The tradition of cutting down one’s own Christmas tree remains an important part of many Americans’ holiday season, even though most people these days purchase their Christmas tree at a corner Christmas tree lot or use an eco-friendly artificial tree. As these vintage colorized photos show us, there is something very charming and whimsical about spending time with family in a snowy forest, searching for that perfect Christmas tree. 

Far back in antiquity, people marveled at evergreen trees. While other trees seemed to die in the winter, evergreens kept on living. Ancient people believed these trees possessed magical properties, so they played a prominent role in rituals and ceremonies thousands of years before the rise of Christianity. 

Germany gets the credit for starting the tradition of decorating an evergreen tree to honor Jesus’s birth. According to legend from the 16th century, the Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, was so struck by the beauty of the stars twinkling through the pine boughs in the forest that he sought to replicate that aesthetic for his family. He cut down an evergreen tree and erected it in his home. Onto the branches, he tied small candles – a fire hazard, we know. But he got the effect he was after … a stately evergreen aglow with candlelight. We have been obsessed with this look ever since, albeit in a safer manner. 

German immigrants to the United States in the late 1700s and early 1800s brought the Christmas tree tradition with them. We have historical records to show that community churches as far back as the 1780s erected Christmas trees for their congregations to enjoy during the holiday season. There are even references to individual families having their own Christmas trees in their private homes. By the mid-1800s, Christmas trees were firmly rooted in America. But where did folks get their trees? 

During this point in U.S. history, most people lived on farms or rural communities. Even city dwellers were not too far away from wilderness areas. It wasn’t too difficult to load the family onto the horse-drawn wagon or sleigh and head into the woods in search of a nicely shaped evergreen tree. A few whacks with a hatchet and the tree was ready to toss into the wagon. It would soon become the focal point of the Christmas celebration. 

Some enterprising tree farmers – or perhaps people who were annoyed that the evergreen trees kept disappearing – decided to make a few bucks off the popularity of Christmas trees in the U.S. It is thought that the first Christmas tree farm in the U.S. started in 1901. A New Jersey farmer named W.V. McGalliard planted more than 25,000 spruce trees. Within seven years, they were ready to be cut and sold for the Christmas season. 

Well into the 1940s, about 90-percent of families still went into forests to cut their own Christmas trees, but that trend was decreasing. More and more Christmas tree farms sprang up to fill the growing demand for Christmas trees. In addition to the Norway spruce trees, farmers planted white spruce, black spruce, Douglas fir, and Balsam fir. Pre-cut Christmas trees were available on corner lots in large cities and small towns. By the middle of the 1900s, fewer people were chopping down their own trees at Christmas time. 

In the 1970s and 1980s, people longed for the nostalgia of their grandparents’ day. That extended to holiday traditions, too. Families hoped to make lasting memories by trekking into the woods to cut their own Christmas tree. This, however, was frowned upon in the modern world. Christmas tree farms came to the rescue. Many of them opened their farms to visitors and allowed guests to find and cut their own trees, the old-fashioned way. From hot cocoa and horse-drawn wagon rides, to visits with Santa and Mrs. Claus, families can recreate the quaint and sweet tradition of chopping down a Christmas tree.