So weird…I was scouting Staten Island today near New Dorp Lane. Lacking quarters for the meters, I turned onto the suburban side streets and found a spot. I got out of my car…and felt like I was being watched.
Turns out, I was: by a tree!
Strange, especially since it was the ONLY one to be found. I think there used to be two eyes, judging by the nail. The parts are appropriately carved from wood…Is the tree sad it lost its limb?
Explanation, please! Pretty neat, incidentally, to see how the bark is slowly covering over the stump.
-SCOUT
Fun fact: “Dorp” comes from the Dutch word for “village.”
Just decoration, I think, though I personally don’t quite get the appeal! Various stores/catalogs sell these — if you do a Google search for “tree face” you should see some. In my neighborhood (Park Slope) there’s a building on 11th St between 7th and 6th that always does tons of decorating for holidays (and I don’t mean just the big holidays, I mean they have something up every month; it’s great) and they have a few tree faces too.
This might actually be from a kit – I know they make a few different kinds – that you add to the tree yourself to make “tree faces”. I’ve never seen one of those kits in person, so I’m not sure if they’re made of wood or if these ones you found are handmade.
I believe they’re sold in the Skymall catalog. I feel like that’s the only place where someone might actually buy them. Something about being 35,000 feet in the air causes people to make poor shopping decisions.
I find those things to be kind of disturbing:
http://www.onlinediscountmart.com/forest-faces.html
[...] Staten Island’s trees have their eye on you! [Scouting NY] [...]
Hey Scout, if you haven’t already…the nest time you’re in Staten Island, check out the Tibetan Museum and the Chinese Scholar’s Garden. You’d never know you’re in NYC in either place. Enjoy!
[...] One-Eyed Tree Jump to Comments From Scouting New York: [...]