The Christmas Tree in Victorian America
The Christmas tree in America dates back to as early as 1812 or 1819. New York was originally a Dutch Republic named New Amsterdam, hence the earliest American Christmas trees may have originated with the German-American population.
The Christmas tree gradually increased in popularity over the next twenty years. Universal appeal occurred during the 1850’s and 1860’s.
Godey’s promoted the charm of the in-home Christmas tree, highlighting Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s celebration. A table-top tree was included, the print appearing in the December Godey’s issue in 1850. Albert had introduced the tree he’d embraced as a child in Germany and years after his marriage to Victoria, stated, “I must now seek in the children an echo of what Ernest [his brother]and I were in the old-time, of what we felt and thought; and their delight in the Christmas-trees is not less than ours used to be,…”
In America, over the next decade, Christmas trees started to appear in both the churches and the marketplace. This in turn, encouraged people to bring them into their homes, making the tree an important part of holiday décor.
From Christmas Trees and Godey’s Lady’s Book/ America’s Victorian Era in the Age of Sail
For more information and photos of early Christmas trees go to
http://karleeaturner.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/godeys-christmas-1848-issue/
I never knew about the Romans and the evergreen. Thanks for an informative post.
Thanks for stopping by, Ally!
Great story, Susan. I, too, had heard the German’s were responsible for Christmas trees. In the story that’s right now subbed to my publisher, the family has a Christmas tree and it’s set in 1861. Whew! Glad I didn’t blow it. I also checked on the poem A Visit From St. Nickolas before I used that in my book, too. I love your blogs about history.
Thanks, Callie! You learn so much in the research phase of a book. I had Christmas scenes in my time travel romance, Erin’s Rebel, set in America in the 1860s, and had to know how families celebrated in that time period. I found it interesting that they used small table top trees, instead of the full sized trees most of us have in our homes today.