Capitol Christmas Tree Comes From The Heart of ACORN Land

Friday November 16 th was when the physical part of the Capitol Tree work began. Preparation started years ago when the now retired Bennington County Forester Jim White and Green Mountain National Forest officials selected a group of potential trees to be groomed and cared for with hopes of being selected for our nation’s Capitol Christmas Tree. A 55 foot balsam fir was chosen by Capitol Grounds Superintendent Theodore Bechtol.

The tree was located in Somerset Vermont on The Green Mountain National Forest just a few hundred yards away from the Deerfield River. Fittingly it was snowing all day during the ceremonies and cutting and tying of the tree. Governor James Douglas, 2006 Olympic snowboarding gold medalist Hannah Tetter, Calvin Coolidge (actor), Santa Claus, and Smokey Bear were all present to celebrate the cutting of the tree. Nanatasis Bluto-Delvental of Goshen , an elder with the Abenaki Indians, performed a blessing on the balsam, burning tobacco and herbs, and chanting and singing a prayer for the tree's life in the forest, and its sacrifice. Next, Special Olympians got to take a few turns cutting the tree with a traditional cross cut saw. Then it was time for the final cut from professional logger and Game of Logging instructor John Adler, from Northeast Woodland Training. When the tree was severed a Central Vermont Public Service Crane held the tree in place and gently lowered it to the ground where workers could begin the long process of tying the tree and getting it loaded on the official truck. The truck was an antique Mack provided and driven by Fred Beauchamp of Rutland, Vermont. A convoy of antique Mack trucks from the Green Mountain Bulldog Chapter of The Antique Truck Club of America hauled the capitol tree, a “parts tree”, 80 other companion trees from tree farms throughout Vermont, and 3,000 handcrafted ornaments to decorate the trees. The official tree lighting will be on December 5 th at 7:00.

For a pin point location of where the tree began its life go to MapServer coordinates:

X = 459862.88 Y = 50725.16

For more information, pictures, and merchandise go to http://www.capitolchristmastree2007.org/index.html

Sam Schneski

Assistant County Forester

VT Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation