A cottage in the Puszcza Białowieska forest in Poland

From: Ann B.

Sent: May 1, 2012

To: undisclosed recipients

Subject: Fw: A cottage in the Puszcza Białowieska forest in Poland

This Oak tree stump cottage was built by Adalbert Nowak in 1659 in the Puszcza Białowieska forest in Poland.  At the time the tree was estimated at being 200 years old.

The tree died sometime in 1856 and cut down from just above the window. A new branch grew up to take the place of the original trunk.

Adalbert Nowak was a local business man and the story told for gerations is that he was robbed and watched his family die at the hands of the robbers.

He lost his mind and moved to the forest, where he built this cottage and lived as a hermit until he died at the age of 89.

Locals brought him food once a day the entire time.