TreeHouse Point: The Treetop Getaway For Grown-Ups

Published June 23, 2015
Updated January 24, 2019

Explore TreeHouse Point, Washington's wondrous treehouse hotel, and discover its surprising ins and outs with these stunning photos and facts.

TreeHouse Point Big Tree
In 2005, Pete Nelson was led by the light of a blue moon to the spot where he would build TreeHouse Point's first treehouse: The Temple of the Blue Moon (above). Source: Facebook

TreeHouse Point Foggy Forest
The first rule of treehouse building: don't let the treehouse actually touch the tree. It instead rests entirely upon a manmade support structure so as to not harm the tree. Source: Kick Drumheart

TreeHouse Point Windows
You can have your own Pete Nelson treehouse in your backyard--if you've got at least $150,000 to spare. Source: Lisette Wolter McKinley

TreeHouse Deck
Pete Nelson has built custom treehouses across the country, including one for Florida Georgia Line's Brian Kelley. (Pictured here is TreeHouse Point's Upper Pond Treehouse). Photo by Adam Crowley. Source: The Spoiled Life

TreeHouse Bridge
Children under 13 are not allowed at TreeHouse Point. The owners "try to maintain a mature atmosphere, conducive to a romantic, adult getaway." Source: Facebook

TreeHouse Windows
You'll find king and queen-size beds, electricity, even iPod docking stations inside the resort's lodgings--unlike the treehouse you had when you were six. Source: Lisette Wolter McKinley

Treehouse Interior
Just because you're in a treehouse doesn't mean you can't live in the height of refinement. Source: Facebook

TreeHouse Point Pond
These treehouses are generally not equipped with indoor plumbing. However, some contain a Lovable Loo composting toilet. Source: Facebook

TreeHouse Point Balcony
The linchpin of any good treehouse is the bolt that attaches the supports to the tree. Without these bolts, there would be no treehouse. These small pieces of carbon steel can support 8,000-12,000 pounds of force and cost $250 apiece. Source: Trip Advisor

TreeHouse Wedding
TreeHouse Point welcomes weddings, even offering a two-story honeymoon suite. Source: Facebook

TreeHouse Point Wedding Ceremony
While TreeHouse Point's indoor space for weddings is presumably lovely, holding the ceremony outdoors seems like a no-brainer. Source: The Knot

Wedding Dress
The full wedding package accommodates up to 80 guests, while the Elopement Package allows for two nights of "intimate celebration." Source: Facebook

Snoqualmie Falls Waterfall Cloudy
Nearby Snoqualmie Falls (known for its appearance in Twin Peaks) attracts 1.5 million visitors every year. Source: BoomsBeat

Snoqualmie Falls
Snoqualmie Falls comes equipped with a double rainbow. Source: Tours of Seattle

Rock Cairn
Dozens of cairns (stone towers used to mark a pathway or special site) adorn the banks of the nearby Raging River. Although the river washes them away every winter, TreeHouse Point's staff and guests steadfastly rebuild them come spring. Source: Flickr

Treehouses Near Water
The Pond Room (left) hosts everything from yoga to business meetings. The Bath House (right) provides a few of the things you just won't find in a treehouse. Source: Facebook

Snowy Treehouse
Washington winters aren't all that awful. But in case you were worried, the treehouses are heated. Source: Facebook

TreeHouse Stairs
The world's largest treehouse can be found in Tennessee. At 10,000 square feet and 90 feet tall, it contains 80 rooms and took 258,000 nails to build. The minister that owns it built it himself on a mission from God. Source: Facebook

TreeHouse At Dusk
You are "absolutely away from it all" when in a treehouse, Pete Nelson told The New York Times. Nelson first thought he'd be building backyard offices. But in 15 years, he estimates he's built just three. According to Nelson, "The use of these things is about reconnecting with natural worlds." Source: The Outbound Collective

Whether you're a kid at heart, a kid in actuality or just someone who always wanted to live like an Ewok, you'll understand the "primordial magic of treehouses." So says the preface to a 2013 New York Times interview with Pete Nelson, a former house builder who now plies his trade slightly above ground level.

Nelson founded a treehouse design and supply firm in the 1990s before opening his own honest-to-goodness treehouse hotel in 2006. The hotel, TreeHouse Point, features six treehouses spread over four acres of forest in Issaquah, Washington.

Given the hotel's uniqueness and all-around awesomeness, reservations have become increasingly hard to come by. While you may not be able to book one of TreeHouse Point's arboreal abodes for this year's summer vacation, you can at least get a taste of treehouse living and learn its surprising ins and outs in the gallery below:


After this look at TreeHouse Point, tour Italy's five-story urban treehouse and the world's largest treehouse in Tennessee.

author
John Kuroski
author
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.
editor
Savannah Cox
editor
Savannah Cox holds a Master's in International Affairs from The New School as well as a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Sheffield. Her work as a writer has also appeared on DNAinfo.