I can only imagine what natural America looked like when it was fist found, many more animals and huge trees. It must have been amazing.

"My side of the mountain". The first book I ever read front to back. First book I read more than once. I read that book over and over. Once I read that book, all I could think about was running away from home and living in the woods. This lasted up through my teens and well through my twenties. I am 42 and still want to run away to the forest. As soon as I read the title of this video my side of the mountain immediately came to mind and I clicked on it. Awsome.

"My side of the Mountain" My favorite Book as a Child also. I live alone today on my side of the mountain in West Virginia.

Seems reasonable to me. After all, the Keebler Elves have a whole cookie factory in one.

The largest Sassafras Tree is in Owensboro Kentucky. They were going to cut it down many years back and a woman chained herself to it to save it. haha It's over 300 years old

Its funny, back then they "camped out," worked up a sweat by planting, hunting and fishing to survive, and now we sit in our air conditioned offices for 8 hours a day. The things *they* did to survive, we now do for vacation/recreation: gardening, going camping, hunting and fishing, etc. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 They had no idea how much "fun" they were having back then..

I have been hunting down in VW for years. When I was younger and not so beat up, I would sometimes just explore instead of hunt. I found a flat on a really steep part of a mountain. It looked like fire could not get to it or loggers. There was an oak tree there that I believe it would take three men locking hands to reach around it(Maybe). The upper story on it was unbelievable. I used to call it the "Keebler tree".

My 4th great-granduncle, James Gillespie Kincaid, and his family lived in a hollow sycamore tree in Greenbriar, County, VA from 1807 to 1812. They then moved on to Fayette County, in what is now West Virginia.

This reminds me of gnomes! When I was little, my favorite cartoon was David the Gnome, a cartoon about a gnome who lived in a hollow tree with his wife and rode through the forest on a fox named Swift to help other gnomes and animals in danger. All of the gnomes lived in a village of hollow tree trunks! 🥰

On the West coast we had a redwood tree trunk in the front yard with a 'house' carved inside. It was an amazing place to be a child.

Hi great video, I'm from Australia and the little town I live in s called Springton, in the late 1800's German settlers settled into this little town (which was called Black Springs back then), a family named by the surname of Herbig were one one of the very first to settle in this wee little town. There was Mum, Dad and 14 children that all lived in a massive tree trunk base while they built their home. Both the tree and the Herbig homestead are still standing and even some of the Herbig's descendants still live in the town. I am now going to binge watch your channel. Thank you this was very interesting, I hope the rest are as good :)

I got lost in the Redwoods and caught in a big storm. I sheltered the night in such a hollow

Just stumbled across this vid. I am a Buckhannon native and was hoping as I was watching this video that you included the Pringle Tree in your research. Pleasant surprise as it was the first to be mentioned. I too loved "My Side of The Mountain" which was introduced to me in 6th grade. Love it so much that I got a copy several years ago and read it to my kids. Very cool stuff, my friend.

Why did this make me cry? It’s so beautiful to see how Abba provides for His creations.

When I was a young teen I spent many night's in a huge sycamore on the Ohio river night fishing 3 of us rolled out sleeping bags with plenty of room.

Next to Ft Washington in Cincinnati, Ohio in the 1790s a wash woman who did work for the soldiers lived nearby in a tree and one of the branches was purported to be used as a chimney. In an old book on the fort there is a drawing of her and the tree.

Yes, I have always been obsessed or distracted by the idea of living in the base of a tree and specifically because of the movie 'My Side of the Mountain'. I thought I was the only one. Really amazing to meet a kindred spirit with such a specific memory. I am looking forward to seeing more of your adventures and will continue my own quest. Thank you so much for the video.

One of the oldest trees in the Eastern USA is in the town of Harrodsburg, KY. It is an Osage Orange tree AKA Hedge Apple tree. It was growing long before Daniel Boone stepped foot in Central, KY.

