In Germany, a 500-year-old tree called “The Bridegrooms Oak” in the Dodauer Forst forest near Eutin has its own postal address and receives about 5 to 6 letters every day. In the hopes that someone may read their letters and respond, people looking for love send them from all over the world.
In the modern age of dating apps and social media available today, love-seekers are still sending letters to this amazing tree in the hope of finding their love. To send the letter to the charming tree and expect good fortune to work would be real magic. The tree trunk has a circumference of 16 feet, a spread of 98 feet, and a height of 82 feet.
A wooden fence encloses the bride’s oak, and the opening measures one foot in width and 9.8 feet above the ground. The widespread Bridegroom’s Oaktree grew for more than 500 years but became a facilitator of love about a hundred years ago when it found a beautiful love story. A lovely girl named “Minna” fell in love with a young chocolate maker named “Wilhelm.”. Both wanted to marry, but the girl’s father was opposed to this relationship and restricted her from seeing the boy.
Both didn’t give up and started exchanging love letters in secret by leaving them in a knothole in the bridegroom’s oak. Hence, time passes very quickly, and her father ultimately comes to know about their love letters, but instead of punishing her, he decides to let her marry. In June 1891, their wedding took place under the branches of Oak tree which helped them keep their romance alive.
This love story is widespread like a wildfire in Eutin, and soon people start writing romantic letters and leaving them in the tree’s knothole. Therefore, the tree has gained a lot of popularity among lovebirds. So, in 1927, it was already known as “Bräutigamseiche” and had become so popular that the Deutsche Post assigned it its own address and postal code, allowing people from all over Germany and even abroad to send in their letters. People all over the world are visiting Bridegroom’s Oak by following one simple rule.
They can check all the letters in their knothole and take with them the one they wish to reply to, but they have to put the others back for other people to find. According to one BBC report, it has been responsible for at least 100 marriages, as well as many other romantic relationships, but if you’re still not convinced, just ask Karl Heinz Martens, the postman who has been delivering letters to the tree for the last 20 years.
