TREES!
~ by Jim Eagleman
Can I mention a more popular trademark of this county as we head into the autumn of the year? Is there any other natural attraction that brings Hoosier visitors, and others, to this place? As a life-long tree lover, I shall always be glad I live in a place that promotes, conserves, and admires these things of gigantic, botanic beauty.
The Elder Heart leaf sculpture in front of the Brown County Visitors Center is one more reminder that we are in a place of trees and leaves.
I’ ve written here previously about this forest’ s history and its abused past. Trees, even on steep slopes tended to be in the way if your purpose for originally settling here was to grow crops or raise cattle. The establishment in this county of several leather tanneries in the late 1800s, for example, attested to the over-use of the now-prized chestnut oak. Its bark, used in the tanbark trade, was stripped off newly-cut trees— the logs left to rot. Leather goods of hand-made harnesses and boots were first preserved by soaking in large vats of water with the bark submerged, giving off tannic acids imparting a stained color to
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62 Our Brown County • Sept./ Oct. 2014
domestic or wild animal hides. I’ d like to think we are more prudent today to use the entire tree with thrifty forest practices. Chestnut oaks on a distant ridge can now add a certain kind of beauty to lateafternoon, fall color scenes.
A book about tree-watching recently came to me as a belated birthday present. My wife Kay enjoys my love of trees, as we often discuss which mature ones to cut on our property for firewood, and which ones to leave for woodpeckers.
“ You’ ll enjoy this book,” she said.“ It has lots of pictures and no plot,” as she handed it to me.
Though grateful, a book about watching trees seemed a bit odd at first— watching birds, sure, but trees? I scanned the first few pages and saw close-up photos of normally-inconspicuous tree flowers, and often-overlooked buds, twigs, and bark. The co-author, originally an engineer, made a living of taking close-up photos of technical instruments and equipment. Photos of tiny flower parts and buds revealed an almost mechanical design, intricate and precise— ones he wanted viewers to appreciate. The book made me see tree flowers in an entirely new way.
Talks and hikes about trees help park visitors understand they are more than mere things of beauty.
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Sightseeing Tours
2 1 / 2 mile scenic tour of Nashville
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also service to Seasons, Brown County Inn, Comfort Inn & Salt Creek Inn May – October • $ 5 per person • 812-988-2308 available for field trips, business functions, private tours 10 a. m.- 5 p. m. longer on weekends( ask the driver)