A 300-foot-tall marvel, the Chandelier Tree in Leggett, California, has a hole cut in its immense trunk that’s large enough for a car to drive through.

Top Places in California

San Francisco, California

The Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

37.8021, -122.4039

Alameda, California

Pacific Pinball Museum

Playable, historic pinball machines fill this Alameda museum.

37.7737, -122.2767

Added by M Rebekah Otto

Laguna Niguel, California

Moon Amtrak

Despite efforts to stop them, thousands gather every year to moon passing trains.

33.5654, -117.6737

Added by Nicholas Jackson

See more things to do in California »

The hole is six feet wide and nearly seven feet tall, carved sometime in the 1930s. Miraculously, this tree is so big and strong that is has survived the gaping wound in its base.

The Chandelier Tree—which was named not after its massive girth, but its dangling limbs that resemble a chandelier—was carved during the unfortunate “tunnel tree” trend of the early 20th century. Several giant sequoias had large holes cut out of their trunks to attract the growing number of automobile tourists, with little regard for the health of the great trees.

Luckily, environmentalists now work to make sure that no new holes are cut into redwood trees, so the few drive-thru trees that remain are precious and fairly rare. While some of the tunnel trees did not survive their maiming, the Chandelier Tree still stands today, attracting visitors decades later. The shape and style of the cars that pass through its trunk have changed considerably over the years, but the novel delight of driving through the middle of a tree is just as it ever was.