The holiday season officially reached Capitol Hill on Friday morning as a 53-foot red fir from Nevada’s Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest rolled onto the West Front Lawn of the U.S. Capitol — marking the first time in history that Nevada has provided the “People’s Tree.”
According to the Christmas tree’s official website, the tree completed a cross-country journey that included community stops along its route before arriving in Washington at 10 a.m. Teams from the Architect of the Capitol immediately began the dayslong process of securing, lifting and decorating the massive fir, which will anchor the Capitol’s Christmas celebrations through early January.
A tradition more than six decades old
While Americans have decorated Christmas trees at home for generations, the tradition of a Capitol tree is fairly recent. According to the Architect of the Capitol’s website, a tree was purchased in 1919, but a formal process didn’t begin until 1964, when House Speaker John W. McCormack suggested establishing an annual tree and lighting ceremony. A 24-foot Douglas fir was planted on the West Front Lawn that year, beginning a custom that has grown into a major national event.
After storms and root damage killed that original tree in 1968, the U.S. Forest Service began supplying the Christmas tree each year, a partnership that continues today.
Selecting the ‘People’s Tree’
The selection process happens months before the holiday season. Jim Kaufmann, the Architect of the Capitol’s executive director of U.S. Capitol Grounds and Arboretum, traveled across Nevada’s sprawling 6.3 million-acre Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest this summer to evaluate candidate trees.
Kaufmann wrote that he and Forest Service teams inspected white firs in the Spring Mountains near Las Vegas and surveyed towering red firs in the Sierra Nevada region near Lake Tahoe — sometimes by truck, sometimes by plane because of the forest’s sheer size. The final choice needed to be full, symmetrical and sturdy enough to hold thousands of ornaments, while also accessible for removal and transport.
Kaufmann ultimately chose the red fir now standing on the Capitol grounds, calling its structure, location and condition “the best suited to represent the United States and Nevada.”
A holiday welcome
The official lighting ceremony will take place at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 2, on the Capitol’s West Front Lawn. After the ceremony, the tree will be illuminated each evening from dusk until 11 p.m. through early January. Viewing is free and open to the public — no tickets required.
The White House tree arrives, too
Across town, another holiday tradition unfolded this week. First lady Melania Trump welcomed the White House Christmas tree on Monday, greeting a green horse-drawn carriage carrying the fir from Korson’s Tree Farms in Michigan.
The first lady walked around the carriage, admired the 18½-foot tree, and thanked the drivers before the tree was taken inside the White House where it will be displayed in the Blue Room.
“It’s a beautiful tree,” she said, pausing for photos with the two Clydesdale horses.
With both trees now in place, the nation’s capital is officially stepping into the holiday season.