Mountain Living - December 2015
The Traditions of the Season ...
Many of you know that I was born and raised in the Myers Park section of Charlotte and spent all my formative years there until I went off to college in the 1960’s. One of my most memorable boyhood experiences was when our parents took us down to the intersection of King’s Drive and Morehead Street each Thanksgiving day to the Simpson family Christmas tree lot to select our freshly cut Christmas tree. The Simpsons have been selling Christmas trees at that location since the 1950’s and continue even today. One year my father asked where the trees were grown and a gracious Simpson family member invited us to visit their tree farm north of Charlotte and cut our own. So, the next year, the old man piled my sisters and me into our Rambler and headed off to the Simpson tree farm. After traveling in the back seat with my sisters for what seemed like hours, we found ourselves traversing the gravel access road that the Rambler was totally unfit for and finally arrived at a conifer clad mountaintop of some 200 acres. The Simpson family grows only Fraser firs, a tree that grows naturally in the southern Appalachians, generally above 2500 feet. The cool climate and generous rainfall here help the Fraser fir keep its needles throughout the Christmas season. After tromping around the farm for what seemed like an eternity in the cold and windy air, we finally spotted the perfect Christmas tree for the Lee family. Someone from the farm came out and sawed it down, bound it in annoying nylon netting, and secured it to the top of the Rambler for the journey home. It was a memorable day for our family and a tradition we kept for many years to come.
Today, North Carolina is second in the nation in the number of Christmas trees cut and sold, the majority of which are the Fraser firs. It is estimated that at any given moment, there are approximately 50 million trees growing in the mountains of our state. North Carolina is home to more than 400 choose-and-cut Christmas tree farms, some of which are right here in Haywood County. Two of the local farms I have visited are Boyd’s Christmas Tree Farm off north Jonathan Creek Road and Nesbitt Christmas Tree Farm off Hospital Drive in Clyde. Boyd’s is a very family friendly farm that introduces folks to the tree hunting experience by first hosting them in a “warming tent” where a certain jolly old elf has been known to frequent. For the unadventurous, Boyd also sells their trees at Grass Root nursery at the intersection of Russ Avenue and Dellwood Road. The Nesbitt family farm is a bit more primitive but last year sold all their fresh cut or you cut your own trees for $40, regardless of size. A word of caution here: trees always look smaller in the field and larger when you bring them into your home. Last year, the tree we picked out at Nesbitt’s looked to be about 6 to 7 feet in the field, but turned out to be over 8 feet once we got it home.
The point of all this is, if you have never experienced tromping around the local mountains for a choose-and-cut Christmas tree, it is a wonderful family experience, especially for grandchildren, and one they will not soon forget.
Christmas is a time of joy, giving, and reflecting on the many blessings God has bestowed upon us. By whatever name you refer to the Creator, take time to wish someone Merry Christmas this season, even if some view it as not being politically correct.
Merry Christmas!
Mac
