Treehouse on StT, StJ, StC

I suggest you come down for a visit. I'm not sure our building codes, which are heavy into wind and storm survivability, would allow such a structure.

Ditto. I can't imagine being in one in a tropical storm, much less a hurricane. I would think the only trees that could support one would be mahogany & there aren't a whole bunch of those around, for the most part.

Actually, Trade, a lot of very old mahogany trees are still around but I'd certainly not advocate one of them as a treehouse location!

On September 15 1995 when hurricane Marilyn swept over STT and sat there right above us for many hours and created enormous devastation, many old mahogany trees were literalty wripped from their roots, courtesy of the little tornadoes which came through. I still don't like talking about it - the goosebumps rise so many years later.

Suntan, I've gathered from your previous posts that you're thinking about relocating/retiring to the Virgin Islands with your "tree house" and "vegetarian" lifestyle business ventures. Your dream is not impossible but it will not work here unless you take the time to embark on an extensive PMV. Your 'tree house" idea won't fly (check with VI local ordinances).

You might consider that St Croix is the most rural and largest of the USVI islands. You might find it
useful to see what the owners have done with Mt. Victory camping and cabin retreat in the rainforest area of the West End of St Croix.

Good luck. Sounds very interesting.
-- Joanna

A treehouse might do well in a protected valley, but you'd get no breeze.

Hello Richie,

I recently flipped through a book called Treehouses in Paradise that had some neat and some really far out designs. Some of the designs were more like tents and others wooden cabins. Not all were up in the tree like I think a lot of people, myself included, think of treehouses. Seemed like an eco-friendly idea for within the National Park as a camping facility. Anyhoo, On St. John Maho Bay has an eco-accommodation set up. You might look them up just to see what its about and how they are doing things. http://www.maho.org/

The campground Joanna mentioned are the only tree house type structures in the VI that come to mind. They are ground level but they incorporate some trees and are built with trees that had fallen after a hurricane along with other materials. http://www.mtvictorycamp.com/ is their website.

Good luck researching this idea.

--Islander

Actually, STT Resident there are large mahogany trees around but not that many on private property that is available for sale to build on. 🙂

Mt. Victory is a wonderful place and anyone who visits STX should go up for a look. The tents/cottages are cute and adequate for a weeks vacation.

That said, I certainly would not want to be in one of their structures during any kind of bad storm, much less a hurricane.