Decades-Long Saga of NY’s Christmas Trees, aka Norway Spruce Road Trip

KEY POINTS

•Every year since the 1930s, a towering Norway spruce has been selected from various Northeast U.S. and Canada locations.
•Rockefeller Center's head gardener scouts possible trees, often choosing between 64-75 feet tall candidates from states like New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.
•Once selected, the tree is transported hundreds of miles across state lines to Midtown Manhattan, where it becomes the centerpiece of the holiday season.

Since the 1930s, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition has been the world’s most high-profile case of arboreal cross-country stalking. Every year, a 64-75 foot Norway spruce (with a few balsam and white spruce rebels) is plucked from forests in Canada, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. These festive Rambo trees endure the nightmare of dodging squirrels, sudden fame, and a long-haul trucking ordeal into Manhattan’s urban jungle. From a 70-foot beauty in Babylon, NY in 1934, to a star spotted scouting by Rockefeller gardeners, each tree channels enough holiday spirit to make Clark Griswold jealous—except they’ve been forced into a lifetime contract of being Manhattan’s most photographed evergreen since the Great Depression.

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Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

Why does a 70-foot tree from Vermont traipse into Manhattan every year? Comedy gold: the tree's seen more states than most Americans and still keeps its pine needles together better than city sidewalks in winter.

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