CHRISTMAS TREE FARMS

Most drives we took along back country roads to the south or west of Hillsville took us past some Christmas tree farms, some being small with less than a 100 trees and most farms having many thousands of trees.  Often these tree farms utilized hilly land that would be hard to farm with traditional crops.

When we did some research, we found out that the southwestern part of Virginia and some higher elevations of North Carolina and Tennessee contain some of the 15,000 growers in the U.S.  This industry produces over 35 million trees yearly.  While most of these growers are located in the Upper Midwest, many rural counties of Appalachia have turned to this crop since the 1970's, replacing livestock grazing and some tobacco production.  Here is a photo of a larger farm located near Mouth of Wilson, VA. 

This development coincided with the Fraser fir being identified as a tree which could be grown successfully in this region at altitudes above 3,000 feet.  Fraser firs, described by foresters as the "Cadillac of the Christmas tree industry," are perhaps the ideal Christmas tree.  They have a deep rich green foliage, and their branches are strong and support heavy ornaments without sagging.  Fraser firs have an excellent aroma and hold their needles well.  The Fraser firs pictured below were found on our drive between Piney Creek and West Jefferson.  You can visualize these trees being on a Christmas tree lot near you in December.

Fraser fir Christmas tree farming has proven to be the ideal agricultural crop helping to keep the land in production rather than having the land being used for vacation home development.