We love unusual post offices and mailboxes and have featured a few on the blog over the years, from Galapagos to South Africa to the underwater Post Office of Vanuatu. Today’s special postbox comes from somewhere a bit closer to us here in Europe, and is said to have magical matchmaking powers…
The Bridegroom’s Oak is a 500 year old tree in the Dodauer Forst forest in northern Germany, close to the Baltic Sea. It is a special tree, which has its own postal address! Why would it need its own postal address, you might ask? Well, hundreds of people write to the tree every year, in search of a love partner, someone to share their lives with. The tradition is said to have started from this story:
“The name of the tree derives from an incident in the late 19th century. The daughter of the head forester, Ohrt, and the son of a Leipzig chocolate maker, Schütte-Felsche, were in love but her father disapproved of the relationship, so they secretly exchanged letters by leaving them in the hole in the tree’s trunk. When Herr Ohrt gave in and granted his permission, they were married under the tree on 2 June 1891.”
And the rest is history, as they say! As their love bloomed and the story spread, many people started to write to the tree and visit it to read each other’s letters in the the hopes of finding love. So many people came that in 1927 Deutsche Post put up a ladder and gave the tree its own address. A postman was assigned to deliver these letters in a hole on the tree, and this continues to this day.
Many weddings have happened as a result of these letters and encounters, including the one from Karl-Heinz Martens, the postman who for years delivered mail to it. His wife wrote to him through the tree’s address after seeing a report about his special “tree-postman duties” on a TV channel, and they ended up meeting and falling in love. How sweet is that?
Interested in giving it a try, perhaps? :) The Bridegroom Oak’s address is:
Dodauer Forst
23701 Eutin
Germany
Let us know how it goes!
PS – A big thanks to Nhung (aka tthn235), who did the research for this post.
46 comments so far
Lovely story 💖
Wow, what a sweet story. Thank you for sharing!
How lovely!
How romantic. thank you for this article. I might try this.
Sooooooo cute mailbox.
Sooooooo romantic love story.
So cute! It's like a natural tinder - and definitely better! :D
Lucky me, I don't need it.
cute! Great story !
Sounds great! I will try it! Thank you!
I used to live close by and sometimes rode my bike there just to have a look into the hole where all the letters are...
Aww, really romantic and sweet! Thank for sharing with us, guys! ( and also, thanks a bunch, tthn235!!!)
Sweet video too! >_<
I love this story!
I wish we had a wonderful such tree close to us for the same purpose. The story of Karl-Heinz Martens might make for a romantic movie.
Thank you for the story, romantic and beautiful.
Really romantic!
Happy 128 years to the Bridegroom's Oak!
Long Live The Tree of Love!
The world is better when this stories happen!
Lovely story ! 😃💕
Romantic story
Sweet 😍
Wonderful story!!! :D
How nice and interesting article. Perhaps I'll write to the free too. Thanks for sharing the story :) ❤
Great story. Perhaps I will write to it. After all by the tree's standards I'm quite young.
It's so cute and amazing T_T 💖
Although German, I never heard of this place and the special tree - and I must admit I am surprised that the German post still delivers to it - great to hear! Thank you for sharing this amazing story with us!
The tree is also mentioned on a postcard https://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/DE-8438183
I once had a female friend from Eutin – I fancied her, but as she didn't tell me about the oak she obviously wasn't interested. Ok, it was obvious for another reasons, too.^^
Where have you been before ?! )))
Fascinating story!
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himmelgeister_Kastanie
And since 25 April 2009 this tree in Eutin is "married" with our tree in Düsseldorf/Germany.
Our "Himmelgeister Kastanie" has its own address too:
Baumgeist,
Himmelgeister Kastanie,
Kölner Weg,
40589 Düsseldorf,
Deutschland/Germany
and all letters will be answered by "Jüchtwind", the tree ghost !
What a sweet, magical story! Thank you so much, Nhung, for sharing this.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful story!!!
I will send one in the future.
Thats funny... I live about one kilometre away from that tree and saw today that postcrossing has made a blog post about it.
Wishing everybody good luck when sending to our bridegrooms oak.
How romantic! thanks for telling us the story.
Aahhhh I really love this story. It's so sweet.
28 years ago I put a a letter to my former girlfriend into this tree, it was found by a couple from Lithuania and sent to her some weeks later...
<3
Are you kidding me?! That is the cutest thing ever. I have never tried Tinder, so this may be my answer. Can't wait to have my letter delivered in a tree. :)
I remember that we went there in school with our class and took a letter. the whole class had sent letters to some eldery woman, who answered every single one. it was amazing cute...
Beautiful tree. I come from Kansas in USA where trees are rare.
It just goes to show that Nature is better than technology. Trees are living creatures, as we are. Good Luck to all searchers!
Beautiful legend!
nice
I love this ❤️ thanks for posting about it!
Que linda historia... me encanta que aun haya personas que les guste plasmar sus sentimientos en papel, a mi me encanta escribirle cartas y notitas a mi marido y siempre se las doy en su bolsa de almuerzo :)
An incredible story! Thank you for sharing!
I´m sorry, I can´t write a positive comment about the oak =((
I read about in a travel guide because my boyfriend and me planned to go to Eutin and I wrote a love-letter to him. Not an offer-of-marriage, but a nice envelope, new stamps (he is a philatelist) and just meant as a lovely gesture after beeing 6 years together. But unfortunately someone else took his letter out of the hole and I was so disappointed and sad!
So you must exept your letter maybe will not reach the recipient......
Good luck for YOUR letters!
That's a beautiful and sweet
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