Legend

One of The 7 Wonders of Kinmount!

One of the Seven Wonders of Kinmount is the series of Shoe Trees west of town on old Highway 503 (now County Road #45). The current crop has been growing for many years but Kinmount is also famous for its previous Shoe Trees that sprouted from time to time at different locations around the village. The first Shoe Tree sprouted on Highway 503 east of town, towards Furnace Falls. After these shoe trees were destroyed they reappeared on the Monck Road just west of the village. The original shoe tree was planted by Bill Boland, who carried the seeds from his home in Wallaceburg in Southwestern Ontario. The legend of the Shoe Tree is a native Canadian story shrouded in the mists of time. To the natives, attaching a pair of moccasins or shoes to these trees brought good luck. Different people attach different styles of shoes as can be seen by the variety of footwear on the trees. Not all items of footwear make it on the tree, some landing on fence posts, hydro lines and nearby trees.

Shoe Tree Video on You Tube

Legend of the Kinmount Shoe Tree

The very first Shoe Tree was located east of town on Highway #503 at the White Boundary Road near Furnace Falls. It was planted by a gentleman named Bill Boland long ago. Bill came from Wallaceburg, a town in Southern Ontario near Chatham. Back in the 1940s, Bill Boland came to Kinmount to hunt white tailed deer with the Goose Valley Hunt Club. He fell in love with the rugged, unspoiled lands of Kinmount and when he retired, couldn’t wait to live here. He built a home at the corner of the White Lake Road and 503. And the first thing he did in his new home is start a Shoe Tree.

In Wallaceburg, there was a legend among the natives of Walpole Island of the magic Shoe Tree. It was rumoured that if you hung a pair of moccasins on a sacred tree, it brought you good luck. Bill Boland was intimately familiar with this ancient native tradition and immediately started his own Shoe tree in his adopted area. He selected a large white pine along the highway and nailed an old set of shoes on this local landmark. As the legend goes, if you nail your shoes on a tree, others will follow your example. Bill’s Shoe Tree began to sprout dozens of pairs of used footware of every conceivable type. People began to bring ladders so they could nail their shoes higher up on the tree, the lower trunk being now full. Others simply threw their shoes onto branches. The Shoe Tree became a local landmark. But the Shoe Tree also attracted hatred.

A neighbour became so disgusted with the sight of shoes decorating the trunk of a tree (visual pollution was the word used), that the police were called to investigate this “hazard”. The policeman laughed at the sight and added a pair of his shoes to mix. The complainant was further infuriated and vowed to fix the problem. She returned with a ladder and proceeded to strip the offending footwear from the Shoe Tree. Bill Boland, now an old man dying from cancer, was distressed and called for help. A group of his friends showed up and simply took the shoes away while the complaintant was still up the tree. The magic shoes then found their way to a neighbour who resurrected the Shoe Tree on his lawn. Shortly thereafter, a mysterious “one tree forest fire” destroyed most of the shoes and the new Shoe Tree. Clearly it was dangerous for Shoe Trees at Furnace Falls.

But the legend of the Shoe tree did not end there. It was noticed that a tree west of town began to sprout shoes on its trunk. Legend has it the shoe laces of the original tree travelled by air to the new site and sprouted a new crop of Shoe Trees. Once again, new shoes were attracted to the tree and soon several trees were covered in good luck symbols. The Shoe Trees continue to spread to this very day. They are even covering fence posts and some have landed in the overhead hydro wires. So if you travel the road west of Kinmount, keep an eye out for the Shoe Tree Complex on the north side of the Road at the first big bend. The Legend of the Shoe Tree lives on!

Kinmount Brownies & Guides Visit a Shoe Tree

The girls of the 1st Kinmount Unit had an unusual outing last spring when we went for a walk to visit a mystical, magical, whimsical and jolly creation. Since brownies are based on "magical little people", our visit seemed to tie in with that theme. This man made peculiar oddity, located on the property of one of our guiders, brought forth many smiles. Our unit decided to join in on the fun, adding to the lustre of the home for castaway soles, for we were visiting a flourishing, forever in bloom Shoe Tree.

Found across Canada and worldwide, shoes of old cast high to the sky to catch on a limb. The best way to find one is by luck, chance, or word of mouth. A curious roadside attraction, many capture its image against silhouetted skies.

The girls of our unit each brought along some old shoes to fling on the tree. Before our visit, I researched ShoeTress on the internet and found there are as many legends lurking behind the ritual as there are Shoe Trees. However, we chose to make wishes when hanging our shoes. The girls had fun using their imaginations to make up stories about the owners of some of the shoes already on the tree.

We decided the Shoe Tree was a unique tourist attraction that saved ever-shrinking landfills but we had many questions about the origin of Shoe Trees. When did they begin? Where did the idea sprout? Who dreamt up the roots of this tradition? We wondered how that first pair of shoes triggered a shoe-tossing cascade. Stumped, we queried why people are compelled to contribute. Perhaps we will never know the sole reason. Answers seem shrouded in mystery, lost in oblivion...but we concluded that clearly; Shoe Trees symbolize embodiment of immense human spirit; people leading, following, creating, bonding, soles intertwined.

Heralding the sublime memory of leaving our mark in time, we dared to become part of enchanting folklore...After all, who knows what miracles may happen!

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