Written by Amber Ellis - Extension Associate for NCSU’s Stormwater Engineering Research Group in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department

Most folks’ childhood memories of November are marked by turkey and football, cranberry sauce and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. When I think of November as a kid, though, I’m instantly transported to a large table in a small diner, flanked by my dad, grandpa, and a dozen of our neighbors sipping coffee from Styrofoam cups. We gathered there for the pre-dawn ritual of a hot breakfast before heading out for a day of Christmas tree harvesting.

Jokes were told between bites of biscuits and gravy before our motley crew trundled into the fields. Many of our neighbors grew Christmas trees, and we’d take turns on each farm until all were harvested. Together they would cut, bale, and load each tree, neatly filling the trailer of an 18-wheeler to the brim. I was too small to wield a chainsaw or carry the large trees, so my job was to count each one as it was loaded onto a truck bound for a tree lot somewhere across the country. If I close my eyes, I can still smell the mixed fuel and fir resin.

My grandpa grew many different crops throughout his life, following the market to make a living in the mountains of western North Carolina. At one point or another, he had a dairy farm, an apple orchard, and a burley tobacco farm. I always remember him as a Christmas tree man, though. By the time I was born, he and my dad were all-in on trees. My grandparents literally lived on Christmas Tree Lane, and in western North Carolina, Christmas trees are Fraser Firs.

While several species of Christmas tree are grown throughout the NC mountains, the vast majority are Fraser Fir. Native to southern Appalachia, their natural range is along the ridgetops above 4,000 feet in elevation. Though they have long been lauded as the premier Christmas tree for their handsome shape, pleasant fragrance, and superb needle retention, Fraser Firs were first used medicinally by the native Cherokee people. Now, they are almost exclusively cultivated for holiday cheer.

North Carolina began commercial production in the 1950s, and the state now provides over 20% of the nation’s Christmas trees, sending Fraser Firs to all 50 states. When the US Department of Agriculture conducted its most recent agricultural census in 2022, North Carolina was producing 3.2 million Christmas trees per year to brighten homes during the holiday season. I can understand the allure of an artificial tree, reusable and likely a bit neater.  For me, though, a Christmas tree will always be a North Carolina Fraser Fir.

Amber Ellis is an Extension Associate for NCSU’s Stormwater Engineering Research Group in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, with an office at the Arboretum, 6206 Oleander Drive. You can reach her at adellis3@ncsu.edu for anecdotes about growing up on a Christmas tree farm in the NC mountains.