I don´t know about those sycamores, but in Africa there are also hollow trees, baobab trees usually and they are potential death traps for anyone just entering them because of the fungus growing in them due to the batdroppings and also because of poisonous snakes and other critters. The biggest problem though is the danger of infection from bat and other animaldroppings. One has to really clean everything up and smoke everything out for a long time.

We had an arborist come by when a high wind storm blew a huge branch out of one of our oak trees. She said that many old trees shed their inner trunk wood to reduce weight. The inside is the dead part of the of the tree. The outer layer is the only living growing part.

I was Fascinated with the " My side of the mountain" story when I was a Kid. The book was good. The Movie was Silly. I've lived the outdoor Lifestyle since then. And Now I Have a House in the Rockies on My Side of the Mountain. Great video! Best Wishes! M.H.

There was a huge sycamore on the banks of the Mississippi that was so big, 3 or 4 people could sleep in it with a small campfire in the middle. About 20 years after I last stayed there, wind blew it down, roots and all.

I live in Western Illinois. The largest sycamore and oak tree I've ever seen are west of me and only about one mile apart. Both are huge!

I'm a direct descendant of Samuel Pringle. He and his brother John also had wives living with them. They lived there 4 to 7 years.

Here in N. TN....we have a old growth back in a haller off a small gorge that follows one the major running water ways that run backwards..along this gorge many old native American rock hangs where they said for over nights ..many many wonderful points have been found..but there is a deep limestone crack that runs to the flood plain of this ridgeline that looks like the deepest outback u can find in Australia..but smack dab in the middle of this bare bones dirt plain with a amazing cave entrance above it about 20 yards back..but the sycamore that resides there is as big a bluebird bus..and hollow at the base with..wait for it... rock placed stepping stones down into a chamber below the cave..it doesn't connect..but the is a deadfall inside from past fallings..so it did connect at one time..with a ancient hickory stump in the void..many nappings litter the ground inside..and a few cannon balls embedded in the cliffs beside the old tree from a confederate artillery range ...I don't wanna say the camp name .. although most people don't don't know the name of this camp but if they was to hear it and look it up they can figure out the location and then you'll be trespassing on some land that is not safe to trespass on let me tell ya.. sometimes Rock hunting is a dangerous game especially when they got an old Farmers growing s*** out there in the back that they don't want you to knowing about and it's a good walk to get back here now not to mention the den of coyotes back there which we kind of think might be red wolves.. needless to say there's a giant hickory on the top of the hill where the cave and the sycamore is located that has a pointing arm that was trained to point the way a native American Indian pointing tree... Probably one of the last ones in the country and if I give up its location I put it in jeopardy and I damn sure I'm not going to put it in jeopardy.... Cuz that game show is hard.. not to mention that's my point hunting grounds I catch anybody else out there picking up my airheads... oh buddy!

My urban-suburban 70 yr old home in Ohio has 2 Sycamores in the front yard planted when the house was new. The entire street is lined with Sycamores.The bark peelings are prolific this year. I do the same thing with them as the leaves in fall. I rake them into piles and shred them with a mulching mower with a bag and spread the result in the shrub beds around my house. I've never had to buy a bag of mulch at the big box. I see them out my living room window now and feel blessed to have them. Oh and so does the squirrel sleeping in the trunk knot hole poking his head out for fresh air.

✨love this trek back in to history. .I’ve got a real sympathy for the early reaches of this country in how settlers had to (literally) carve a homestead before building a cabin and farm . . ..I must have lived another life then because I get all misty eyed listening to the music of that era and visualizing life as it was then ..thank you for this glimpse of raw nature . .🌳

I read My Side of the Mountain back in fifth grade, and was amazed how he survived a whole winter in a tree! I guess this shows how that is possible. Thank you!

