Thong Trees

Thong trees are known by many different names, marker trees and message trees are just to name a few. Regardless of what they are called, thong trees were part of a Native American message and trail mapping system. Native American thong trees can be found all over the United States, especially in the eastern, southern and mid western parts of the country. In the Ozark region some of the Native Americans would have been Cherokee,Qua paw, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Creek. The purpose of these trees were to mark trails and to point to other trails, water, caves and sources of food are just a few of the many. Trade route trails were also marked with thong trees. During the Trail of Tears thong trees could have showed a way of escape to safety, which more often then not was one of the numerous caves in the Ozarks.

Thong trees are bent into odd, but easily recognizable shapes. The shapes are unnatural and different looking from trees that have been deformed by natural causes. The Native Americans would use white or red oak saplings because the saplings were supple enough to bend and not split and kill the tree. To form a thong tree, Native Americans would first drive the base of a forked stick into the ground near the base of the sapling. The trunk of the sapling was then bent over the V of the forked stick to form the first bend or hip. Then a leather strip or thong was tied about 2 or 3 feet from the top of the sapling and staked to the ground and the top was left to either grow up toward light or rot off forming the second bend or hip, which became the nose. Depending on the location, further shaping may have been needed on the smaller limbs. Eventually the leather strap or thong would break or rot off leaving the shaped sapling.

Sometimes there were messages on these trees that told more then just the direction they were pointing. Native Americans caused knobs or bumps to grow, made marks or other indications on the tree that told more information about the direction the thong tree was pointing. The meaning and placement of the knobs or bumps was different for the various Native American tribes. On the Trail of Tears soldiers would often lose a whole band during a night without a trace. Native Americans simply had to read the knobs or bumps to find safety.

Knobs or bumps on the tree were made by slitting the bark and inserting a piece of charred bark from the came kind of tree. To protect the slit from insects, the slit was packed with rosin or pitch.

The tree would grow around the charred bark forming a permanent knob or bump. Most of the knobs or bumps were created on the first hip or bend, because it was immediately available for the inserting of the charred bark. The knobs or bumps on the second hip or bent could not be created until the tree top straightened up forming the nose.