“The Parker Family Tree”, the Parker family of Cass County, Iowa Its origins and passages by Mary Rendleman Gilchrist. Congrats to Mary, this is an extremely well-researched and put-together history of the Parker family who is credited with planting the tree in the middle of the road.
Tree in the Middle of the Road
Another example of regional microlore. I made up the word microlore. There must be a better word.
I am calling it microlore because I was unaware of it and I am a sucker for such trivia. Of course, nowadays the tree has web pages and facebook sites. Local secrets are less local now.
I am not sure I buy the hokey origin story as these things are often suspect especially when it is a minor tourist trap.