Tree Houses Take a Bough

It used to be kid stuff, but these days more and more adults are building in trees to get high

  • By Suki Casanave
  • Smithsonian magazine, August 1997, Subscribe
 

Many of us fall in love with tree houses as children but leave them behind when we grow up. These days, though, more and more adults are rediscovering the joys of arboreal hideaways. Tree houses are in -- and branching out. They're the subject of best-selling books, workshops and exhibitions. Some people enjoy their lofty living rooms as weekend retreats; others use them as offices, or even as full-time residences. They serve as blinds for watching wildlife, religious retreats, dormitories and overnight resort suites.

Tree houses have a long history. From the Middle Ages on, tree arbors were popular in Europe. During the Italian Renaissance, the Medicis built a marble extravaganza in a tree. A town just west of Paris became famous in the mid-19th century for its arboreal restaurants. But the most famous tree houses of all time existed only in the imagination, including the one that was home to author Johann David Wyss' shipwrecked clan, the Swiss Family Robinson.

These days another author, Peter Nelson, has assumed the mantle of "Mr. Tree House." His book, Treehouses: The Art and Craft of Living Out on a Limb (Houghton Mifflin), has sold more than 50,000 copies since it was published three years ago. In October, Nelson and a host of other enthusiasts will gather at the Treesort in Takilma, Oregon, for the first meeting of the World Treehouse Association.


Many of us fall in love with tree houses as children but leave them behind when we grow up. These days, though, more and more adults are rediscovering the joys of arboreal hideaways. Tree houses are in -- and branching out. They're the subject of best-selling books, workshops and exhibitions. Some people enjoy their lofty living rooms as weekend retreats; others use them as offices, or even as full-time residences. They serve as blinds for watching wildlife, religious retreats, dormitories and overnight resort suites.

Tree houses have a long history. From the Middle Ages on, tree arbors were popular in Europe. During the Italian Renaissance, the Medicis built a marble extravaganza in a tree. A town just west of Paris became famous in the mid-19th century for its arboreal restaurants. But the most famous tree houses of all time existed only in the imagination, including the one that was home to author Johann David Wyss' shipwrecked clan, the Swiss Family Robinson.

These days another author, Peter Nelson, has assumed the mantle of "Mr. Tree House." His book, Treehouses: The Art and Craft of Living Out on a Limb (Houghton Mifflin), has sold more than 50,000 copies since it was published three years ago. In October, Nelson and a host of other enthusiasts will gather at the Treesort in Takilma, Oregon, for the first meeting of the World Treehouse Association.

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Comments (2)

Although I appreciate the best of America's Past, Could we start appreciating America"s present? I guess that's why we have magazines, here is my issue with America, our grocery stores are filled with pop culture bubble gum celebrities, one of my favorite issues of the Smithsonian, was the tree house issue. Wouldn't it be nice if these grocery store would offer a small space where kids could sit together, with a supervisor of course while mommy and daddy shopped quickly. Perhaps you could kick that over to the President as a private industry job that the corporations could pay for. It might bring back the old magazine business a bit. Kids thumbing through the magazines, and as a reward they could take one home. Of course since magazine make money from advertisements, it is good for them, as well as a positive private ethics standard and helpful parent helper, maybe we could feel like corporations care. They do it at the mall, why not the grocery store. Instead of plopping them down in front of a tv, here's the smithsonian, popular science, popular mechanics, etc. Rules: You may pick one magazine to look at and one to take home, no fee from the store, just a service offered to their customers in conjunction with the local library and your local government, with helpful things like how to books etc....Just a thought from the otherside of the refrigerator door. Little reading chairs, and handy wipes and kleenex, and all........ Winner winner Chicken dinner, or would that be socialism??????

Posted by hollis lee shea on October 8,2012 | 02:49 AM

my husand built an amazing tree house for our kids complete w built in bunk beds and electricity it is amazing I would love to have the tree house in a magazine or book I can take some pics for u and send them to u if u are interested hope to here from u soon our tree house is amazing

Posted by kelly conkey on August 5,2010 | 08:12 AM



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