Husband is from Buckhannon and had told me about that tree. Even standing in front of its offspring, it is difficult to understand a couple of soldiers living inside of it for a couple of years. The last tree in Ohio is fantastic, though. With the entry area and a crawl through area to a more sheltered section, it is a brilliant hideout and shelter. Was it hollowed out enough to be a chimney to have a fire? Though it lacked the camouflage and filter of leaves in the tree, walling yourself into the isolated halt and having a wind draft for a fire makes it ideal. You could not afford a large fire but would you need one (big fire)? I don't think my great grandchildren would share the benefit of such a tree if i ran out and planted a sycamore, right this second. Too bad! Great video!

I measured a sycamore tree about 7 years ago, on the banks of the Guyandotte River close to Salt Rock, West Virginia. It wasn't hollow, still one solid trunk and measured 13' 3" in diameter at 5' up. True story.

Jon Townsend would probably find this fascinating.

Every little boy and girl knows the joy of climbing trees and seeing this reminded me of this fact and I loved climbing up inside the the hollow chimney of an old Oak Tree which is home to hundreds of different creatures.

How incredible and beautiful those trees are!

I would have loved to see this country's forests before man logged them. I got some big sycamore on my land in Kentucky. Recently had a very large hollow one go down in a bad storm. Gonna miss that old tree.

I recognize this voice, he has another KZfaq Channel and is a really articulate Storyteller. I like this format too, *something bout Exploring and Storytelling that goes together so well.*

'And we could live in a hollow tree, Grow up old and bury the sea.' -Replica, Beck

I love the mindset to preserve these old trees. The area I live in very few seem to care for the preservation of trees . I’ve watched over the decades as millions of mature hardwood pine mix forests have been decimated by billionaire timber companies. Wiping out hundreds a species only to be replaced with two GMO type pines . I’ve watched the animal life and many bird species disappear in these areas . Seen Millions of oaks , hickories , magnolias , beeches , dog woods , persimmons , ashes , elms and others pushed up and burned in rows . No tree hugger but they could have left 20 percent of the old growth trees. Cut right up to roads and streams , leaving a biological desert . Know of a multimillionaire contracter in town that wanted to build a subdivision that had a - who knows 400 year old Spanish oak on it - it was gorgeous snd stately . No one cared if he built the subdivision , the community just didn’t want him to cut down the Oak. He was told by a judge to cease and desist from cutting it down or pay a big fine . He sent some of his men in the middle of the night to cut the tree down and said he’d just pay the fine . This is the attitude you get when you’re used to getting your way because you’re rich in a relatively poor area and money is all that matters . Just made me sick . Killed something that could never be replaced to build one house and he was already a very , very wealthy man .

I really enjoyed this. My mother's ppl came from S.C. and my daddy's ppl are from Alabama. I am from Georgia. We have DEEP Southern roots just like this tree.

I live in washington and sometimes while out mushroom picking or fishing you can find tree trunks that are massive.there are pictures from when the town was just a logging camp and they would have a cart and 4 horses to pull that cart as well as 20 or 25 guys all sitting on the massive tree trunk it is truly awe inspiring and honestly makes me a little resentful that something that majestic was cut down without any regard for the facts that they are irreplaceable and were hundreds of years old.fact is we still don't have any trees that have grown to that size in all the time since then and most likely we wont see anything like it for several hundred more years if ever.some of those trees were alive for decades before the discovery of America by whomever it was. the native Americans or the Vikings or Columbus and from some studies perhaps people from the Asian lands china Japan ECT.ect.

I found a large hollow sycamore tree several years ago, while duck hunting. It was probably 7 to 8 ft in diameter.

A cylinder, even hollow is quite strong. Oaks in Britain have reached a very ripe age and are hollow. Also, I know a Japanese folktale in which there was a lying contest. The first speaker explains that in his province they had an ox that could drink Lake Biwa dry in one gulp. The second speaker said that in his province they have have a hollow tree that was so large it could fit 100 tatami, or whatever the word is. The last man spoke and told of two cedars that grew to the clouds. The first two were unimpressed and belittled his lie. He said that it was not important exactly how tall they were. It was how they were to be used. We will kill the ox and use his hide to make a drum using the great hollow stump. The cedars will make for nice drumsticks. He was given the seat of honor. Please forgive any errors because English is my native language.

