Epicéa-Oratoire Notre-Dame

About 2.5 km from Les Longevilles Hautes, on the road leading to La Boissaude and known as the Route de la vierge, on the right in a bend, it is a small niche, 36 cm high, made of resinous wood, fixed on a spruce tree.
Above an overhanging support, the upper block is carved in the shape of an inverted escutcheon with the point at the top. The sides are moulded, the cavity is painted in sky blue, is hollowed out in a lancet shape, closed by a small grid and contains a plastic statuette of Our Lady of Lourdes. Under the niche on the trunk is a tube for flowers.

The story of the Fir Tree of the Virgin is a bit lost, like many local legends, but these are real things and not legends: here is a version.

A good man was in the forest. During a terrible storm, so much so that he could not return, he stayed there and confided in the Blessed Virgin. A fir tree next to him was literally torn apart by lightning, two steps away from where he was. It was then that he promised to put a statue of the Blessed Virgin in this tree. He dug a small niche in it and placed it there according to his wishes.
As the tree grew, it enclosed the statue several times.
The priest of that time had a small chapel built on the tree, and in procession one summer evening a new statue was inaugurated.
This second tree was set back from the road and the ladies of the village at that time kept a small garden with some flowers.
The tree, very big and old, was uprooted by the storm and cut down with regret. The charm of the past is no longer there, but the road has always kept the name of Route du sapin de la vierge.
Following a mission in 1921, preached by a Dominican, a shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes was erected in Longevilles and took over the devotion to the Blessed Virgin, but the ancients still spoke of the Virgin of the Wood.
The current Virgin was requested by a gentleman from Métabief who was suffering from cancer? because the Virgin had been stolen. He said, "Make me a pine coffin, but give the Virgin back"

The oratories of Doubs P. Dieude