Signal Trees

These were plentiful where I was raised, you couldn't walk more than a mile or so without seeing one. Many thought that this tradition started during the Trail of Tears to mark where a Cherokee had died, but this tradition is much older than that. True, during the Trail of Tears, when someone died the Cherokee would bend a young tree (most often the oak because of it's flexibility without breaking) to mark where someone died because they were often forced to keep moving without giving the person a good burial. These signal trees were used long before then though as well. Cherokee scouts would use them to mark their path, to remind them where they found water, certain plants, or even a good hunting ground. Often one Cherokee could recognize another Cherokee's signal tree by the shape of the tree. How do you make a signal tree? The young oak saplings bend easily, you simply place a heavy rock on it, tie a string to it and stake it to the ground, lay a log upon it, or tie another sapling down across it and the tree will continue to grow but will have this kind of shape. When in the woods, especially when you are in a region that the Cherokee lived.... if you see a tree like this then recognize it for more than just being an oddly shaped tree. It is either a burial ground or a place of good hunting or collecting of plants....either way, acknowledge that you are walking in ancient footsteps when walking near that tree. Please whatever you do, don't carve your initials on it or cut it down....that would be such an act of disrespect. But an old tradition in the mountains where I am from, you can take a branch from another tree and tie it loosely around a signal tree and if that knot stays tied it means that you and the one you love are meant to
be. But, if the knot comes loose, it means that the love was not meant to be. Cherokee tied lover knots in signal trees often because these trees are very spiritual.