Shagbark Trail

Hickory Time Earl Plato
Want some peace and quiet? Take a walk through Shagbark Trail in Ridgeway. Thanks to the town’s vision and the Ridgeway Lions’ Club we now have about 60 acres of greenery. Too late now for many of the spring flowers but still time to discover the reason for the trail’s name, the Shagbark hickory. Young Shagbark hickory trees have smooth gray bark. Confusing, yes. I have been told that it takes about 30 years for this hickory to “shag.” Look for the mature trees that have distinctive shaggy bark composed of thin narrow strips that curve outward at the ends. I drew a shagbark hickory tree on the south trail. How old is it? take a guess. The name “hickory” comes from the American Indian word for the oily food removed from pounded kernels (hickory nuts) steeped in boiling water. This sweet hickory milk was used in cooking corn cakes and hominy. Our early European settlers made a yellow dye from the inner bark. Many of us have collected nuts from these trees and have enjoyed them. Check them out in Shagbark Trail and take some time to just enjoy this great natural setting.
***
Butterfly fields? Over 2,000 plugs of butterfly attracting plants are now hopefully growing in five large areas on either side of Shagbark Trail path in Ridgeway. On June 4, 2005 many helped to see one of the many early phases become a reality that will turn the park into a beautiful natural setting. What will you see in the future? Monarchs, swallowtails, fritillaries, sulphurs, hairstreaks, admirals, viceroys, blues, skippers, commas and on and on. I can’t wait.
***
Shagbark Trail Park has some interesting trees beside its namesake - Shagbark hickory. Years ago naturalist Ernie Giles while we were in Shagbark woods answered my question. Are there two hornbeam species in here? I was confused. I grew up with the Ironwood or as we called it “muscle” tree in our back woods. Ernie said, “Look here. This is Hop Hornbeam.” The trees about only 5-6 inches across had gray-brown bark with countless papery vertical strips. “ Its scientific name is Ostrya virginiana. It’s a carolinian tree.” Back then I didn’t know about Carolinian Canada. “There’s some Ironwood over here. They call it Blue beech because of the shape of its leaf but it is also called Hornbeam.” Confusing? Ironwood has tight bark of wavy and twisting blue and gray bands that look like a strong man’s forearm. However, research tells me that the leaves of the Ironwood are about the same shape. size, and general appearance of the Hop hornbeam. Two distinctly different trees except that both are Carolinian species and their leaves are closely similar. They are all through Shagbark Park.