones that have remained). I ran some evil (Red-Eyes) off the property in the name of Jesus Christ. White mama & youngster here now are no problem & God willing they won’t be🙏 They have bent, twisted & broken trees to suit their purposes.(I’m not sure what that is exactly) but haven’t done any harm so I just live and let live!
I’ve seen a few in the woods of West Virginia. In the woods of my backyard growing up there were a few that I believe were made by a farmer who used them so he would know the border of his property. He used to let his cows roam a little in the woods and he wanted to know where he should put up some fencing.
I have 3 bent trees on my property. The land is on my ridge and are a natural development. No native tribes were known in my area where the bent trees are. Many other bent trees are in our local area. Perhaps it was caused be historical avalanches, or earthquakes. Our area was only a seasonal fish and hunting camp prior to 1884. My 3 examples are 42 inch diameter or larger and they are spruce and hemlock trees. This is in the Seward Alaska area.
Now we all need to shape some trees. I have to say it would make for some unique wood projects. I can imagine 4 trees making a 4 legged table. Sounds like a business opportunity that will take 60 years to start making money with due to the growth required to produce the wood but it could be very profitable. It needs to be a generational family business of planting, shaping and a saw mill. It would be a vertical monopoly that the first generation must sacrifice time to start but every generation down would be making a ton of money. Just my thoughts. If you start it, let me know I would love to see such a thing.
Typically, events like the 1998 ice storm in NE North America cause these aberrations. Ice can bend over an adolescent hardwood tree so it’s parallel to the ground, which gives a strong branch the advantage of suddenly pointing skyward and having first chess to the sunlight and rain, so It grows and sap is diverted up its trunk from the original main stem. The branch grows straight up and eventually shades out the horizontal portion of the original stem, which over the decades withers, dies and eventually falls off. There you have it. As another poster noted, a falling treetop from a larger tree can also pin down a smaller sapling with the same effect. That is also often a result of an ice storm or it can be simply the effect of a windstorm on a brittle, short-lived species like poplar.
I saw these alot when I spent the first 36 years of my life in the Catskill-Hudson region of New York. I always had an acute curiosity as to what caused it amd I too had a powerful feeling it was done my the hands of man. These werent the only things I saw. There were many megalithic stone structures which seemed very old but somehow not your run-of-the-mill European colonial work. In one case, Dutch settlers had reported seeing specific features 400 years ago in that region which couldnt be explained by known and well-studied patterns of European colonisation. Most times I concluded it was either Native Americans, or less formal and less organized explorations done by maverick cultures like Druids and pre-Christian Vikings. There is whopping evidence that all of these peoples met each other long before Columbus and began influencing each other in diverse ways. I very refently had a conversation with a young Native American Blackfoot who purported that himself. He had no loss in sharing that. Hoomans been getting around and learning things from each other across the globe way before the Catholic Church laid claim to western expansion.
Caahmoan Maahyuun! Bent trees are result of another tree falling on them when they were saplings. Then as fallen tree rots( decays) and the sapling continues to grow, first parallel to ground, then after a few years, turning perpendicular to ground towards the sun. I have hunted many diff places/many times per year/for 60+ years. Have seen well over 200 bent trees. Haven’t seen indigeneous people, and maybe 100 have been near trails( where people walked up to check them out!) Some MIGHT have been altered to mark a trail, but, most are naturally formed, per above info.
In Colorado the natives (utes) didn’t need navigation aids. The Utes bent saplings over to signify the death of someone important ( a grandmother, a child, or someone special). The vertical represents the life before earth the horizontal portion represents their life on earth and the remaining vertical portion represents their life in the afterlife. We have cultural scarred trees all over our property. We invite the utes to come celebrate their ancestors
perhaps a interesting insight might be that native americans took inspiration from natural forces. since abnormalities and lines in the earth magnetic field also cause trees to grow weird and different(often curling/spiraling, or growing towards or avoiding a speciffic place) those effects however only are visible to a untrained person at very strong places, at most of the normal/weaker ones the effects are harder to notice in trees only. these lines are and where actually used for navigation, humans have at some times used them however often only a few people where capable of properly sensing them without much training, some birds like crows speciffically also rely a lot on them, crows can actually be seen following them while migrating, even some weaker ones, they regularly fly over a crossection of such lines(following one line) then turning back and following the other line. there have also been found old sailing maps that scientists beleived to be unexplainable as for how they worked and where read since they had no consistent scale or such, but those maps also worked using those lines, essentially it just reffered to such lines and their crosspoints.
