About

Locating and documenting the bottletrees in Hillsborough, NC, and the surrounding areas in Orange County. Please help us get the word out by sharing this blog with your friends and neighbors! You can click “Follow” in the bottom right hand corner of the screen to get an e-mail each time we get a new bottletree.

You can contact us at hillsboroughbottletrees@gmail.com.

FAQ:

Where is Hillsborough?

Hillsborough is located in Orange County, in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, USA. It’s a wonderful small town on the edge of a relatively large metropolitan area, the “Triangle” of Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh.

How do I submit my bottletree?

Send a photo (or a few) to our e-mail address, along with anything else you want to include about the bottletree. We’d like to know your name and address, but you can request that we not put it on the site. Please tell us what inspired you to make it, what materials you used, any resources you found to help you, and anything else you want to share!

What was the inspiration for this project?

We read John Claude Bemis‘s trilogy, the Clockwork Dark. In the first book of the series, The Nine Pound Hammer, the characters rely on bottletrees for protection from evil. We won’t say anymore, so you have to read it. šŸ™‚

Who is working on this project?

Two kids from Hillsborough and their dedicated mom. We started the blog when the kids were in third grade. Now in middle school, we’re not slowing down!

What is the goal of the project?

The main goal is to show a unique feature of our community. Also to get people to notice the cool stuff people have in their yards as they drive around. Maybe find out why it is such a common thing in our area.

What is the deal with bottletrees anyway?

Bottletrees come from an ancient belief that you can trap evil spirits in glass bottles, so you put them in your yard for protection. They are part of southern folklore and heritage, but the tradition goes back hundreds, maybe thousands, of years.