The Christmas Tree Ship

I was looking around today for some history about Christmas and came upon this story.  It is about the history of the Christmas Tree Ship.  It a great little story that I thought I would share.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!  What a great tradition!

At the close of the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth, schooners on the Great Lakes were a staple of the shipping industry. They transported lumber and other goods from port to port around the lakes. Before winter set in and froze the lakes many of the schooner captains would load their boats with pine trees from the north and take them to the larger ports along the lake. They would sell the harvested Christmas tree right from the deck of their boats. It became a family tradition in many households to go down to the docks and pick out a fresh cut tree for Christmas. It assured the captains a financially successful last voyage of the year. The cost of the trees ranged from 25 cents to a dollar. One of those Christmas tree ships became a legend.


I got this story from http://www.suite101.com/content/rouse-simmons-the-story-of-the-christmas-tree-ship-a310572 .