Andre Hartslief
The 100-foot-tall tree-house, at one time, the largest tree-house in the world, which was built by Pastor Horace Burgess and about which Burgess once said: “God inspired him to build it.” is no more… “On October 22, this amazing 100-foot-tall structure was totally destroyed in a fire,” the Knoxville News Sentinel reported.
According to Pastor Horace Burgess, “The spirit of God said, ‘If you’ll build me a treehouse, I’ll never let you run out of material,'”The project, which Burgess worked on for 19 years, soon became an international tourist attraction. Sadly, however, in August 2012, the State Fire Marshal of Tennessee said it was unsafe and ordered Burgess to shut it down.
The structure then stood vacant and dilapidated since it’s closing in 2012 for fire safety violations. It had become a frequent target of vandalism. On October 22, 2019, the treehouse and its supporting trees completely burned to the ground in a mysterious inferno which lasted about 15 minutes. Although the fire department responded, by the time they arrived there was nothing left to save. Fire officials said there was no electricity on the site and also no electric storms. The new owner of the treehouse had no insurance and declined to open an investigation. Burgess said after the fire, he was relieved, as, “It’s always been a pain.”
A VIDEO I MADE OF HOW IT LOOKED BEFORE, CLICK HERE
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Should the tree house have been a heritage site?
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Yes
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i am sad to listen that treess
I knew about this tree house but had no idea it burned. Devastating.
It is very sad Carol, there are several videos about the pastor’s treehouse and all of the photographers covering it were always profoundly touched by it. Yes, it is no more…
It’s heartbreaking but I guess it was very flammable. I wonder if anyone will try and build something similar.
Hi Linda, I believe you are right but it’s still is such a devastating spiritual loss.
It is interesting but the fire marshall was right, the fire risk was huge.
It is sad that this treehouse was destroyed by the fire 🙁
That is a shame that this beautiful work of art went up in flames. I had not heard that before. This was located in Tennessee? Which area or town?
Very sad to know that ………..
Too bad it had to burn down.
Very sad Thanks for commenting. Andre’
Sad to know that, this is big.
Indeed. It does sound a little suspicious with the new owner not being able to get insurance on the place, so it must have been a huge burden to try and maintain it.