Trees have long life spans, but eventually they too die of old age or succumb to diseases or get damaged in thunderstorms and hurricanes. When trees in urban spaces die and show signs of toppling over or breaking off, the city might decide to remove them for the safety of those around. The remaining stumps then provide a wonderful opportunity for wood carvers to showcase their talent and liven up the neighborhood at the same time.

Here are nine towns that show us that not all pieces of public art has to involve steel, granite and concrete.

The Orr Park in Montevallo, Alabama, the United States, has over thirty carved trees located along the park’s walking trail along Shoal Creek. The trees were carved by local artist Tim Tingle.

In 1983, a storm had hit Montevallo and caused a lot of damage to the wooded area of Orr Park. The city wanted to remove the damaged cedar trees, but local artist Tim Tingle stepped in and offered to have the dead trees turned into works of art. Tim began carving the trees in 1993 and over the course of several years carved figures, faces, and story book characters on the trunks of over thirty trees. The carved trees are now known as Tinglewood.

Photo credit: www.montevallo.edu