Beaver, Arkansas: Shoe Tree (Gone)

A round-up of Shoe Trees, where hundreds of discarded sneakers and other footwear are tossed. The shoe tree blooms with polymer beauty. The one in Beaver was mostly destroyed in a storm in 2000.

I have a comment to make that saddens me. The last few years the Shoe Tree by Beaver Dam had continued to grow even with the old one gone. Tourists continued to stop and amaze themselves. The last few years, some out of towners bought the land adjacent to the trees and built log cabins. I have talked to them before, and they don't like the people stopping next to their property. A couple of days ago I saw one of the owners walking out with a tree trimmer. The next day I came by and all the branches and shoes are laying on the ground.

I have lived here for twenty years and I had a pair of cowboy boots in the original tree when it was taken down by the storm. That was a sad day. But now, this was done by Man, not Nature, because they didn't like it, even though it gives joy to people every day. This really upsets me.

I'm not even sure it's their land, or the easement. Thanks for listening.

I thought you'd be interested to know that another shoe tree is in the process of being selected at Beaver near Dinosaur World. Apparently, several trees near the old one are being considered, and passersby are voting with their shoes.

Last July, my family and I went to the Shoe tree in Beaver not knowing it had been destroyed by a storm that previous spring.

Instead of one tree, we found a group of trees with shoes hanging from them. These trees are located at the pull-over. We threw our shoes up with others. Now, we know why there were only new-looking shoes! The tradition continues.

A powerfulstorm brought down Beaver's much loved Shoe Tree on May 6, 2000. The white oak tree, garnished with several hundred pairs of sneakers and shoes, has been an offbeat local attraction for over twenty years.