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Island trees on Mahone Bay ,Nova Scotia #543006
Asked February 06, 2019, 1:01 PM EST
There are these (photos) that grew on the end of an island in Mahone Bay ,NS. These have disappeared since around 1930. These trees grew only here ,as no other photo's of the species shown here have been found that looked like these. All I have are these photo's going back till 1860- I would love for you to take a guess as to what these were. This has been part of a mystery for 230 years! The trees were a signboard or signal to ships arriving from the Atlantic and looking for landfall inside the bay. There are no leaves or close pictures that have been found, no bark or roots either. The trees look very much like Acacia's to me. Other people think they maybe conifers or oaks- pictures from 1890- 1920- You can see the evergreens starting to grow at the base as time went on- I have more pictures.
County Maine
Expert Response
No human intervention was noted for these trees, as the island was mostly uninhabited when the trees grew- there are 365 islands in Mahone Bay ,Nova Scotia ,and these trees were only found growing on this particular island- Could these be acacia's-( too cold) nor some say they were oaks- I can't see these as red oaks (only species in that area) Maybe some kind of conifer. Three more images from 1909 (FDR shot) other miners w/trees in background 1890's and from out in the water looking at the whole east end w/ them at the right end --Could you guess?
