Tree Houses at Tyler Arboretum

Media, PA, Sep. 7: Tyler Arboretum is arguably the oldest in the United States. William Penn deeded the land to a family which held it for 8 generations before a descendant in 1944 bequeathed it as a public arboretum. However, systematic plantings of trees and shrubs began as early as 1825.

Note the groundhog (below r):



























We were drawn by a special exhibit of 17 tree houses, which were enticing families and children into visiting an arboretum. However, only a handful were actual tree houses. The "Best in Show" was this cantilevered structure:

























Runner up was this pink elephant of recycled materials:












This was close, but turned out to be an academic study in reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina; note the high water mark in the left closeup:









At least this one got off the ground and incorporated lots of play:













Honorable mention goes to a reconstruction of Thoreau's cabin with the Tyler pond standing in for Walden Pond:













This bamboo structure didn't get off the ground:
You couldn't go in this "tree house" (l); and not even children could fit in this "Hobbit" house (r).

There was no tree in these play houses:









Others were "tree houses" only in concept, or context, or contemplation. They seemed to have too much art school and not enough play.
One was a collection of hammocks:









Another was a collection of viewing platform to "see" trees differently:









Here, recycled rubber, died blue, was used to trace the root system of a tree:












This platform emphasized how birds of prey might use a dead tree as a perch from which to hunt in a meadow; Our hunt found this bee:

This Cape May structure was an homage to blue bird houses:












A cacophony of cow bells was facilitated by this structure:












The last was a study in river birch habitat: