What Was Your Kinnelon Treehouse Like?

HOF in his tree house

My earlier article titled Treehouse Thoughts - Inspired by OLM's 50th Anniversary Picnic has generated great emails about favorite trees, climbing adventures and tree houses. Thank you!

Special kudos go to Herb Fisher for finding this photo of his treehouse from when he was a kid and for sharing the following:


Hey CB,

This is the only picture I have and it was taken by Emily (Mom). Did we climb trees?.......silly question! Most the time it was.... who dared to climb the highest, or the tallest tree we could find.

Not sure how old I am in this picture....maybe 10. No custom/factory made STUFF for us back then....  We gathered scrap wood from all the houses being built, also cut down small trees (with hand saws, I have a scar on my right thumb when I sawed off the thumbnail), using trunks for floor bracing and railings. 

In this picture, the Tower would be about 250 yards up the Mountain from my left shoulder.

All of us were "Lean and Mean" growing up in the 50s and 60s in Smoke Rise. No fatties would survive. No cable TV, no internet, no video games... just Imagination and Effort. Unlike today's society.

Heck, just walking up and down Mountain Road four or five times a week beats the heck out of all the exercise machines today.

HOF Jr.

As a kid in the mid 60s in McLean, Virginia, I remember using rocks to hammer rusty nails into what must have been the wood crate used to ship our belongings from overseas. That's what I created my fort with. Despite not being in the trees, it was impregnable! No pirate, bandit or parent could get by and surprise us.

What was your tree house like? What were your adventures?