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By
counting the rings in the wood, it's estimated the tree was
about 160 years old when it was cut down, dating it to around
1850. The church in
front of the tree was built in 1833, but
the town itself wasn't officially settled until 1857.
So how did the horseshoe get to be in the center of a tree
trunk? One suggested theory starts with the Madawaska River,
located about 150' from where the tree stood. Last century,
horse-pulled log drivers navigated the area every winter during
logging season. It's speculated that the shoe fell off a workhorse
and the tree just grew through it. Another suggested theory
is a logger may have found the lost horseshoe and hung it
around the tree when it was just a small sapling and the tree
continued to grow around the metal.
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| Close-up
of the horseshoe. |
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Close-up
of the imprint. |
Joe Sullivan of Ottawa Arborists, Inc., notes that objects
are frequently found embedded in trees. "That's why they
have metal detectors in sawmills," he explained. He said
sometimes a heavy object leaning against a tree could be absorbed
into the trunk as it grows, noting that even guns have been
found inside trees. Something wrapped completely around a
tree, such as a clothesline, could eventually choke the tree
to death, he commented. One might think a horseshoe inside
a tree would damage it, but that wasn't the case in Combermere.
"It's odd, that's for sure," Mr. Sullivan said.
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