Carpentry and Woodworking - Load bearing Newel post?

I recently purchased a home built in 1957 that has a few additions made by previous owners. Among the changes was two of the original small bedrooms were combined into one large master bedroom. In the center of the room, where the wall between used to be, is a newel post in the middle of the room with a low railing, such as one might see on a front porch. My question is - could/would a newel post be a load bearing structure? This post is pretty narrow at one point, probably not much more than 2 inches in diameter, and at the base of the post is a square of 3/4 plywood that is the 'decorative base' of the newel post.

I'd like to get this unsightly thing out of the way, but I don't know how to tell if it's load bearing. BTW the owner who did this is probably also responsible for using newel posts all thru the house as decorative trim. There are no less than THREE newel posts cut lenghthwise and used as trim for the window in front of me. None of the three match in size or shape!

It would depend on the direction of the truss work (ceiling joists) If they are running in the direction of the removed wall, you may be better off than you think. If not, then some sort of support may be needed. BUT this support can be above the ceiling. Let us know the direction of the joist work. A couple of pix posted on a site such as photobucket.com would help.

A cursory look at the eaves indicates that the trusses are inline with the newel post, so I think I might be okay, as you suggested. I'll post some pictures up so that those out there with real experience can have a look (thanks guys!). I think that the ceiling was already braced when the old load bearing wall (if indeed it was) was removed. There is a 'beam' that encompasses the heat/air ducts in it that hangs down about 8" or so from the ceiling.

Stay tuned for the pictures!