Western North Carolina is home to one of the largest suppliers of Christmas trees in the country. It’s also the area hit hardest by Hurricane Helene. And as those communities continue to rebuild, they’re also relying on support from the Triangle, as people pick out the perfect tree this holiday season.
While some might opt for a 3-hour trip to the western part of the state to pick a tree themselves, many pop-up lots are sourcing their fresh trees from the western part of the state to the Triangle.
At the lot at the ‘Deck the Halls Christmas Tree Market’ at 4915 Hillsborough Road (NC-751 & Hillsborough Rd.) off I-85 in west Durham, Tyler and Kortney Jacobs who work for a glass company have converted their lot into selling trees they sources from a farm in West Jefferson in Ashe County.
“We love having a real tree in our house, just the smell, and the nostalgia,” said Heidi Wait. Wait and her family have been coming to the lot since it opened 4 years ago, but they say this year it was even more special knowing the tree they picked survived Helene and they could support those in the impact zone.