It was still in the field next to a few other trees, so presuming it was cut down for safety reasons, looked like its been there for while, the way its weathered.
Totally agree. So much character in trees. We love collecting driftwood around here. We go fishing and sometimes end up packing quite a few pieces in the boat. The yard might look messy to some people with all the driftwood piles, etc., but individually they are all beautiful pieces.