Horace Burgess’s treehouse may be as close to heaven as a body can get in Cumberland County.
It rises 97 feet into the sky, the support provided by a live, 80-foot-tall white oak 12 feet in diameter at its base. Six other trees brace the tower-like fortress, but Burgess says its foundation is in God.
“I built it for everybody. It’s God’s treehouse. He keeps watch over it,” said Burgess, who received his inspiration in a vision that came to him in 1993. “I was praying one day, and the Lord said, ‘If you build me a treehouse, I’ll see you never run out of material.”‘
And thus far, as Burgess sees it, the Lord has provided. Most of his materials are recycled pieces of lumber from garages, storage sheds and barns. Now into his 14th year of construction, he is not finished.
The treehouse has 10 floors, averaging nine to 11 feet in height by Burgess’s reckoning. He has never measured its size but estimates it to be about 8,000 to 10,000 square feet. He did count the nails that he has hammered into the wood — 258,000, give or take a few hundred. And he guesses he has sunk about $12,000 into the project.
Lots more incredible pictures over at Funster
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Wow, this is amazing.
Seriously? GOD? lmao… okay, whatever you say buddy.
If only that could find in my back garden!
wow that is amazing!!!
Nice! Interesting about ‘never running out of material’ . . . if the Lord did ‘provide’, why did it cost this guy $12,000 to build it?
“if you build me a treehouse, I’ll see that you never run out of material” provided that you also have $12,000.
Where is the freakin tree?
what! Its a tree mansion!
I want one!!
do you think he takes group bookings we could go there for our hols. lol
Best game of hide and seek ever. ROAD TRIP!
Anyone got a light?
I agree with the ‘WOW”s!
& i cant see any tree’s either.. Apart from the tiny ones around it obviously..
But VERY impressive!
Wow! I’d love to check this one out ! To see where the tree is, go through all rooms and little hall ways. Weird combination .. this very precise way of working with this other seemingly sloppy work. There is a dry part in it as far as I can see .. does he live in it? Or is it just an object of art? These seats he made … on which you barely can sit, it’s more like leaning your behind on it, not very comfortable. The church/theater like space in one of the pictures … Yes, i’d love to see it in reality!
My 1st reaction was how irritating it is when Americans say God talks to them… ‘God told me to invade Iraq’ ‘God told me to eat the last piece of pie’ :/
My 2nd reaction was, $12,000 for a mansion reallly isn’t such a bad thing! I mean sure it looks like a Hill Billies wet dream, but where can you get that kind of property for that price these days?
All it would take is one careless smoker to drop their fag, and poof, his house is gone.
(Please don’t take ‘fag’ or ‘poof’ as derogotary terms for homosexuals)
Holy crap! Now THAT is a house!
So not a case of….”If you build it, he will come then…..?”
And I bet this Horace is a non-smoker…….
LC x
I don’t see that anyone’s moved in yet…
I don’t like it and I bet its full of spiders.
When does a tree house stop being a house and turn into a mansion? I had a tree house as a child, and in comparison mine was actually a tree maisonette.
“If you build me a treehouse, I’ll see you never run out of material.”
With 10, 000 square feet of wood, and 258, 000 nails, God certainly does keep his promises….Although you have to wonder why God would even want a treehouse?
I want to spend Halloween in that house! You have to admit, despite being a so-called ‘Holy Treehouse’, it does look pretty scary!
“but Burgess says its foundation is in God.”
Well, that’s not going to be standing much longer then.
Good idea but 1st thing I thought was Amityville Horror… and 3 little pigs!
Though the guy is obviously a self-doubter… crediting an imaginary magic man with his own intestinal fortitude and hard work, it is equally apparent that he has amazing creativity and this masterpiece is absolutely amazing.
Thats not a tree house, it’s a house built around some trees, pfff.
He’s a bit bonkers, c’mon…
Seconded @ ferkles idea…
Also – better make sure your guests dont smoke – dont wanna put that bad boy out if it catches light!
I want it!
I wanted a tree house soo bad when I was a kid
I think its time for a transatlantic road trip!
God said “If you build me a treehouse, I’ll see you never run out of material.”
Looks like wood would be hard to get hold of where he is.
And he spent $12,000 on it? :L
Oohh great i would love to buy such a house but only if it has a fireplace included …
Oh that’s fantastic
. But at what point does it stop being a tree house and start just being a house?!
Tree-mendous.
Sorry.
How’s THAT for my first post! X
@MrSyd – You punned with aplomb. Welcome to the madhouse!
OK, so the guy might be a nutter. Who cares?
This is a wonderful piece of engineering, a work of art and a testament to the human spirit. Let’s just be happy for the guy.
This sounds like the modern-day successor to the Winchester Mystery House! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Mystery_House
Would you be interested in fire insurance for your treehouse ?You should,you know. The lord givith & the lord taketh away.
‘its foundation is in god’ no love its in a tree
this is a tree house it has a fridge http://treehouseholidays.com/
I’m with second impression here… I always thought the whole point of a treehouse is it had to be built halfway up a tree and have nothing but the tree to support it. If he’d built that up a tree, the tree would’ve collapsed.
If he wants to build something that scale and still call it a treehouse, he should follow the example of the ewoks and build it around several trees. I’m thinking he should have gone with the Jedi religion as his inspiration rather than the Abrahamic God.
only $12000?????? that oak at the bottom of my garden is my next home then!!!
Maybe he wanted to be a modern day noah, and incase of a flood have a tree-mansion. Then he can prove to everyone God really does exist!.. I myself am waiting for the day when he’s finished doing it up etc, and then very mysteriously the whole thing bursts into flames, and then maybe there will be a magical rain storm which suddenly appears and puts the fire out! And perhaps after there will be an earthquake out of no-where and it all tears down! We shall see.
This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I am also not so cynical and narrow minded to see that God told him he would never run out of materials, but did not tell him he wouldn’t have to pay for any. God provided the materials and God also provided MONEY to purchase what materials he needed. So as it lays out God is providing everything that he needs to complete this work.
So if this was God’s intention, wouldn’t he have just made it himself instead of making trees, then making a man to collect those trees to build a treehouse?
Haha any old excuse to build a treehouse. Craving nostalgia.