Minister's Tree House

The final chapter of my Crossville, TN visit was so awesome and special that I had to write a separate blog post just for it. My friend Matt kept our last stop a secret from me. All he would tell me was “Trust me it's going to be awesome” which made me nervous because if you know my friend Matt, there is no telling what he is taking me to. As we drove closer and closer to the location my anticipation grew. Then finally through the trees a wooden structure appeared and I was blown away by what I saw. Let me show what I was looking at before I continue.

Yes, it what you think it is. A monster sized tree house! To be specific it is the Minster’s Tree House and it is believed to be the largest trees house in the world. It took Horace Burgess 14 years to build the tree house.  The structure stands 97 feet tall and it’s supported by six other strong trees.

Burgess says he started working on this giant tree house after he had a vision back in 1993. God spoke to him and said “If you build me a tree house, I’ll see you never run out of material.” And so he spent the next 14 years building God’s tree house using only salvaged materials.

I must say that this is a must see. With winding hallways and staircases it is a never ending world  of fun.  You can even go up a flight of  stairs to the top of the towers and ring the church bells, which are made out of old oxygen or argon tanks which have been cut in half. Here is a shot of the church bells with me beside them.

Here is the view from the top of the tower. As you can see in the grass a cross with rays coming off of it, an American flag, and Jesus in the foreground.

 As you walk through the tree house you will notice that some pathways lead to a wall or nothing, but that just adds to the fun of everything kind of like a maze. You can make your way to the middle of the structure and find where they actually hold church services every Sunday! There are 3 stories of balcony seats and floor level seats. This is a view from the pulpit in the church.

This is a hand carved wooden bible that the preacher preaches from. And on the left side of the wooden bible engraved on it is the word "His" and the right side "Word". 

 I talked to one of the caretakers of the tree house and she says it’s one of the only churches where bringing your pet is encouraged. I think that's pretty awesome if you ask me. As you walk outside you will notice a chair swing hung from the top of the structure that you can swing on and trust me it’s a ton of fun. This is a shot of the swing/chair and me just a swinging.

Another thing think that the Minister’s Tree House caretakers do is take in abused horse, 21 as of January 5, 2012 when we was there. The horses are super friendly and love people to come and see them. Here is the horse named "baby."

Here are some bonus shots of the Tree House

In conclusion, if you ever have the opportunity to stop by the Minister’s Tree House in Crossville, Tennessee I would definitely recommend it. It was a ton of fun but if you do stop by make sure you have plenty of time, like at least an hour, because it takes about that long to look at everything that is there to see. I have plans to go back this spring because the caretaker informed me that in the warmer months they allow people to walk out to the pond just beyond the tree house where wild flowers grow. Well this finishes up my Crossville Adventure trip but be sure to check back for new stuff coming soon.