Picking a Tree at the Christmas Tree Lot: PDF Sheet

Picking a Tree at the Lot: History & Fun Facts

Quick Facts

• The first recorded commercial Christmas tree lot in the United States opened in New York City in 1851, run by a farmer named Mark Carr.
• Fraser fir, balsam fir, and Douglas fir are among the most popular species sold at tree lots because they hold their needles well after cutting.
• It typically takes a farm-grown Christmas tree between seven and ten years to reach a sellable height of six to seven feet.
• Tying a tag or ribbon around a chosen tree at a lot or farm is a common way for families to mark their pick before it gets cut or bundled.
• Choose-and-cut tree farms, where visitors select and cut their own tree on-site, grew rapidly in popularity across North America starting in the 1950s.
• An estimated 25 to 30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the United States alone during a typical holiday season.

The First Tree Lot in New York

Before tree lots existed, anyone wanting a Christmas tree in a city generally had to cut one themselves or know someone with woodland access. That changed in 1851, when a farmer named Mark Carr hauled two ox-sleds loaded with trees from the Catskill Mountains into New York City and sold them from a sidewalk spot near Greenwich Street. The idea of buying a pre-cut tree in an urban lot caught on quickly, and by the following decades, seasonal tree lots had become a familiar sight in cities across the country, run by farmers, church groups, and civic organizations looking to raise money each December.

Choosing a Species That Holds Its Needles

Not every evergreen makes a good cut tree, and lot owners generally favor species known for holding their needles well after being severed from the roots. Fraser fir, balsam fir, and Douglas fir are consistently among the most requested varieties because their needles stay attached and green for weeks indoors with proper watering, unlike some faster-drying species. A tree destined for a lot typically spends seven to ten years growing on a farm before it reaches the six-to-seven-foot height most households prefer, meaning the tree a family picks out in December was likely planted around the time an older sibling started school.

The Ritual of Tagging a Tree

Tying a ribbon or paper tag around a chosen tree is a small but meaningful step in the tree-picking process, marking a specific tree as claimed before it gets cut, netted, or set aside for pickup. At larger lots and choose-and-cut farms with hundreds of trees in rows, a tag prevents mix-ups and lets a family walk the rest of the lot without losing track of their favorite. The moment of tagging is often the point where the search officially ends, turning a long walk through rows of trees into a decision the whole family made together.

From City Sidewalks to Choose-and-Cut Farms

Urban tree lots stocked with pre-cut trees dominated the tree-buying experience for roughly a century after Mark Carr’s first sale, but a second tradition grew alongside it starting in the 1950s: choose-and-cut farms, where visitors walk rows of living trees and cut their own selection on-site. That style of outing turned tree shopping into a full family activity rather than a quick errand, complete with hot cocoa stands and hayrides at many farms. Between traditional lots and choose-and-cut farms, an estimated 25 to 30 million real trees are sold across the United States every holiday season, keeping the walk through rows of pines one of the most recognizable parts of the Christmas countdown.