Indian Marker Tree in Kentucky

Posted by: brucegrimes

Indian Marker Tree in Kentucky - 09/19/18 12:36 AM

Doing research on Indian Marker Trees in Kentucky. Has anybody seen any?
Posted by: Glenn Roberts

Re: Indian Marker Tree in Kentucky - 09/19/18 07:14 AM

I’ve seen a couple in southern Ohio, across the river from Kentucky - or at least, that’s what I think they are. (Can a casual, untrained observer like me ever be sure?)

I’ve seen a couple in Zaleski, on the backpack trail there - that’s in Athens, east of Chillicothe. I’ve also seen one in Sugar Creek MetroPark in Dayton; if I remember right, the park brochure identifies it as one. (The brochure is the extent of my formal education on this subject.) I’ve seen several on the Twin Valley Trail in Germantown. Finally, there’s a tree that I suspect is one right beside the 18th green at Miamisburg’s Mound Golf Course - at the bottom of the hill on top of which the Adena built the towering Miamisburg Mound.

As you well know (I’m betting), the Miami, Shawnee (?), and other nations ranged through the southern part of Ohio until the early 1800s. Feel free to send me a PM if I can be of any help.

And, by the way, welcome! If you don’t backpack now, maybe you’d like to start? (We could actually try to locate some of those trees!)
Posted by: 4evrplan

Re: Indian Marker Tree in Kentucky - 09/19/18 10:07 AM

I didn't know there was such a thing until just now when I looked it up. But, now that you mention it, I remember seeing a tree bent like that somewhere on the Boardstand/Ouachita Trail loop in Eastern Oklahoma. IIRC, it was a younger tree though, so probably not actually a marker tree.
Posted by: JustWalking

Re: Indian Marker Tree in Kentucky - 09/19/18 04:58 PM

I saw this article online. It kind of poo-poo's the idea of marker trees, which isn't as fun as believing they exist, but an interesting read nonetheless.

http://ahotcupofjoe.net/2016/06/trail-marker-trees-a-k-a-indian-marker-trees/
Posted by: Glenn Roberts

Re: Indian Marker Tree in Kentucky - 09/19/18 06:46 PM

The age factor was the one thing I was thinking of when I said I thought they might be such trees, and that I was uneducated. Although I’m a CPA, my original training (pre-USAF) was a BA in History - so immediately, I’m wondered whether the trees I’m taking (or mistaking) for markers would have existed in contemporary times with the people who would have altered their shape. I have no idea whether the timing matches.
Posted by: wgiles

Re: Indian Marker Tree in Kentucky - 09/20/18 09:53 PM

This article refers to trees bent by ice accumulation. I have a cedar tree in my yard that was literally split in half by an ice storm some years ago. It has since recovered and there is no indication that it was ever in an severe ice storm, unless you know where to look. I look periodically, and can see where the growth was interrupted and new growth began. We lost a number of limbs in this ice storm and the power was out for three days. The ice melted before the power was restored. Even if the ice were to last several weeks, I just don't see this kind of permanent deformation. None of this proves that this kind of deformation is manmade. I would be more inclined to think that a tree fell on a sapling, but didn't kill it and took long enough to rot that it resulted in this kind of deformation.
Posted by: BZH

Re: Indian Marker Tree in Kentucky - 09/26/18 12:56 PM

I have to agree the age of the trees makes this untenable anymore. You need trees 200 years old or more with these sharp bends. There are not that many trees that old around and I doubt trees that old with sharp bends would even be able to stand.

On the Wiki article it talks about someone erecting a plaque in 1911 to a tree. A logger posted a letter to the editor stating he remembers that tree getting the bend in a storm. That tree was commemorated but I can't find anything contemporary about. My assumption is it is long since gone. Trees with those sharp bends just are not stable for hundreds of years.