Like many locals, I was excited this past November when it was announced the the 2022 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree would, once again, be coming from Warren County. I eagerly watched as folks posted photos and videos to Facebook. My daughter, Jude, a sophomore at The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, looked up the route the tree would take into the city to see if she had to change her usual commute to classes. She didn't.
A few weeks later, on December 8th I took the train into Penn Station to stay with my daughter for a couple of days. My mother had two requests, give Jude a hug and go she the Tree. I did both of those things. Below is one of the photos I sent to my mom back home in Greenwich. The 82 foot, 14 ton Norway spruce donated by the Lebowitz family stood tall above ice skaters and spectators alike, blazoned with 50,000 lights. The three million crystals shimmering on the 900 pound star shone bright even in the daylight of late afternoon.
Once I returned home to Glens Falls, and was back at work at the Folklife Center, I picked up a magazine I was given recently. In it is a wonderful article about two Essex County suffragists that I will save for another time. But, as I was looking for that article I came across images of other Warren County Christmas Trees. Below are those photos from the Winter 1971 issue of Adirondack Life.
1964
In a 1985 article, VP of the Rockefeller Center Management Corp, Carl Miller states that tree hunters, including himself, search all year for the perfect trees. The tree must be a minimum of 65 feet tall, and needs to be chosen be July 4. Electricians prepare the lights in August so trimming can begin prior to Thanksgiving. A secondary tree is also chosen in case of mishaps.
I remember one tree that didn't quite make it down the highway. You can imagine the traffic jam we created, trying the repair the truck." -Carl Miller
1969
There is also a National Menorah in Washington D.C. The lighting of the Shamash took place this year on December 18th.
Season's Greetings & Happy Holidays!
SOURCES
“His Mission: To Find Perfect Christmas Tree.” The Post-Star. November 29, 1985.
“Holiday Special Delivery: Queensbury Tree Arrives Saturday in Rockefeller Center.” The Post-Star. November 13, 2022.
“National Christmas Trees 1964, 1969.” Adirondack Life, 1971, 44–45.
“National Menorah.” National Menorah. American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad). Accessed December 20, 2022. https://nationalmenorah.org/.
Tisha Dolton is Historian/Librarian at The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls, NY and can be reached at pdolton@sals.edu. Her areas of research are suffrage music, suffragists of Warren and Washington Counties, local minority populations, and hand embroidery/needlework.