Wow 😮Tree Prophecy. I have the most amazing tree marker story. Over 20 yrs ago I met this native American in a dream. Few years later later I had a death experience and met her in the other world. And received many prophecies about Earth and lessons how the Universe works. I was convinced to comeback and I received a logo along with some books to re write on Earth. I trained and studied in the hills for over 10 years. There where many bent trees that I followed to sacred and hidden paths. Even one point finding a labyrinth. I was forced to move a couple a years ago. And after 10 years I see freshly grown tree in the shape of the Logo I was given. It was beyond mind blowing but confirmation that all info given to me was true. I took a picture of it before I left. And funny this vid just pops up in my feed and I here this info. Much more to this story and prophecies. Will one day share with the right people. Thx for posting article. Be well.
Of course there are still skeptics. This is stupid. There are young trees growing in my woods like this. There are a bunch of different ways it can happen and I’ve literally seen it happen over years. Being used as landmarks on maps doesn’t give you any good reason to think they were man made. Why would you need to make weird trees that look just like naturally occurring weird trees when you could just use one of the weird trees when it’s convenient? Bending a tree like that would also be an extremely long-term, unreliable plan for placing an intentional marker. I mean, yeah, it’s possible that some native American kid could have bent a sapling over and hooked it under something to mark the goal area of the game he was plating with his friends and it grew that way and was later used as a marker, but there are all kinds of other ways it could happen without people involved at all and it would be a pretty silly plan if it was planned. Why do you waste people’s time with this trash?
Count me as a skeptic. I was hiking last year and came across such a tree. However, it was eight feet tall, kinda young. External factors can effect a tree’s growth trajectory. Have you seen bonsai trees, gnarled and crooked to depict a rugged, tough natural tree growing in difficult conditions? Sure, people do the bonsai, but they are like copies of what happens in nature. I believe crooked trees are both naturally occurring and man made. I don’t doubt the Native American angle, either.
I have one such tree on my property and I “made” it my self. A piece of marine plywood 3 feet wide, was laid carefully on the ground with sapling under it. The top of the sapling was bent up and supported. After 10 years when the sapling had turned into a 8 inch diameter tree the plywood was removed. Now it has two 90 degrees kinks and is still growing. I think this can happen naturally when a big tree blows over and lands on a sapling and don’t crush it.
These shapes occur all the time when the tree is young. A large tree or limb falls on the young tree. The young tree sends up sprouts (branches) that grows vetically. As the years go by, the tree that fell on it rots away and the young tree continued to maturity, no longer encumbered by the burden that shaped it. It’s especially common in woodlands that were logged. The young trees were crushed as the large trees were felled. The trunks were cut as logs, and the saplings left burdened by the waste treetops. Years pass. The “slash” rots away, creating a woodland of strange, malformed trees, less desirable for timber. It is not uncommon and happens in all woodlands. I have seen examples in all stages of the process in unmanaged woodlands all my life. Not saying native didn’t deliberately duplicate the process for their own purposes. But that’s not how most of them happen.
We had an Evergreen that broke when it was quite young during a major storm in Vancouver Washington. In the mid 1950s. A single branch remained. That branch didn’t branch out. It went straight up and become a giant tree. It was like the one in the pic here. I remember climbing and sitting on that arm.
It’s a handful of deformed trees around my home along the NC/VA line near the Dan River. It is also some creek bottoms that arrow heads and other artifacts are commonly found. One deformed tree is right along an old road that used to be more or less the main road in this area. The trunk is bent at a square angle about head height and is about four of five feet to the bend up, The bend is parallel to the old road bed. I don’t know if this tree was bent as a trail marker, or if it is just randomonley was deforemed.
