Tall or short, fresh or plastic, draped in lights or tinsel or ornaments, Christmas trees are a fixture in most U.S. households during the holiday season. But they’re not an inherently American tradition, with no trees documented in the nation until the 19th century.
Christmas trees do have a long history in Europe, dating back several hundred years in Germany. In the Middle Ages, actors performed the tale of Adam and Eve on Christmas Eve using evergreen “paradise trees,” on which they hung red apples.
The Christmas tree is believed to have made its Virginia debut in Williamsburg, thanks to a man named Charles Minnigerode.
Minnigerode was a political refugee from Germany who took a job as professor of classical languages at William & Mary in 1842. Another professor, Judge Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, invited the young, single Minnigerode to board in his family’s Williamsburg home.
“In order to delight the small children in the house, Professor Minnigerode set up this little evergreen tree in the parlor,” said Bob Doares, a training specialist in the historical research department at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Nobody in Williamsburg had seen anything like the festive focal point. While it’s likely German immigrants set up Christmas trees where they settled in America, the practice had not been adopted yet in predominantly English areas, like the Tidewater region of Virginia.
Minnigerode supposedly shut himself off in the parlor to ready the tree as a surprise for the children.
Some of those preparations included trimming the tree. Doares said that what we now use to mean “decorating” once literally meant trimming twigs so candles could be safely tied to rows of branches. While there are no recorded instances of fires starting from illuminated trees, Doares said it was “bound to happen.”
“You can’t just light a Christmas tree with real candles and leave the room,” he said. The danger — along with the short flame time of a candle versus an electric bulb — meant families gathered around to see the tree lit.
Minnegerode’s tree was also adorned with popcorn strings, as there were no ready-made ornaments.
By the next year, most Williamsburg families had their own Christmas tree set up in their parlors. A small one is stationed in Colonial Williamsburg’s Tucker House every year in Minnigerode’s honor.
Christmas trees began to take off across America after 1848. That year there were widespread sales of an engraving that depicted Prince Albert, a German and husband to England’s Queen Victoria, with their family and a Christmas tree.
At the time of Virginia’s first documented Christmas tree in 1842, the holiday was a popular time for feasting and spending time visiting family and friends. Doares said that, like today, children looked forward to time off from their studies.
Because Virginian society was so closely tied to an agricultural schedule, winter was more of a leisure period — weddings were a popular Christmastime activity. Field hands could expect time off from their labors, but slaves or servants working in a household would probably be under greater strain with guests and large meals. Eggnog, turkey and Virginia ham were all feast staples.
Doares said that while traditions like greenery decorations and mistletoe were around in the 19th century, Christmas was on the whole not as commercial an event as it’s become. Decorations were kept modest, and the customs of card and gift exchanging came in the late Victorian era.
“It’s a simpler, quieter, more family-oriented celebration in the time we’re talking about,” Doares said.
No matter the century though, he said Christmas has always been a time of families gathering together.
Learn more about the Virginia’s first documented Christmas tree at tonight’s Community Tree Lighting Ceremony in Colonial Williamsburg.
