Every year this time the season, Will and I gather the smooth, varnished, wood-grain-gleaming nuts of St. Michael Church, Main Street sidewalk, even if we don't have a clue what they are.

A prickly husk yields what I suspect to be a buckeye, but a quick check on Wikipedia didn't solve the mystery.

Regardless, it's a beautiful nut, one worth gathering, even if only for the touching, the looking, the bonding of autumnal tradition.

Whenever the mayor and city council get around to it, a top candidate for official nut of the Mountain City, whatever this nut may be...