What a wonderful story! I never spent very much time looking at old trees, I've changed my habit now. We have a few lovely parks and I think it is time I take time out for a nature walk.

Hi Pegi,
I just returned from a fast day trip to a town about 100 miles northeast of me. I had to travel down country roads to get there and some were narrow and winding. It's pretty hot there and they are having some drought conditions too, but not as bad as here. On one of the narrow roads the trees were so full and lush they formed a canopy, so pretty. No houses, just a winding road through trees, not much traffic either, just me. It must have been 20 degrees cooler beneath those trees.

Nature drives are great but nature walks are even better!
Good for you!

What a wonderful story Sharon and the photo's are awesome!

Rod Stewart may have sung about how "every picture tells a story" but every tree definitely tells a story too and I surely enjoyed yours

I love walking in the woods and looking at trees - their bark, their leaves, their inhabitants. Just like the canopy you described, I've laid underneath them with the camera pointing up and the sun shining through. Beautiful!

Just this past week-end, I saw the most incredible tree in Kentucky. It was a yellow poplar and the inside of the trunk was completely exposed. It was so big, I could have climbed inside. I was wondering how many animals did in fact make their home there.

Trees are one of God's greatest gifts! I'm so thankful!

Thank you Sharon, for taking me on that mesmerizing trip. Oh how I love legends! I especially like the one about the souls of our dearly departed being inside the tree.

My husband and I went to Brown County last fall and on the way back we stopped at a cemetery (we love old cemeteries). It had a cedar tree and was covered with blue berries. I was fascinated with it and took several pictures of the berries. I didn't think to squash one to smell it. Next time I see one, I will though.

Vickie, I was born and raised in Indiana (Richmond) and I absolutely love visiting Brown county. It's so beautiful. I love visiting old cemeteries too.

All my relatives are in the Seymour/North Vernon area so when we visited them, it got us closer to Brown county to visit

Two Vicki/Vickies all in a row!

Good Morning!

Vic, I'm surprised Hank didn't just take that tree home with you and turn it into a glorious garden room. That part of KY does have some wonderful old trees. This part was all farmland at one time so the trees here in most areas of WKY are relatively young trees compared to those where you were. Not big enough for playhouses inside. I'm so glad you got to see them.

Vickie, I was very near you yesterday when I took a little side trip to Owensboro. I even crossed over the bridge into Indiana just for the fun of it. Truth is I wanted a picture of the Ohio River bridge from the Indiana side because I think that curve is so pretty. I had forgotten my camera but had my cell phone, so the picture is not of great quality, but still what I wanted.


My aunt has always lived near Seymour, well, always during my lifetime, so on my way to Indianapolis to visit my son and grandson, I usually stop by to see her and when I'm very lucky I can talk somebody in the family into going with me to Brown County for one of their festivals. I love that area too.

When I was growing up my family had a cabin on Lake Cumberland and we were there quite often. I mostly talked them into letting me play on land in the trees while the others went fishing in a little fishing boat that held no interest to me. They usually agreed because I was known to rock the boat a time or two. It is a beautiful place.

I love the old cemetery in your photo, Vickie, look at those majestic monuments; even without them, though, the beautiful cedar tree in your picture tells us that it for sure is a burial ground.

Thanks Ladies.

(edited because I confused the two Vickie/Vicki responses.)

Sharon -- what a wonderful article. I love trees too, but never knew that Cedar trees enclose the souls of the departed. I could see the face in your photograph! Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Oh Sharon, what a wonderful article! I adore trees, especially the old ones ... they just seem to have so many stories within their bark and branches. I never really thought about trees very much as I was growing up but I came to love them through my dear mother in law ... she's the one who opened my eyes to the beauty of nature as well as the joys of gardening. Cedar's are one of my favorite trees and there's a Southern Red Cedar at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge about 50 miles south of me that I fell in love with the very first time I saw it. This is a photo I took a couple of years ago.

G'Morning again, MM. Legends are beautiful things.

Beautiful tree, Lin. I'll bet it has stories to tell. Lucky you to have found it.

Trees are so strong and can live so long, they deserve our admiration and attention.

