Tree House - Muddy Pond ( Mennonite Community ) Ride.....

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

We took off this morning ( 3 ) Valkyries ( 1 ) Yamaha Warrior ( 1 ) Kawasaki KLR . We had nowhere in mind to go as we made our fist stop we was shootin' the chit about this and that and the tree house came up and Larry the warrior rider had never seen it ...Cool ROAD-TRIP . We took all backroads today ridin' along with the beautiful Obed River for many of those miles.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

The tree house is 5 story's tall with a crow's nest at the top ( I went all the way to the top today..What a RUSH ...I did a search as I was posting this and found this lady's impressions of the tree house...Copy/ Paste below of her comments...

Have you ever seen the movie Swiss Family Robinson’s tree house? Well imagine a tree house that makes theirs look like a child’s backyard fort For my husbands birthday his friends took us to see a tree house. I did not believe it was actually a tree house at first. I mean it looks more like a mansion as you approach it. It is five stories tall with a bell tower. It is built around five large trees and encompasses ten thousand square feet. That is not a misprint it really is ten times the size of most houses. It is the most unique tree house I have ever seen and quite impressive I must say. We thought it was a hippie commune at first due to the size and religious memorabilia that is every where. The place has a deck on every level and appears to still be a work in progress. I talked to several people who say they have been coming here for fourteen years now. So When I got home I did some research to find out more about the place. I found out that it was indeed built by a preacher and that he built it all with hand tools and scrap lumber because it was a it was a calling from God for him to build it. My husband remarked how lazy it made him feel seeing how much work one man did with nothing more than hand tools. The place is called the Minister’s Tree house and is located on Beehive Lane in Crossville, TN. There is a stair case that winds around one tree to go to the bell tower. The wood surrounding it is small scraps nailed into a unique pattern. There are benches every where so you can sit and relax a spell. The third story houses a church and there are even bunk beds built into several of the rooms. I thought the herb garden that was fenced in was pretty neat. Then there are a couple of large fire pits and a babbling brook that runs nearby. The porch swing will seat three or four and is made in such a way it clears the steps leading up to a deck. There is a stage out back and extensive rock work everywhere. The sweat lodge across the road is made of sheet metal and resembles a teepee. It is such a magnificent place to visit but plan on spending the day and having a picnic lunch if you really want to see it all. I can’t believe I had never heard of this place before now considering how close it is to me. There is no cost to visit the place at this time but it does close at dark. There are signs that say no trespassing but we were told it is so no one will sue if they do something stupid and get hurt. Someone also said that the place had been vandalized and I cannot understand why anyone would want to tear up something of this type. So please be respectful if you do visit because it is something that I feel everyone should see because that is how awesome this place really is.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Took a few picture of the biggest tree holding this thing up.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Here's a few shots from the crow's nest it was rockin' even with the light wind today.First pic is the bikes from the top...



One man hand built this entire " thing " with only hand tools....You can see his love for the Lord everywhere...I heard he's dead now but don't know that to be sure.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Couple more pictures ...





Someone called this a sweat lodge     This is as close as I was gettin'.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

After leaving the treehouse we rode over to Muddy Pond ,Tennessee my ridin' bud Greg was needing to buy a few items for his Interstate. Again we took backroads and found some nice twisties in doing so.Picture is the Leather Shop in Muddy Pond this guy makes beautiful saddles and has a building full of anything hand-made from leather.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Classic middle of nowhere I don't know the name of the road or the nice creek that runs along beside it...We had gas and did'nt care it was a beautiful day in The Great State Of Tennessee today.

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

Great pics Joe as always. Never been to the treehouse and will have to plan a run over to there and also check out the leather shop. Thanks for sharing your days adventure. 

[Tundra]

Nice pics, cool place! I'll bet no moss grows under your bikes! Always rolling.

[Crazyhorse]

Great pic's Joe and a very interesting house. How is Al doing haven't heard anything from him since the Shiloh Ride.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Great pic's Joe and a very interesting house. How is Al doing haven't heard anything from him since the Shiloh Ride.

Al's doing good he rode with us yesterday on The Treehouse Ride. That's him on the wall his KLR is just out of the picture.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Here's the 'scoop' on this treehouse:
-It rises 97 feet into the sky!
-The support for the treehouse is 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 that its foundation is in God.
-The treehouse has 10 floors, averaging nine to eleven ft. in height.
-It was built by Horace Burgess, who says that he built it for everybody. He calls it God's Treehouse.
-Burgess says that he has never measured its size, but estimates it to be about 8,000 to 10,000 square feet.
-Burgess (for some reason) has counted the nails that he has hammered into the wood---258,000 give or take a few hundred!
-Burgess said that most of his materials are recycled pieces of lumber from garages, storage sheds and barns.
-Burgess said that the Lord told him: "If you build me a treehouse, I'll see that you never run out of material."
-In his 14th year of construction, he is not finished!
-Burgess said that he thinks he has sunk about $12,000 into the project.
-Burgess 'claims' that it is the WORLD'S largest treehouse- and nobody has ever challenged this statement!