The
Christmas Tree:
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Christmas trees were seldom used during the early years of the British Colonies in North America. German, Scandinavian and other emigrants from Europe brought their tradition of displaying Christmas trees during their celebration of Christmas to North America. German settlers in Pennsylvania accounted for 1/3 of the 750,000 residents of that state by the late 1700’s. German mercenaries or Hessians that joined the British forces during the Revolutionary war were also instrumental in increasing the use of decorated Christmas trees (Albers and Davis, 1997).
The Hessians were reported to have set up Christmas trees in the homes of families where they stayed. They were also noted for their festive Christmas celebrations, which are reported to have led to their defeat by General George Washington at Trenton, NJ on December 26, 1776 (Albers and Davis, 1997). Among the earliest documented uses of decorated Christmas trees in North America are a decorated and illuminated Christmas tree that was set up in a German commander's home to the north of Montreal, Canada in 1781 and a tree that was displayed at Fort Dearborn, MI in 1804.
According to Albers and Davis (1997), Mark Carr established the first Christmas tree market when he harvested fir and spruce trees from the Catskill Mountains and sold them at the Washington Market in New York City in 1851. By the 1880’s, 200,000 trees were being shipped into the Washington Market by wagons, trains, and ships from forests as far away as New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Although some of the industry pioneers started to grow Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) in Christmas tree plantations during the early 1900’s, >90% of the trees being harvested in the late 1940’s were still coming from forest stands.
| In 1948, the top selling trees were balsam fir (Abies balsamea), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), black (P. mariana) and white spruce (P. glauca), and eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) (Albers and Davis, 1997). These species were readily available from forests. The photograph shows Douglas-fir from a natural stand being loaded on a truck in the early 1940’s. |
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