An alert reader pointed out that in yesterday’s post we neglected to mention another agricultural product in which North Carolina is among the national leaders: Christmas trees. Indeed, the National Christmas Tree Association confirms that as of 2002 North Carolina was second in the nation in tree production, trailing only Oregon. If North Carolina is going to take the top spot, there’s a lot of catching up to do: in 2002 Oregon harvested nearly three and a half million more trees than North Carolina.
Although North Carolina does not produce the most Christmas trees, the state may have come up with this year’s most prominent one. The 2005 White House Christmas tree (pictured here) is an 18.5 foot Fraser Fir from a farm in Laurel Springs, N.C.