The Tryon Parks Committee is happy to inform area residents of an exciting find along the Vaughn Creek Greenway. Thanks to Tryon resident John Fowler, an Indian marker tree was discovered growing along the greenway in Tryon.

Fowler was so intrigued about this tree he asked the committee if it would be possible to add the local tree to the national marker tree register. According to Fowler there are currently 1,800 trees in the United States on the registry.

Proponents of trail tree lore believe that a widespread cultural practice among northeastern and southeastern groups of Indians placed sign posts in the North American wilderness by intentionally bending and securing selected saplings to force deformed growth oriented to indicate directions to resources along trails. Each manipulated sapling was intended to survive, to grow large and to retain its shape. 

These marker trees became a part of a land and water navigational system designed to help native Americans find their way in wild landscapes throughout forested areas of North America. This navigational system is presumed to have been already in place before the arrival of the first European settlers to the new world.

Indian tribes chose trees mainly from the hardwood family in their region. They most commonly bent Oak and Maple trees—due to their flexibility when young, and their permanence and ability to retain shape. They trained trees to form an arch, and secured them to a stake in the ground or tied them to a large stone with a leather strap or vine. Typically, a new branch was left on top of the arch to grow skyward, forming a new trunk. Eventually they removed the old trunk, leaving a knob, a distinctive characteristic of trail marker trees. The distinctive horizontal characteristic made the trail marker tree easily recognizable. 

Finding a tree is not all that needs to be done when registering the marker tree. Resident John Fowler volunteered to send in the GPS coordinates, to send in the tree’s measurements and forward a photograph of the tree. The local tree was officially added to the registry in mid-October of last year.

The marker tree is located about midway along the Vaughn Creek Greenway. When the winter weather warms, plan to walk the greenway to observe this local treasure. 

– submitted by John Vining