Found a 150 year old oak tag in a tree I removed yesterday

I was cutting down a dead white oak in a backyard near downtown and found a rusty metal tag nailed into the trunk. It was dated 1874 from the city forestry department. Has anyone else ever found old tree tags or markers like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

finley_walker572d ago

Well, that tag is older than most of the houses in that neighborhood, so you probably did the city a favor by taking that tree down. I bet the guy who nailed it in there never figured somebody would be reading his handiwork 150 years later. Wonder if the city still has the paperwork on that one, probably lost in a basement somewhere. At least you got a free piece of history out of the deal, even if it is rusty and bent up. I'd hang onto it, just to confuse people when they ask what it is.

pipergonzalez2d ago

The number 1857 etched into that tag is something else, isn't it. I have to admit, I used to roll my eyes at people getting excited over old junk like that, but seeing the date and imagining the hands that hammered it in changed my mind for me. @finley_walker57 makes a good point about the paperwork-I bet the city clerk back then just scribbled a permit on a scrap of paper and tossed it in a drawer. You should definitely keep it, maybe frame it and watch your dinner guests squint at it for five minutes before asking if it's from a haunted house.