I've never seen a giant sycamore tree but I had the privilege of growing up in CA (before it went to crap. Still live here but trying to get out) and my favorite place is Yosemite, is home to giant Sequoias. My church has a private camp in Yosemite called Camp Wawona (one of the last privately owned properties in the National Park) and I was taking a group of teenagers backpacking summer of 2016 and we had to pass through Mariposa Grove where a lot of the giant Sequoias are. The Grove was closed to visitors for some maintenance that year but we were passing through the back side of it and because we were affiliated with the camp, we had right of way to pass through legally. Unfortunately, that was a very dry summer and we ran out of water the first day with no fresh running water sources to pump from. We made camp right there in Mariposa Grove and I have to say it's one of the coolest things I've ever gotten to do. The kids had come back from "talking to a man about a horse" (going to the bathroom) and said they'd actually found a bathroom. I didn't realize we were that close to the main path for the grove. The next day I headed out to do my business when I heard tractors and workers coming my direction and, even though I was ok to be there, I didn't want to have to explain anything and get caught up with the Rangers so I ran to the nearest Sequoia and ducked inside. It was one of the smaller dudes in the forest but I was able to stand up straight and get deeper inside so as to not be detected. Seemed like they talked right outside forever but finally walked away and I booked it back to camp and told the kids and staff to get their gear on because I wasn't sticking around to be found and questioned. It sure was exciting though! I imagine if the workers had come just a bit closer they might have spotted me and probably would have flipped out which makes me giggle to think about. 🤣 as bad as the no water situation was, I'll never forget the night spent with the giant Sequoias and I hope the kids don't forget either. That's a once in a lifetime type of thing that pretty much no one is permitted to do ever. I'm sure park Rangers would have asked us to move or even cited us if they'd found us there as we were allowed to travel through but not to stay the night. Thank God we don't use tents on those trips or everyone wouldn't have already been packed up ready to bug out. Anyway, I get a little joy when I get to share that story. There's more to it but I don't want to get retroactively fined for something that was stupid and I shouldn't have done, especially during the summer in that area which ended up turning out just fine.😅 if it hadn't, I'd probably would be in jail right now and you'd be reading a very different story written by someone else with a splashy headline. 🤣 Btw, My Side of The Mountain is probably why I am the way I am when it comes the wilderness. I'm just a different type of gal.🤣

I was born in 1962 in STL Co Mo. We had a huge sycamore tree in our yard I believe it’s still there, I’m going to have to get a closer look. Childhood memories last like a sycamore in our mind.

I am going to have to order the book TODAY for my grandkids. I read "My Side of The Mountain," many times as a child.

Yes I can take you to a really large sycamore tree it's located on Route 79 about 12 miles south of Hannibal Missouri overlooking the Mississippi River. I found it years ago when I was coyote hunting and Bobcat hunting in that area

Interesting. I have often wished I could travel back about 250-300 years to see the forests that covered the eastern US. Too bad they were destroyed.

I worked on a ranch near kerrville Texas. Cimarron ranch. Its owned buy the guy that owns golds gym. Never met him. But they got an oak tree there, huge, it was used buy Indians hundred years ago. Found arrows there. Flint. Them old oaks got history. Of you ever go to Oklahoma, Texas, check out the oaks there.

todays trees are mere bushes compared to the ones that existed in pre-settlement times. One day they will return if enough land is protected from logging and development.

You did a very good job sir. You deserve a lot of praise for your work. A very interesting top well covered!

I read 'My Side of the Mountain' when I was a little kid. That was more than a book for me, it was a whole adventure in my head, like I day dreamed all the time about escaping to live in the woods. Now that I think about it, I was only ten years old and already life was a rat race. There was a large area of woods near where we lived in the suburbs, the woodsy area was 2 miles by 5 miles, pure undeveloped. We used to get lost in those woods all day every day in the summer. Build forts, paint our faces with 'Indian Paint Pots' which were just these round rocks with various colors of iron ore clay in them, yellow to red and black. So, 'My Side of the Mountain' was made into a movie? All the kids fitting in that tree was cool. It was shocking when the camera switched and this guy became such a baby face.

