Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published May 15, 2002

Reflections on a tree house

Birds have always known trees are hospitable to nests. So do squirrels. Children, especially little boys, are challenged very early to try to climb sturdy trees. Once they accomplish that feat, they realize what a nice place to build a tree house. I shouldn't have been surprised when our three young sons came to that conclusion, but I was. It was early summer when I saw them in the back yard hauling scrap lumber to the base of a huge old tree. This energetic trio was always building something and they still do. As adults all three chose different areas of the construction industry for their life's work.

Their early efforts in building a tree house were successful and kept them busy most of that summer. Little sister was not included in the project, and many years later after they had all flown from the home nest, I bought a small sculpture as a memory of that summer. The boys are sitting in the tree house and on the ground a little girl is pleading to come up but a sign on the tree says "No Girls Allowed."

Many years ago in deep forests, fire towers or lookout towers were built to watch for forest fires. Undoubtedly, the idea was introduced by a man who remembered how much could be seen from a tree house. Later airplanes were used to spot forest fires and many of the towers were torn down. Today some of the remaining structures are being restored to rent to summer visitors.

Cumberland County once had three fire towers. One off Peavine Road, one on Lantana Road and the third, now gone, was on Plateau Road. The other two 80-foot-high towers are still in use. Originally they were built of wood on the highest point in the area. The two here were replaced by steel structures around 1968. That was the time Mr. and Mrs. Bowland became guardians of the Lantana tower.

I spoke with Thelma Bowland on the phone and she assured me that on a clear day, smoke could be spotted as far away as our adjoining counties. She added with a sigh that it was a long climb up the many steps to the top. Mr. Bowland is a fireman on call 24/7 . Both towers have spotters on duty daily from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. One of their duties includes issuing fire permits.

Many men treasure their tree house memories. In Vermont, a man now wheelchair-bound remembered the joy and he ran a successful campaign to build a wheelchair-accessible tree house at a summer camp for kids with cancer. He is still working to get others built around the country so other sick kids can spend a night in a tree house.

And then there is an author, humorist and former presidential aide to President Carter, who built and lives in his tree house in Calhoun, GA. Tree limbs of the 160-year-old pin oak grow through each room in the house. One bedroom was made from an airplane that crashed on the Georgia coast. Another was constructed from an abandoned ski boat. Sam Isaac Edwards has written a book about his adventures titled From Outhouse to White House to Tree House.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.