I’d like to think they were the grizzlies sleeping hammocks. Lol Imagine how cold the earth would be beneath the tree in the snowy or wet winters. Most forest animals like to lounge . Believe it or not, years ago here in the redwoods of California we had a thriving bear population. Not anymore. Our cougars are almost gone as well. Sad. Be nice to our wildlife, please. . ❤
The strange shaped trees happen in nature naturally and the Native Americans probably used them for directional markers. They may have intentionally altered the shape, but it would take many years to shape a tree and I have to believe the Native Americans had easier and faster ways to navigate the landscape. I would think altering a tree like that would make it susceptible to the premature aging and decay. I have seen a couple trees like that in the regional park my house backs up to and there hasn’t been any Native Americans living on that land since before the 1700’s and the crooked trees are a lot younger than 300 years old.
Total BS. Indians have been gone longer then most trees around here. My great great grandparents move here before the Civil War. I have found numerous bent trees as seen here. None are old enough to have been touched by native Indians. I have also cut several these bent trees counted the ring and know none were even close to being old enough.
Bent trees exist around the world not just in America. Back in the day of the Wooden Ships pre-bent trees were stronger and allowed quicker Shipbuilding. But no doubt bending for many types of construction took place. Never heard the Native American story part. There is about a two acres section on my Ranch that has purposely bent trees. Some are even tied in a loose knot. there are three in that area that are all about 3 -4 ft diameter. They all have other visible tree trunks showing that they were devoured by the larger tree. They are perhaps the most interesting. if they should ever come down for any reason it will be interesting to see what the grain inside looks like. But they are White Oaks. and likely have a good hundred years left. Not sure Humanity does but…..
Look up Wetu. It is a home, whos construction in most cases, is started by bending young trees of only 12-15 feet high towards each other, then binding them together into arches. These arches form the main load-bearing structure of an oblong domed, or even round home that is basically immovable in a strong wind storm, and warm inside in winter, with a fire, or multiple fires in the center. They had been a popular home, and multipurpose space, for multiple millenia that we are pretty certain of, and we think were probably widely used by the Adena, and Hopewell cultures, at least from the Early Woodland Period of the midwest, to eastern U.S. and Canada. The heart of both, being in the Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, etc area. Manipulating trees goes back many millenia.
When I was a kid walking with my dad and grandpa on my grandpas land we found a huge tree that had a knot tied in it. It had fallen down during a bad storm. It had been over 100 years old and we laughed on why someone would tie a knot on a tree in the woods. Years later when I brought my kids to find it, it was gone even though it was oak. Someone must have cut it down. All the trees in that area were cut down so no way of knowing because stumps were mostly rotted away.
The Indian story is a wives tale I have 3 of them on my land in Northern Arkansas they are not old enough to have been done by Indians. They all point in different directions I know for sure one of them is less than 40yr’s and I’ve been here for 35 and I haven’t seen any Indians. It is a red oak 11″around witch makes it about 40yr’s I don’t know what caused it to grow that way it’s deep in the woods. But I know it was not Indians great story but just that a story.:body-blue-raised-arms:
when i was a child in upstate NY i was told that when a native american boy child was born..his father or uncle would go out into the forest and find small hard wood saplings and tie them into a knot..so that when the child had grown into a man he would have sufficent war clubs to help defend the tribe
I found one that is clearly bent like these and it’s next to a natural spring in the Sonora foothills of Tuolumbe County Calif IT was so hige me and my dog climbed it and in the middle of the crotch of tree bent tree Trump I found a palm sized piece of quartz with a citing crystal in it I still have that crystal to this day And a photo of the tree taking a sharp left above my head and branching out flat accross 10 feet with several new trucks growing straight up off main bent trunk I can’t tell you how many hours I spent enjoying that location and even ran into a mountain lion there I have a photo of him too
I live in a forest in BC, Canada, next to the Fraser River. I choose to live here BECUASE rent was so high AND I couldn’t find a place to live. So I’ve made a little shack and am concidered homeless. I am 4 minutes from transit & 2 big grocery stores. It is very beautiful here. There are 2 bent maples here. I doubt they are for navigation BUT marking a spring seems very plausible. The ground it very wet near these trees. The spring might be covered up by years of developed soil. I think the direction of the upward trunk is pointing the direction of the spring. The bend in the trunk is about 8-10 feet off the ground which would be a better marker to see from a distance. I’m going to explore(dig) & see. I’ll post on my website by end of April 2023.
