Scotts, MI

A 'Shoe Tree' grows in Scotts, Michigan. I saw it, and took pictures! I was out showing properties a few months ago in the rural community of Scotts, Michigan and encountered a ‘Shoe Tree' over hanging the road.

Obviously a teenage prank, likely a group of kids at the local high school or something strung a whole bunch of shoes together and gave them the good old fling. What impressed me most was how high they were up there. They had to be a good 15 to 20 feet up above the road. Take a look at these photos, and tell me what you think.

You probably have encountered these ‘Shoe trees' in some area in your travels as well. I always attribute it to Hollywood inspiring the youth to do pranks. I think the ‘Shoe Tree' or tossing of shoes over power lines was featured popularly in the film ‘Wag the Dog' from the 80's.

Much like the smashing of mail boxes that followed in the summer of the release of ‘Stand By Me' in the early 80's. I lived in a rural community in Georgia during that time period, and remember walking to the mail box to put some letters out for the mail man early one morning and discovering all the mail boxes on the street had been hit with a baseball bat at the time, much like some teenage vandals did in that movie.

Perhaps there is an earlier origin of the concept of ‘Shoe Trees' that I do not know. Scotts, Michigan is a small community that is part of the Climax-Scotts school district, another rural community adjacent to it. Scotts is situated on the boundary between Climax and Pavilion townships along the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, approximately 11 miles southeast of Kalamazoo.

An early Michigan pioneer named Samuel Scott settled here in 1847 and the community became known as Scotts Crossing, and it was later shortened to Scotts. A post office named ‘Scotts' opened on February 19, 1872, with a man named Servetus Bathrick as its first postmaster.

For information on Scotts, Michigan Real Estate, I am a Realtor who covers Southwest Michigan, so give me a call at: 269-441-8182 or contact me through my website at: www.michaeldelaware.com.