I am so happy you came across my feed😁👍🏽

I am so glad I found you. That was amazing!

I've always loved Trees. The sycamore is one of my favorites.

KZfaq recommended this video to me and I'm glad it did. By the way also, I read the book as a youngster about "My Side of the Mountain" and I found it very interesting. We have a gigantic sycamore tree here in Illinois Indiana that has a base that the trunk that is more than 12 ft across. The old tree is decades-old and it was blown over in a storm back in the fifties. Since it was the largest and oldest tree of its kind in the county, it was hauled into town and displayed inside of a building in one of our local parks put on display.

Much respect man!!! You put legitimate hard work,research, and effort into this video. Excellent job

I was about 12 when the movie "my side of the Mountain," was released. After seeing that movie I began a lifetime of love for the woods, from the pines in Oregon to the Sycamores in Kentucky...

If your out in the yard clustered up around a fire, there’s little wonder you can’t see stars and it’s so dark otherwise Cottonwoods are a fast growing, short lived tree hat can live 200 yrs but most are dead in 70. Sycamore’s are slower growing but the tree tends to hollow out after 50 years. They have been known to live as long as 250 years.

my goodness... i have always absolutely loved trees... and so glad to see this video.. thank you for seeking what im too old and tired to do

My great great great grandfather hollowed out a sycamore tree and lived in it for a long time.

I'm 70 yrs. old. When I was 19,I was employed to my brother who was a lumberjack . We were contracted to cut a sycamore tree near Plain city Ohio. My brother used a Disston twin cylinder chainsaw which had a 7ft. bar with a handle on the end of it. One person held up the motor while the other the end of the bar. We had to cut a three foot deep chunk out of the trunk in order to get the 7ft. bar though the butt log. I counted 377 rings in the stump and had to quit because my brother was moving to the next tree, this tree Still had about 24 inches of rings yet to be counted. the really incredible thing was that this tree was NOT HOLLOW! I WANTED CRY!!!

A tree with a family tree. Pretty cool.

Excellent.. much needed little known history. In 'Tales of the Pioneers' (I listened to it; Books on tape 1990), one of the stories was of a native American Indian that has to shelter in a tree hollow during a snow storm in what is now Ohio. Perhaps the same tree that was shown.. but the description was of a smaller hollow.. as I remember.

I grew up in Clarke County, Virginia. Stunningly beautiful mountains and Shenandoah river.

Well done. I am glad I found your channel.

Is that Where the Saying, " You're Outta Your Tree Came from ???? "

Amazing the many ways the Lord provides! A safe haven in a wilderness!

Over 700 yrs old….amazing! Can you imagine the impressive trees that once dotted this Land!

Awsome video love your content this video was very informative.

Outside of Waverly Ohio along Crooked Creek there was a large sycamore hollowed out that leaned out over the creek. We nailed 2x4 steps up inside about 10 feet to a hole that used to be a limb and could look down at the water. Much fun as a wayward kid. We also used to climb around on the Logan Elm, it's just a memory now.

Down in Puyallup washington there is an old tree that's been cut down at about 8 foot that has a roof and a normal size door. I first seen it when I was a kid. And fifty years later it's still there.

This just turned up in my feed and I really really loved it. My side of the mountain is my all time favorite book. I can't even describe how much it impacted me, my childhood and now adult life. I'm always planning my run to that tree.

Wow, such amazing trees and wonderful stories from earlier times. Thank you!

Just east of buffalo, mo. at Big John river access there stands a sycamore tree that has a tunnel through it, and a trail goes through it. I've not measured it, but it's huge.

There’s one in our pasture that’s 8ft from one side to the other.

This was great! Thank you very much

Very cool info bud. Thanks!

