Creative uses of sycamore hollows

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making it Grow. Sycamores not only tend to lose limbs, which makes nesting sites for bats, birds, and mammals, but they also tend to rot from the inside, leaving open spaces at their base. Back in the day, there were huge sycamore trees with hollow bases, people lived in them, kept horses and cows in them, had a famous dinner party in one. Sue Watts at the Horticulture Garden wrote about sycamores recently. In her references, I found a report of 28 people having dinner inside what they referred to as a cottonwood, but must have been a sycamore. And a reference about two brothers who lived in one until one got married and the other moved out. Hope the groom didn’t trip over roots carrying his bride across the threshold.