Crossville, Tennessee - The Minister's Tree House

My husband and I took our three children (11, 8 and 7) today. My 11 year old daughter was very scared. She said it reminded her of a horror movie. She actually started crying and wanted to get out as quickly as possible. My other two children were fine and had a lot of fun.

I think it is a neat concept and definitely something to be seen, but I wouldn't recommend it for people with small children. I was scared that one of my children would fall down the stairs or off the side of a staircase. [Amber C., 01/04/2010]

[RA: Are you sure you weren't mistakenly visiting Minister Caligari's Tree House?]

The treehouse is alive and well despite vandalism. We attended a wedding there this week and spent hours exploring the tree house before and after the ceremony. The groom's grandparents, aged 88 and 91, climbed up all but one floor and their 5 year old great-granddaughter climbed all the way to the bell tower. Others found several hidden passages and rooms. I kept waiting for Alice's rabbit to appear while others said they felt like Peter Pan.

I believe the treehouse may be the largest in the world. It has over 80 rooms, takes in 7 trees, is over 90 feet tall and just goes on and on. [Sharon, 10/16/2009]

A minister, apparently, was "spoken to" and decided to build this 5-story tree house/church, which is quite a thing to behold. It's totally open; the only signs I saw said "No Smoking." Everything was made from scrap wood, so the corners are not precise, and there are some off-kilter stairs and weird angles throughout.

There's a multi-story chapel with a stained glass window, a bell tower (though the "bells" were actually re-purposed helium tanks), and the view from the tower is great - including a field with JESUS written in flora. Awesomely weird! And free. [Bryan, 08/17/2009]

The Ministers Tree House was simply amazing! The tree house was 2 hours out of our way but totally worth it! We drove up and there were several visitors and a makeshift parking lot. We had our 2 year old, 9 year old and 16 year old with us! They all loved it. We were truly in awe of this amazing site! The gentlemen that built it was there but we didn't realize it was him until after he left (dangit!). Another man on the property shared that God told him to build it. Funny it reminded me of Noah's Ark. It was beautiful, well constructed and it felt somewhat spiritual. We didn't want to leave! We were actually late, didn't make it to our family reunion dinner because we stayed so long.

The man who built it doesn't charge a dime but my vote is that there should be a donation box. I'm sure he would distribute the money wisely!

BTW - there is a swing made of rope, duct tape and an old lawn chair for the kids (or adults) you can get on! It was a blast! [Shelley, 08/01/2009]

Pictures absolutely do not do any justice to the magnificence of this structure, if you're driving through Crossville, you MUST STOP. There's ample free parking so allow at least 30 minutes for looking around, taking pictures and climbing the bell tower to ring the bells. [Dan, 08/01/2009]