There used to be a huge River Sycamore on the banks of the Green River in South Central Ky someone put an old 12ft John Boat on it as a door. Never measured it but several men could sit inside.

I love this book so much!!!

That was great! Thanks so much for sharing and keeping things like this alive for us to appreciate! You too should write a follow up book to the original.

ok. not only does my familiarity w/ my side of the mountain run way back into the 70s , but I grew up in the woods & love trees , crave American history , have been brednspread in the S.East & can't believe some of the great details about these topics in this video . I cannot believe I hadn't heard of this more than in a casual passing . Nicely done!

I read that book in elementary school! I remember he called an animal Frightful I think? Good book.

We played inside of one in our front yard growing up. My dad attached an iron ladder inside, so my sister and I could climb up to the crotch. We thought we were Royalty sitting up there. We live in Pennsylvania woods.

We have a historically large cedar tree hidden in the depths of the great Dismal Swamp here on the border of NC and VA, at a state park called Merchants Mill Pond. They do a guided hike out there once a year I'm told. Have yet to visit. Also, in NY we have some pretty big oak trees that have indications that they were ritual sites of some sort, with rings of stones circling the trunk at about 50 feet from the base. Lots of Forrest folk lore in Central New York. But you'll have to find a Keeper to take you there. That's if they don't intentionally try to get you lost, first. I think my friend wanted me to feel that I had earned the privilege by trucking many miles to see it. It was well worth it, and it revealed to me a hidden culture that still exists today. If you hear a twig break when your alone in the woods... it might be the Keeper of that forest.

Awesome dude! Loved it! Makes a lot of sense.

If I can ever buy land someday, one thing that I'd like to do is create some kind of environmental land trust, where it would be legally agreed upon that no one would cut the trees in some part of the land, or the whole thing, forever, that is, until our legal system collapses and we no longer recognize legal paperwork from the 2020s or whenever it will be that I own land. There are some land trusts that already exist, for environmental protection, but I would specifically mention not cutting the trees as part of the trust.

Incredible. I love to find huge trees like this. But have never seen a sycamore even close to this

This was wonderful!! Thank you. I’m subscribing🤗🐝❤️

just found your channel today and I really enjoyed this video and I love history of Appalachia (History in general actually lol). I'm from Kentucky and there are a few hidden gems here as well!

There is a story of one our ancestors who floated down the Ohio River on a raft and when he landed he lived in the hollowed portion of a huge tree. From reading this it most likely was a giant Sycamore tree. Thanks for this video as it sheds a little little on this ancestor. Name Andrew Anderson.

This is cool. I am 78 and ALWAYS, ESPECIALLY IN MY YOUNGER YRS.I always wanted to "tent out" wherever. Of course, it never came to fruition. I had children and husband. LOL.Think of ALL the money one can save by living in a tent(OR TREE). LOL. It is STILL a great idea.LOL. Thanks for the vid.

Wow ty for sharing Just subbed!!

Thanks brother for this video. It’s simply amazing to see these huge trees and to hear the history of uses for them. My dad used to have a huge sycamore tree I grew up climbing; sadly it was cut down and 20 years later I still miss that beautiful tree. Forever in my heart and mind.

Awesome You need to go tour Beall Woods State Park in Southeastern Illinois It's the largest stand of virgin timber on the east side of the Mississippi

I belive 'My Side of the Mountain' stirred the imagination of more children than Mark Twain's books like 'Tom Sawyer'. And to think some of those old trees are still around and growing...Amazing! Those are National Treasures.

That was awesome! Thanks for sharing

I loved My Side of the Mountain. It is one of a very few books I've reread. Even as recently as last week I thought being able to live in one was an exaggeration. I had no idea they could be that big. Thanks!

My old home place has a scyamore that if four men held hands in a circle they might reach around the tree. I played many days near that big tree

Very good job. when I was a boy I liked to pick up the sycamore balls and throw them to watch the seed fly. The sycamore seems to be very scarce now.

Great documentary. Very interesting and awesome stuff. Thank you

Wow, great video nicely put together.