Forgotten by all but this tree spirit, an old cross rests against an overgrown evergreen whose branches reach the ground in a wide protective, hiding circle. What lies under that cross, that caused this tree to manifest a circular cross-shaped, wide-eyed, open-mouth horror as it grew old standing guard?

This cross rests at an old Quaker graveyard, site of the start of the Brandywine Battle between British and Colonials in 1777 and where hundreds of soldiers of both sides were buried in communal graves. The Meetinghouse and its members were also on the route of the Underground Railroad that helped escaped slaves head North to freedom so it might be from this time as well. It is said there are unmarked gravesites in this section of the cemetery that date from this Civil War era. Old Kennett Meeting, Kennett Square, PA.