“Right Angle” Trees 
Grace Corr MELENEY 
The Island of Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of Massa- 
chusetts, presents many features of interest to scientific ob- 
servers. A state road runs east and west the length of the island 
for about twenty-five miles. It is along this much travelled high- 
way that rows of strange trees are to be seen. For many years 
we have called them “right angle” trees, for they are bent over 
parallel to the ground and later take a new lease of life, ap- 
parently, and straighten up again. Some appear to have grown 
that way naturally, and at first thought it would seem that the 
main shoot had died and a branch had taken its place, but along 
this highway there are too many such trees to lend probability 
to this hypothesis. Furthermore, their trunks or branches are 
usually bent in the direction in which the road runs. In fact, 
many of the more modern wire fences have become embedded 
in the trunks. 
Next, it was supposed that the prevailing wind might have 
been the cause of the malformation. However, these trees are 
surrounded by others that are straight, and they are well pro- 
tected from the wind except in one locality. At West Chop, the 
northwest point of Vineyard Haven Harbor and directly across 
from Woods Hole, the winds sweep across Vineyard Sound so 
fiercely at times that by continued blasts for many years, the 
famous wind-blown cedars have been produced. Near these 
trees are “right angle” oaks, but here again, the bent trunks are 
more often parallel with the road than with the direction of the 
wind. 
There are always city people in a summer colony who are so 
endowed with imagination that Indians play a prominent part 
in their ideas of the country. Indians, we were told, bent these 
trees over to mark their trails. But this idea had to be discarded 
because some of these bent trees almost touch their bent 
neighbors, 
Some of the great whalers of the world have been natives of 
artha’s Vineyard. Consequently, another explanation was set 
forth from the mariner’s point of view: these trees were bent 
over by the early settlers to produce natural right angle joints 
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