Man spends 14 years building the largest tree house in the world, but wait till you see inside

According to owner Horace Burgess, he was commissioned by God to build the house. “The Minister’s Tree House” is an alternate explanation.

Built on a foundation of six oaks, the ten-story home has about 250,000 nails. Construction began in 1993.
Taking into account all levels, the overall “living space” exceeds 3000 square meters.

Despite being built completely of wood, the house took 14 years to finish and cost about $12,000.

Who on earth would build anything so nefarious? Perhaps a crazy person, you’re thinking.

Horace Burgess claims that in 1993, God instructed him to build the tree house and promised him an infinite supply of wood.

God seems to have kept his promise thus far.

On top of having a penthouse on the tenth floor, the building also has a large center area that may be used for basketball games and prayer.

The half-ton church bell is also a part of it.

Visitors’ fingerprints and other artifacts adorn the structure’s numerous wooden planks.

The long-running residence was forced to close in 2012 as a result of fire code breaches in the area.

A major fire, which would be catastrophic for a structure constructed entirely of wood, has the local fire brigade worried.

Ultimately, it came to pass…
In less than thirty minutes, the 97-foot-tall wooden treehouse in Crossville, Tennessee—the biggest treehouse in the world—burned to the ground.

“If you build a tree house, you’ll never run out of material.” Architect Harold Burgess made the bold promise in an interview that started construction in the early 1990s. And so he did.

Locals gave their raw lumber over twenty years to build the Minister’s Treehouse.

A towering 80-foot white oak tree provided structural support for the five-story mansion, which contained eighty rooms (including bedrooms, classrooms, and a kitchen).

A twisting staircase connected the levels, and there was a large porch that wrapped around it. Featuring a towering cross, wooden benches, and a hand-carved Bible, the interior design skillfully blended the whimsical with the sacred.

Underneath the structure, the word “JESUS” was neatly cut into the grass.

The treehouse was popular among sightseers seeking an out-of-the-ordinary adventure due to its history of hosting religious events.

The state fire marshals temporarily shut down the treehouse as a tourist attraction in 2012 after multiple violations were discovered, such as the absence of a licensed design expert, uneven flooring that posed a fall hazard, exceeding requirements, and the lack of a load distribution system.

Put up a sign reading “Closed by the state fire marshal”; it was the order from the state fire marshal that Burgess followed to put the building closed. Bring your grievances to their attention.

Cumberland County incident Department Captain Derek Carter was already on the scene when local authorities were alerted to the incident.

Upon arrival, it appeared to be little more than a heap of debris. “We had to park 500 yards away because the fire was so intense,” Carter adds. Once firefighters got at the scene, it took about fifteen minutes to extinguish the fire.

Macy Leatherwood, a native of Pigeon Forge, spent Christmas 2018 at Cumberland Mountain State Park with her family.

The Minister’s Treehouse, with its enormous size and unique design, was “the highlight of the trip” as stated by Leatherwood.

Even though she was confined to viewing the house through the fence, the vista was still quite picturesque.

She was distressed to hear that the house had burned down. “My childhood vacation will always be filled with fond memories of that treehouse, and the trip itself will be treasured.”

While on vacation, Captain Carter went to the treehouse as a tourist before it was closed to the public and he called it “a deathtrap.”

He summed it up by saying, “It was very cool, but also very dangerous.”

The world’s largest treehouse is being shared, so please spread the word!