Amanda Frayer artisan // illustrator // designer

Powhatan Indians of Virginia made a sweet, milky liquor from the nuts of the shagbark hickory. The name hickory comes from their name for this drink, pokahichary. The genus name Carya comes from the Greek word for nut. These nuts are an important part of many animals’ diets. They are bitter, so aren’t very attractive to us. Colonial Americans called them pignuts because they thought them fit only for pig feed. The bitter, astringent inner bark of the tree was used to treat indigestion and fevers.

Hickory is considered the best wood for smoking meat. As a member of the walnut family, it produces strong and flexible wood. Its durable, shock-resistant timber was used by early American settlers for buggies and wagons.

In notes written in 1612, colonial English historian William Strachey mentioned a Native American myth about hickory smoke being used to help departing spirits of the dead find their way. Hickory nuts seemed to have been used in trade among various Native American people as tribes outside the growth range of hickory trees had names for the nuts and trees in their own languages.

Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United Staes, was called “Old Hickory,” which evolved from the nickname “Old Hero.” His men said he was “tough as a hickory stick” because of the strict discipline he used marching them several hundred miles out to the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812.

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Believed to bring the wearer: balance, discipline, flexibility, generosity, strength, transformation, unification

Other associations: solar plexus chakra, protection in legal matters, celebrating abundance

Spirit animals: peacock, phoenix, luna moth