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R.I.P. Nevada Shoe Tree. May Your Murderers Lose A Shoe

Old Shoe Tree, Middlegate, Nevada

Update: It has come to my attention that shoes have sprouted out on a nearby cottonwood tree, not far from the old shoe tree which rests in peace together with its shoes in the ditch it landed.

Once upon a time there was a cottonwood tree that lived on Highway 50, known as the loneliest road in America, in the state of Nevada. It was big, 70 feet high, and strong. It was offering shadow to the anonymous passerbys and shelter to the birds of the desert.

The tree lived a peaceful life up until one day back in the late 1980s when a couple of newlyweds driving to California pulled over under its big branches. They were arguing and the groom decided to leave his bride there to cool off while he drove to the Middlegate Station for a beer. After a pint or two, the guy manned up and returned to his wife, but she was still crazy mad on him, so, in vengeance, he grabbed a pair of her shoes and tossed them into the tree and headed back to the bar for another drink. After another half-hour or so, he returned to his wife. This time, they managed to patch-up their differences. Unfortunately, he found he couldn’t get her shoes out the tree and they drove off, leaving the footwear hanging from a branch. Years later, they came back to the tree with their baby and threw his shoes up into the tree too.

Somehow the tradition picked up. People were passing by and saw the shoes in the tree and began tossing old pairs into its branches. And so the tree was reborn under a new identity: The Old Shoe Tree.

Everybody loved the Old Shoe Tree, one of the quirkiest tourist spots in Nevada. It was even believed to be the world's largest shoe tree ever. Sneakers, cowboy boots and high hills hung in tangling clumps from its branches and from afar it looked like a glycine tree in bloom. Hundreds of shoes tied together in pairs by bras and underwear and whatever came in handy, with love poems, signatures, promises, memories and accomplishments written in permanent marker decorated the Shoe Tree, like an American Fontana di Trevi. And it was quite a sight; beautiful and impressive. It was like a huge social work of art where everybody who passed by and wanted to contribute could do so. The lowest shoes were at least 15 feet off the desert floor and there was a pile of shoes underneath the tree too. The Old Shoe Tree was like the place where Skechers and Nikes went to die, a big shoe graveyard build by generations of passerbys.

Old Shoe Tree, Nevada desert

Now how was it possible for somebody on the night of December 30th, 2010, to cut down the Old Shoe Tree of Nevada? Yes, the road might have been lonely and cold that night, but no, I can't wrap up my head around the idea that somebody needed wood or footwear or that somebody needed his shoes back and found cutting the tree being easier than climbing it... Most likely it was just an act of vandalism as the authorities say. Either ways I believe this was pure evil and I can't stop thinking about that first couple that started the tradition of shoe throwing and how they must have felt about the sad news. The Shoe Tree murderers haven't been found yet. Who knows if they will ever be? The Shoe Tree was a legend and a symbol. It was dragging customers to the local businesses. Everybody knew it and loved it. Well, apparently not everybody. It was famous! And now it's gone. R.I.P. beautiful Tree of Dreams and Hopes!

Old Shoe Tree, Nevada

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