Bottle Trees - A Curiosity of the Ozarks

Bottle trees are, more and more, a rarely found delight. What the heck are they, strange looking garden adornments, or much more? One of the finest collection of bottle trees to be found anywhere is at Quigley's Castle in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. A few years ago, I did a gig for Fodor's Great American Vacations, and got this shot while researching the travel info. Pictured above are just a few of the amazing bottle trees on the grounds, and included in the shot are some of Mrs. Quigley's rock sculptures.

Reluctant to visit what I perceived as a second-rate $20 bill catcher, I was delighted by what I found inside the mammoth hedges of this curious place, especially the largest collection of bottle trees I've ever seen. In the Ozarks, backwoods people believed that if they put saved bottles--blue ones were the best, especially if they once carried Milk of Magnesia -- then the spirits would be attracted to the colored glass and they would fly up into the bottles and get trapped.

Hey I'm a believer.--Ruth Mitchell

To see more photos of Quigley's Castle and some of the other attractions listed in the book, visit my travel article on worldisround.com.