The Oak Chapel

By Linda Tancs

The oldest known tree in France is an oak located in the small French farming village of Allouville-Bellefosse known as le chêne chapelle. Dating back purportedly at least 1,000 years, it presided over such seminal events in the nation’s history as the French Revolution, the reign of Louis XIV and Napoleon’s expansion of the empire. Its ancient trunk is now hollowed out and home to two chapels accessible via a spiral staircase around the trunk. Given its age, you’d better make haste to see this heavenly treehouse.