The Big Treehouse is a 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) tree house begun by a college student in 1983 at the Shady Oaks Campground outside Marshalltown, Iowa. It is a tourist attraction that has been enlarged and made more elaborate over the years.
The Big Treehouse covers 5,000 square feet and has 12 levels that go up to five and a half stories tall. [1] The first 11 levels can be traversed via a 60-step spiral staircase, while a ladder is needed to ascend to the final level. [1] [2] Various levels have tables, birdwatching, meditation facilities, and views. [3] It has electrical and telephone service, as well as several porch swings, and a microwave oven. It also includes a 50-foot (15 m) long flower box, rope lights, and a grill. [1] There are models of the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway bridge [4] and the Marsh Rainbow Arch Bridge [5] that can both be crossed by visitors. [6] [2] A skyway, styled "Skywalk 2000", winds around the tenth level, the spiral staircase, and the model of the Rainbow Bridge. [6]
Michael Jurgensen, whose family owns the Shady Oak Campground, [7] first conceived the project while a college student in spring 1983. [1] He had six pallets of wood sent to Shady Oak Campground [3] and started building by the side of a maple tree. By summer 1983 the first floor and part of the second floor was complete. [1] He makes new additions each year. [3]
The tree house was featured during two of the half-hour anthology episodes of Iowa Public Television's series Iowa's Simple Pleasures – "Canoeing, Howell's Florals & Greenhouse, The Big Treehouse, Cedar Rapids Kernels" (S1Ep2) and "Excellent Exhibitions" (S3Ep7). [8] Eric Dregni, in his 2006 book Midwest Marvels, wrote that " The Swiss Family Robinson could only dream of all the amenities in Jurgensen's never-ending treehouse". [1]