The Canisteo Living Sign is a historic civic project that was built by Ed Childs and Harry Smith, donated to the Canisteo School District, that also served as a

navigational aid Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

, located at Canisteo in

Steuben County, New York Steuben County (stu-BEN) is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 93,584. Its county seat is Bath. Its name is in honor of Baron von Steuben, a Prussian general who fought on the American ...

. The sign consists of a set of 260 pine trees that spell out the name "Canisteo." They occupy a space approximately long and wide. The sign was originally laid out in 1933. ''See also:'' The sign was cleared in April 2016 and subsequently replanted beginning in May 2016 due to a number of dead and dying trees. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2004. The sign can be seen as an unconventional form of

hillside letters Hillside letters or mountain monograms are a form of geoglyph (more specifically hill figures) common in the Western United States, consisting of large single letters, abbreviations, or messages emblazoned on hillsides, typically created and main ...

References

External links

The Living Canisteo Sign picture
Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Individual signs in the United States Buildings and structures completed in 1933 Buildings and structures in Steuben County, New York Tourist attractions in Steuben County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Steuben County, New York Individual signs on the National Register of Historic Places 1933 establishments in New York (state) Canisteo, New York {{SteubenCountyNY-NRHP-stub