the shoe tree

I cannot begin to tell you how many times my family and I have travelled Highway 72 over the years. Highway 72 is the road taken to visit the very best grandparents in the world, but we soon found out this road holds something else special. Out of all the time spent on this highway, you would think we would have noticed a tree with fifty plus pairs of shoes in it- nope (although I swear to have screamed something like “A tree…with shoes in it!” a few years ago, and my family ignored me because after all, who in their right mind throws shoes in a tree?- clearly the people of Cherokee, Alabama). Over Thanksgiving break, we stared in amazement and disbelief as we passed the shoe-bearing tree. I immediately googled “shoe full of trees” and found the history behind this to be quite fascinating! No one knows when it was started, but here is unwritten rule of the shoe tree, "Need a pair, take 'um, but if you can spare a pair, just do it." The tree holds everything from baby shoes, to cowboy boots, to stilettos. Needless to say, if you need some shoes, this is the place to go. Soon we will be back on Highway 72, and you better believe I have my pair ready to share.