Thanks for the beautiful descriptions of the place and the trees you love, Sharon! One of these days, I hope I get to see that area in person. I've seen it on television, too.
Unfortunately, we don't have any old cedars on our property; lots of cedars, just not old ones. My Dad bought the place 35 years ago, and the whole hillside had been burned not long before. There were charred stumps among the new trees. There are a few older trees at the edges of the woods, and so far, my favorite one is still standing. I'll try to remember to get a picture. It has a charred split in the trunk, but it may have been due to lightning.

But it still keeps right on living, even with the charred split, right, KY??

Good, I hope you do get to visit this end of the state. It is very beautiful usually, just a little crispy right now.
Looking forward to your picture.

Sharon, what a wonderful story. We didn't have many cedar trees where I grew up, but I do remember the sound of the wind in the pine trees -- we had loads of those in NC.

Lin, I think I've seen that cedar down at Merritt Island. That is one of our favorite places to go on a nice day trip (of course, followed by dinner at the Dixie Crossroads!

You know, I think I've been screwing things up for years. I'll have to check, but I've been misidentifying juniper for cedar. I had a tree in my yard, a very old tree (about 45 years old, which is old in our area) that was a haven for hornets & would scratch the living snot out of me every time I walked by it. I hated that tree. I ended up chopping it down (by hand, with a little hand pruning saw, took me about 6 hours). But before everyone starts to groan about how I'm killing everything, I have planted 6 roses by it plus another tree (a Krauter purple plum), and 2 honey suckles there. It was a matter of necessity as I am allergic to that tree (be it a cedar or juniper) and would break out in hives every time I brushed up against it.

Hi Jean: Yes, the Nat'l Wildlife Refuge makes for a wonderful day trip ... when the weather is cooler! I love visiting that area for all the native plants ... as well as the Haulover Canal area to watch the Manatees!

Toni: I think Cedar and Juniper are related:

http://garden.org/plants/searc...

http://garden.org/plants/searc...

The eastern red cedar is a juniper, Toni. The same tree is in the image in our ATP DB that Lin listed.

Hi Rocklady, you are a world traveler!!
Great to see you again.

Ugh, edited because I can't spell this morning.

Small story to tell:

Several years ago, I traveled to Nashville to attend a seminar in Animal Communication. The instructor was a woman from California, and the two-day seminar was well attended. One of the very first things that she did was tell us to go out to the front yard (of the home where the seminar was being held) and select one of the trees there -- which were all very old, very tall trees -- and to stand up with our backs against the bark of the tree, and ask the tree a question. We were to ask the tree to share its wisdom. I felt kinda silly doing this, but chose one of the trees. Actually, the tree chose me -- it might as well have had a neon sign on it that said "come right here". So I leaned up against it -- and asked the question foremost in my mind at that time.

This is very woo-woo -- but it's true, and brings tears to my eyes this minute. The tree suggested that I move somewhat to my right. When I did, I was looking at a valley full of trees of all ages but most of them were old. And it occurred to me that that valley and those trees had been there forever. And the message that seeped into my mind was "there is time". Which was the answer to my question. And the tree was right.

Trees are amazing. They are underappreciated, and mostly overlooked unless they're a problem in some way. They are taken for granted, and shouldn't be -- our world would be a sorry place without them.

Not so 'woo-woo', MM.

I have a cousin close to my age who has lived in the northeast always, so he is not as attuned to nature as I am since I am the one who grew up in the mountains. I visited him in Massachusetts a few years ago and he was stressing through some health issues. I noticed one day that as we walked through a park like area that he stopped for a few minutes and leaned his back against a huge old tree. He closed his eyes and just stood there for awhile leaning against the tree. I thought he was tired and so I wandered around looking for plants while he rested.

Finally after awhile he bounced back to where I was and I asked if he was tired. He said, 'No, not tired. But I always stop by that tree because it gives me peace and strength.'

I don't remember which tree it was, only that it was huge and old.

Oh, I love these stories

Rose is Rose (a comic strip http://www.gocomics.com/roseis...) has one of the characters often chillin' out by her "Let Things Be Tree"

Cute, Toni.
Thanks.