It’s all bull. None of these trees are old enough. Using the authors own numbers a 150 year old tree would take us back to about 1873, 25 years AFTER the trail of tears Especially today, year 2023 there are no trail marker trees alive. They would have to be MINIMUM 200 years old to get back to before trail of tears times. None of those trees is 200 years old.
Would these trees not be very old by now? The last viable Native Americans in the East was over 200 years ago. Indeed these examples look old enough. Now you can test if its natural or not. Look for younger trees of this shape. If its natural you should see some. If not, one can hypothesize man made.
Trees like this are everywhere here in Finland, and here it’s common knowledge that they’re bent by snow and ice. They’re buried by heavy snowfall during winter when they’re still saplings, and get stuck in a position. Then they start growing rapidly during spring, when it gets warmer and the soil gets moisture from the melting snow and ice, while being weighed down by that snow. The reason they’re more common near rivers and other water sources, is becauce the soil around them is getting much more moisture, making the young tree saplings grow faster for longer and more likely to survive. These are so-called “saturated zones”, which are also why bent trees like this are often concentrated over a relatively small area. So no “old secrets” or anything of the sort involved. Mystification of natural phenomena is all I need to know to block this website.
My family moved to Michigan in 1856 American Indians were numerous then and my family had good relations with them. They would bend a sapling over when it was small the bend would be in the direction of the next Indian camp or point to a spring or lake. There were several of them within a couple miles of our farm all marking the trails, lakes, springs etc.
We do occasionally encounter similarly deformed trees in the UK… and we have no historic records of Native American settlements. The trees are often either ash, hazel or beech. The solution is less interesting. There is a history of “chair bodgers” in British woodlands. These were people who managed woodlands by coppicing trees to keep the woodlands healthy. They weren’t paid by the land owner but were permitted live in the woodland and use the wood they cut to make products for sale such as bowls turned on a pole lathe, stools, walking sticks and, most notably, Windsor chairs. Saplings were often bent horizontally for several inches and then staked and bent vertically, forming this shape. This was then left for a few years until they were stout enough for a walking stick. It was a cheap way of forming relatively comfortable walking sticks with an integral handle. Large numbers of saplings would be formed like this in spring or early summer to harvest in a few years’ time. This practice was common from around the 16th Century and is still practiced today, although chair bodgers are few and far between these days. I’m not disputing your explanation as that is also very likely. But early European settlers would also have brought this practice with them. Because suitable saplings would be scattered throughout the woods, many were overlooked and left to grow into mature trees with this weird kink.
Your Holly grove is beautiful and not invasive at all. Ben (“Ein Mann im Wald”) made a great article about this wonderful and unfortunately endagered European plant. Fun fact: Holly not only gave its name to the famous Hollywood (LA), but also made an appearance in Middle-Earth: the lost Elf realm of Eregion at the west gate of Moria is named after the Holly trees growing there, humans called it Hollin.
This is very helpful! Personally, I really enjoy teaching articles like this that show the WORST ways to use a resource, with the ways to try to use the resource get more and more successful until you find the very best method. Too many times, people set themselves up for the best success off camera without showing the things that do not work as well. Felix, you made the “mistakes” for us right on camera, which makes your successes much more trustworthy. This way, success does not feel like a trick, but the result of good old Trial and Error. Thank you very much for doing the trials for us and still showing them, since even the methods that do not ignite with a fire starter rod are still very useful once you have an open flame. I am happy to have found and subscribed to your website! Enjoy your day! 🙂
Great tips, thanks Felix. I just went for a walk in my local woods. I found a broken branch on the floor, ignited the bark with my Bic lighter and wow! it went straight up with black smoke coming out just like you said. Definitely not Holly or Silver Birch but it was like rocket fuel. I took a piece home for my fire kit. It’s fun to experiment. 🤩 Keep up the great work! Cheers 👍
Holly has much cultural resonance in the English-speaking world. Holly branches are one of the most traditional Christmas decorations, and the folk carol “The Holly And The Ivy” (which is mostly about holly, not ivy) is very popular. I knew a girl named Holly, but she didn’t like the name, so she called herself Ilex, which is Latin for Holly. As a boy, I listened to a music group, The Hollies. They weed named for Buddy Holly, a singer and songwriter from Lubbock, Texas, whose band was named The Crickets. Holly has an interesting white wood, but it isn’t used much for construction or furniture because most of the trees are too small to make into good boards.