German Feather Tree

The County Historical Society has put together a display of 100 Christmas trees. They fill the rooms at the Lincoln Tallman House museum and it is open for holiday tours.

Many of the trees have a theme and are sponsored by various organizations. I have more photos to share later.

I found this German Feather Tree to be one of the most interesting. It was made in the mid 1800's out of green dyed goose and turkey feathers and was one of the first artificial Christmas trees.

German Feather Tree
​The exact year the artificial trees first appeared is uncertain but sometime in the mid-1800’s enterprising Germans, faced with forestry laws that prohibited the traditional cutting of evergreens for yuletide celebrations, devised a novel substitute. They dyed goose and turkey feathers, attached them to wire to form branches, set the branches into a slender wooden “trunk,” and anchored the whole thing in a sturdy wooden base.
​In the beginning the feather trees were only in Germany until Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s German-born husband, imported the trees to England (approx. 1850-1861). During the 1880’s the trees were most likely introduced to this country by German ornament wholesalers who used the little trees to display their wares. Some people credit the five-and-dime mogul, F. W. Woolworth, with introducing trees to America.
​Their popularity was increased when President Theodore Roosevelt also responded to the diminishing supply of fresh evergreens in America. To save the trees, he ordered that no live trees be used in the White House holiday decorations.
​However, as part of White House lore, it is told that President Roosevelt was surprised and angry when he discovered that his two sons, Archie and Quentin, had smuggled a live tree into the mansion and set it up in Archie’s room. Some sources indicate that goose feather trees may have appeared in the White House as a response to Quentin and Archie’s defiance to the president.