I picked up my Old Field Pt yesterday and upon examining it I noticed a red rectangular object underneath the tree. It's the tree towards the back left side as you look at the piece with the flag facing you. The tree that was redesigned. I can't make out what this object is since it's underneath the branches of the tree. Looks like it would have been noticeable with the old tree but the new one hides it with it's branches and leaves. Anyone have any ideas?

Looks like it might be a sled. You can see a line of footprints going up to it between the two buildings then on around the building on the left. Apparently the keepers children were just having fun in the snow.

Footprints in snow....How do you know it was the "keepers children"? Did the keeper have children? Maybe some neighborhood kids. Maybe the keeper (or assistant)? Big Foot?

Keepers children assumed because the footsteps start (end?) at the front door of the house. Assumed children because the footprints are REALLY small.

I just looked at mine and although there are footprints in the snow, there is no sled or red object at all. I do think that the shovel in the snow by the backdoor of the back building was a nice touch. Also there is a bricked in window on the first floor of the lighthouse. This also shows up on an old postcard that I have (circa 1915).

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Big Foot ? .........Maybe it's the return of the Seven Foot Troll...............just a thought

News flash! The Big Billygoat Gruff knocked the Troll off the bridge and was never heard from again. And I hope the same for the 7 Foot variety as well. Pull-eeez.

Curious about that bricked-in window.
Anyone know the story behind it?
Couldn't see any object under the tree on my piece.
It sits too close to the ground.

tnkeeper aka Debbie

I couldn't find anything about the bricked in window (I'm sure someone out there knows the story),but I did find out that the small building behind the lighthouse was the original keeper's dwelling and once served as the Old Field Village Hall (information from-Northeast Lights by Robert G. Bachand.) Great book if you can find it. I know it was out of print.

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The lighthouse is currently a village police station with the adjacent building a village court.
The leafless tree has still not been replaced. After looking at my HL you might need the Radio City Christmas tree to replace it.

David and I, while vacationing the last few days,
had the opportunity to examine several Old Field Pts.
The red object [sled?] under the tree wasn't visible on some.
The reason for this appears to be based on 2 factors.

1- The tree is set closer to the ground on some pieces
[no trunk showing] thus concealing the sled.
Or.

2- The sled is partially covered with snow.

In the case of my piece, #381, the latter is true. Had to use
a magnifing glass. At first I thought the tree was too close to
the ground to see it, but after seeing others which shows the
sled very clearly, mine appears actually to be BURIED
in the snow. Only about the width of a toothpick!
How can this be? I mean, isn't the snow part of the mold or
is it somehow added later?
I think HL should explain these variations. I understand all this
is probably due to the replacement of the original tree, but how can
the sled be covered with snow on some pieces while clearly
visible on others?

Debbie
Trying to "dig up" the facts AND my sled!

Sorry this is so hard to read... didn't appear cut up like this on my copy.
editing didn't help.
[This message has been edited by tnkeeper.]

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I just picked up my Old Field Point, and looked for the red sled. There is a little sliver of red, but it also looks like something was shaved down so the tree would fit flush with the base. Also if you look at the new brosure that shows the piece you can see a glint of red behind the old tree

I shot the following pictures of my Old Field Point #93 and my wife's Old Field Point #1973. Mine has the red sled under the tree and the lower tree branches sit higher off of the snow. My wife's has just a little piece of the red sled left and the bottom branches nearly touch the snow. The following links show the differences in the tree positions of the two from slightly different angles. They also show quite a difference in the painting of two trees. The one with the whole red sled having less snow, especially on the lower branches.

http://www.harbourlights.com/brady/Tree1_5.jpg

http://www.harbourlights.com/brady/Tree2_5.jpg

http://www.harbourlights.com/brady/Tree3_5.jpg

http://www.harbourlights.com/brady/Tree4_5.jpg

http://www.harbourlights.com/brady/Tree5_5.jpg

Paul L Brady

Can you get us a little tighter shot on the sled, Paul - rumor has it labeled 'Rosebud'.

Rgds,
__
/im (great photos!)

For those of you that are interested in post counts and word counts (Rod), the above post about the Old Field Point replacement tree is a total 5,101 words. After all everybody knows, that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Paul

Thanks Paul for the pictures.
It better explains my earlier post.
Alas! My sled is also nothing but a sliver.

Debbie

At an event in Tennessee I asked Bill Younger what the red thing under the tree was. He said it is a sled. Originally there was to be a sled under the bare tree but the sled was supposed to be removed when the new tree was added. I don't know how many have the sled but mine does (#158) and I have seen two in local stores (numbers around 650). This might be another Gray's Harbor situation.

I read elsewhere that the trees were removed by staff at HL headquarters (no small task considering 10,000 pieces had to be re-forested). So I imagine that each and every piece is a bit unique.

Bill - in VA

[This message has been edited by Old Salt (edited 12-12-98).]

Well the little red sled is on my piece #9726. Paul what did you use to get the great closeups?

Just picked up my new x-mas piece yesterday & the sled is hardly visible (#2556). Kind of a disappointing, but Old Field is still a nice piece.