One of the most beautiful treehouse rentals in U.S. is in Columbus area. Virtual tour here
It’s considered the only luxury treehouse for rent not just in the Columbus area but anywhere in Georgia south of the Atlanta metro area.
It’s also among the “22 Most Beautiful Treehouse Rentals in the United States,” according to the website TripsToDiscover.com. Four of the others treehouses on the list also are in Georgia.
And it’s a dream come true for Sheri Watson of Marion County. Her family’s “Bide in the Trees — Luxury Treehouse Experience” in the Talbot County community of Box Springs went live on Airbnb a few days before Christmas. It was booked solid with three reservations through New Year’s Day.
“I’m just overjoyed with how everything turned out,” she told the Ledger-Enquirer.
Project’s origin
The idea for the luxury treehouse arose during the fall of 2020 while Sheri and husband Jason walked with friends on their family’s rural property on eight private acres. The site seemed ideal for a treehouse, and the Watsons have hosting experience from renting two other local properties through Airbnb.
“We wanted it to be a place where you could get away from the crowds and noise of city life,” Sheri said. “But we also wanted it to have all the amenities of a luxury resort.”
The Watsons, along with family and friends, spent months planning the project. After they finalized the design with Cade War of Respire Architecture, they broke ground in the summer of 2021. Due to supply chain and labor shortages, what was expected to be six months of construction took 18 months.
“We were blessed to have a friend that had a Lull,” Sheri said, “It’s like a specialized forklift, only it can lift really big, heavy things, like beams, over 40 feet. It was the perfect equipment for this treehouse.”
How it got built and named
Skilled craftsmen finished the interior and exterior, Sheri said, “but the biggest blessing in all this was a few close friends and our family. They all had gained excellent skills in various projects over the years, and we were able to pull together during a time of unheard-of labor shortages and finish this beautiful, solid treehouse project.”
Sheri listed the following folks, thanking them for “their untiring efforts” to help create the treehouse: James Watson, Greg Sellers, Ferrel Wiley, Cade and Olivia War, Tim Tefft and Wayne Jordan.
Over the course of about two years, Sheri said, they found special items to enhance the treehouse, including 100-year-old doors donated from a nearby historic home being torn down, kitchen fixtures from the United Kingdom, refurbished antiques from Turkey and custom-made items from Ukraine.
“We’ve filled Bide in the Trees with special treasures for our guests to enjoy,” she said.
The name for the treehouse comes from the Bible verse John 15:4: “Abide in Me, and I in you.”
“Bide means to abide, lodge, rest, pause or tarry,” Sheri said. “It’s a stillness that’s missing in much of today’s busy lifestyles. We hope when guests stay at Bide in the Trees, they leave feeling they’ve had a chance to do just that.”
Guestbook comments
Sheri was showing some friends a preview of the treehouse a few days before Christmas when she noticed a message from Airbnb that the Bide in the Trees listing had gone live. A minute or two later, the first reservation was secured.
“It’s actually happening,” she said. “When you’ve worked on a project for so long, it’s very challenging to stay in the game. So I was just ecstatic,” she said.
Sheri plans to also list the treehouse on VRBO and book reservations directly through a yet-to-be-launched website. Their Instagram account is @bideinthetrees.
The rates to rent the treehouse are $350 and up per night, depending on the date.
So far, the guests are mighty satisfied.
A couple from Alabama, who own rental property themselves, were the first guests, staying Dec. 25-28, and leaving with ideas to be better hosts.
“Wow! From one host to another, you knocked this completely out of the park,” Lyndsay wrote in the guestbook. “You have created a space so perfect to relax and unwind. It is obvious the love and thoughtfulness you have put into this place. Your attention to detail is like nothing we have experienced before!”
The guest who stayed in the treehouse Dec. 28-30, a designer from Atlanta, gushed about watching the sunrise from the “floating island that is the skydeck this morning.”
Along with gazing at the stars, meditating from the second-floor deck “high over the trees,” napping on the outdoor bed swing and taking a bath outside, he wrote, “this place made it easy for me to slow all the way down, to remember what if feels like to be unhurried … and hopefully how to find this feeling in day-to-day life.”
A couple from North Carolina got engaged while staying in the treehouse from Dec. 30-Jan. 2.
The future bride wrote in the guestbook, “This experience was everything we could have asked for and more! … This trip was perfect! We appreciate all you did here.”
Reading those comments and the glowing online reviews, Sheri said, “brought me to tears. Everything we had hoped for and designed for the ultimate treehouse experience, they have taken it all in.”
This story was originally published January 9, 2023 at 5:00 AM with the headline "One of the most beautiful treehouse rentals in U.S. is in Columbus area. Virtual tour here."
