Tree houses. Do they even exist? (30 photos)

We know from nursery age that trees are a home for birds. Birds build nests in the crown and settle in hollows. Sometimes compassionate people build houses for birds themselves, which are commonly called birdhouses. But not only representatives of the bird kingdom settle in trees. Sometimes their residents are people...





House in a log

One day, an American named Lenom Moore was caught in a strong storm in the forest. The poor guy didn't know how to escape the elements. Luckily, there was a hollow trunk of a huge sequoia nearby.

This incident inspired Moore and his friend to build a full-fledged house in the sequoia. After a year of hard work, their idea was crowned with success.



A bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and even a living room were placed inside the giant log.





The creation turned out to be so successful that Moore decided to monetize it. The enterprising American put the log house on a mobile platform and travels with it all over California, allowing curious tourists to visit the unusual home for a small price.



Some of the readers may chuckle condescendingly. Well, look at your mortgage payment, which you have to pay for another 20 years. Maybe your own corner, even if it is so unusual, and also brings in income, is not the worst idea? ????

In general, there are many buildings made of trees in the USA. We will just briefly mention only a few of them.



A house "like visiting a fairy tale" (California).



A cozy gazebo made from a huge tree stump (Washington).



A cozy two-story house (California).



A souvenir shop in Redwood National Park (California).

Houses inside giant trees have been around in the US for a long time.



A mini-diner in Des Moines (California).



A restroom in Redwood (California).



A stable.



A hut.

Library in a Poplar

The desire for knowledge sometimes motivates people to do unusual things. Some of you thought that this is one of the types of small architectural forms, popularly called a toilet. In fact... it's a library ????



It is made inside a huge stump of a 110-year-old black poplar, which is located in the American city of Coeur d'Alene (Idaho).



The idea came to the mind of a local resident, Sharalee Armitage, and her idea was brought to life by carpenters.

But you won't be able to sit here under the cozy ticking of a wall clock. Because the entire library is just a bookcase with a glass door.



So the old poplar got a second life, and the locals got an unusual library.

Baobab Bar

Entertaining tourists and gaining knowledge inside a tree is certainly great. But what about having a drink and relaxing? This is the question that South Africans once asked themselves. Thus, an unusual bar inside a huge baobab in the town of Modjadjiskloof was born.



The hot spot included a bar counter, a tiny kitchen, and a hall with tables. The establishment was called Sunland Baobab Pub.



It could comfortably accommodate 15 people.



The word "comfort" is not written for the sake of it. Visitors were pleased not only by the strong drinks, but also by the thick 2-meter walls, thanks to which the temperature in the room did not rise much above 20 degrees - for Africa, this is a real Siberian coolness.



As you may have noticed, the pub is written in the past tense. Unfortunately, in 2016, the old baobab, which according to some sources was about 1000 years old, collapsed, burying it under an unusual pub ????

Although these trees are very resilient. Even after the pogrom caused by an elephant, the baobab can live on peacefully.



By the way, elephants also look for soft drinks in the baobab. No, not beer and cognac "three sevens". Baobabs have a unique feature of accumulating water. That's why elephants destroy trees for water.

Toilet in a tree

After a long period of drinking, you always want to visit the "hygienic room". In Africa, this is often a bad thing. But the residents of Zambia did not lose heart, and made an outdoor toilet for tourists in the trunk of a baobab.



However, hello.

It's good for the tourist, and it's good for the baobab - one must assume that the local sewage system is not very well developed, so the waste is drained somewhere under the roots of the tree.

Prison in a tree

However, if you get really drunk, there is a risk of spending time in an institution with bars. About 100-150 years ago, resourceful Australians kept criminals in the hollows of boab trees, a close relative of the baobab.

The most famous "tree prison" is the boab tree near the city of Wyndham. This is a thick tree with a circumference of 15 meters.



There was a natural hollow inside it. The police significantly expanded it, turning the tree trunk into a prison cell with an area of ​​9 m².



The boab prison was a temporary shelter for all sorts of scoundrels from among the local aborigines: some escaped from the plantation, and some refused to fish for pearls for free.



Here they are.

However, the boab prison turned out to be so-so.



Another living prison, this time in the vicinity of the city of Derby.

That is why prison trees became a tourist attraction at the beginning of the 20th century.

Tree-chapel

Isn't it time for us to think about the eternal? If you are of the same opinion, I present to your attention the oak-chapel in the Botanical Garden of Kutaisi (Georgia).



The chapel is located inside the hollow of an oak tree, which is about 400 years old. Despite the huge hollow, the tree is alive. Every spring it pleases visitors to the park with fresh greenery.

However, another chapel in a tree is much more famous. The unusual temple is located in the French town of Allouville-Bellefosse.



In the 8th - 9th centuries, an acorn sprouted in its vicinity. A century later, it had turned into a huge, handsome oak.

Apparently, the higher powers envied its strength and beauty. At the end of the 17th century, lightning struck the oak. The electric discharge was so strong that it burned out most of the tree's interior. However, after a while, new shoots broke through the blackened bark. And its twisted womb was chosen by the holy father Du Cerceau.



During the godless times of the French Revolution, the local Sharikovs wanted to destroy the oak. But this bitter cup of grief passed our hero by. In the end, he outlived both the Sharikovs and Napoleon and lived to see the day when the king sat on the throne in Versailles again.

The oak chapel, especially after it attracted the attention of Empress Eugenia, became a national celebrity.



The unusual oak has survived to this day. Of course, it has aged considerably - a thousand years and more, you know, is a respectable age. Therefore, it is supported both inside and outside by various supports.



Nevertheless, every spring it is covered with fresh leaves. Let's hope that the old man will outlive the current swindlers, and perhaps live to see the moment when France will have a king again.