Shagbark, a tradition

My folks, back in the late '60s, built a home in the timber and called it "Shagbark" because of the large and distinctive shagbark hickory trees on the property. When they purchased a lot on a small private lake across the border, just into Missouri, and built a one-room vacation cabin there was a shagbark hickery again . . . and the cabin came to be called "Shagbark II" or Shagbark, too. The folks vacationed at the cabin throughout the '70s and into the '80s. When the mowing and upkeep got to be too much for them, LJ and I were delighted to buy the cabin and to maintain the Shagbark name. A shagbark hickory still shades the cabin and another on the property grows taller each year. We found and walked our 37 Missouri acres in the fall of the year. We are no tree experts but we believe we spotted a few shagbark hickories and so we will call this property Shagbark III.

Another infamous tree found in Missouri is the locust which has wicked, large thorns that grow up the trunk and off of every branch and limb. We have encountered many of those at the Lake and removed the smaller ones. The thorns will puncture the soul of your shoe and many a lawn mower tire has been ruined by one of those locust thorns. During our walks through the new timber, I did not see one locust tree!

In my first post, I said that I would call the new place Mt. Moriah -- which I still like -- and I may refer to it as Mt. Moriah to lessen any confusion when talking about Shagbark II and Shagbark III. But marriage is full of compromise and LJ preferred to continue the Shagbark tradition.

Unfortunately, Shagbark the original remains only in our memories and hearts as a large man-made lake swallowed up the lower acres and a bulldozer bared the land of the trees, scattered the bricks and boards of the house and the garage, the "print shop", the swinging bridge and even the grandkids tree house. I hope someday that I can recreate some of those things for my grandkids amongst the trees of Shagbark III.