WETUMPKA, Ala. (AP) - When Frank Wadsworth was given 2,000 Virginia pine trees in 1976, he had no idea what that gift would grow into.
At the time, the Christmas tree industry was booming, Wadsworth said. There were dozens of Christmas tree farms across the state, and Auburn University was even hosting seminars on Christmas tree pruning.
“At the time everybody in the state was getting into the tree business. Elmore County had probably 15 people planting them and Lee County had maybe 30 or 40 growers. Each county all over the state was similar to that,” Wadsworth said on his farm Saturday, 40 years after planting his first trees and a week before Christmas Eve.
Wadsworth Christmas Tree Farm in Wetumpka is now one of the last bastions of the hallowed Christmas tradition of choosing a tree to cut down before taking it home.
Now left as the only Christmas tree farm in Elmore County - and one of only 11 statewide - Wadsworth takes pride in offering what he sees as a true Christmas experience.
“You can go to Lowe’s or Walmart to get those pre-cut northern trees, but they come up here and we got a bonfire, a wagon ride for families and kids driving through the fields and hot chocolate,” Wadsworth said. “People make a tradition out of coming up here, and it means more to them than going to the box store or pulling the artificial tree out of the attic.”
Walking the 12-acre Wetumpka farm has become tradition for Pike Road resident Steve Dozier since he began visiting Wadsworth three years ago. This past week, Dozier’s wife Tricia moved down from New York and he naturally had to introduce her to the tradition.
“This is her first time. It’s my third,” Dozier said. “I like walking around and looking at the trees and I love the outdoors. It’s a chance to get outside and do something a little different for Christmas. It’s kind of become a tradition for us, and I know the kids love running around looking at all the trees, taking the fresh air, the smell of pine.”
Tricia said she visited a similar farm in New York.
“It’s a little different in New York. There’s a lot of snow to trudge through,” Tricia said with a laugh. “A little bit more pleasant experience. You don’t have to be all bundled up and wearing boots and stuff like that.”
Forty years ago, Wadsworth did not know anything about selling Christmas trees much less growing them. Growing trees? How hard could it be?
“I thought you just came back three or four years later after planting them, maybe drive by and look at them,” Wadsworth said. “Four years later I decided it was time to sell them, and you couldn’t even walk through the field. It had never been bush-hogged or mowed, trees hadn’t been pruned.”
Wadsworth has learned a lot. His farm now boasts five kinds of Christmas tree: Leyland cypress, Murray cypress, Arizona cypress, Eastern red cedar, and Virginia pine.
He even orders Frasier firs and black hill spruce trees, trees that he orders from Michigan (they don’t grow in the South) and keeps in water unlike many tree lots or stores.
With his trees taking about five years to grow into optimal size, Wadsworth’s farm is a lot like a fine whiskey distillery. And it’s aged well.
Besides the wagon rides, bonfire and hot cocoa, Wadsworth hosts several field trips of from local schools every year. He also provides a tree for the Elmore County Courthouse and the Governor’s Mansion in Montgomery each holiday season.
His farm is also a reflection of how he used to find his tree as a child.
“When I was a kid I’d go to my grandmother’s land out in Macon County,” Wadsworth said. “We’d always go down there and cut a real tree. The only year we ever had an artificial tree is when we moved to Auburn, and that first year my folks bought this silver tree, the foil tree. That was the thing. I told my folks, ’I don’t know about that.’ The next year I was old enough to drive so I drove back and found my little cedar tree.”
Wadsworth’s farm has also grown into a family operation with his wife Lucie and his kids Jacob, Josh and Carrie helping craft wreaths, trim stumps, prune, plant and mow the land that’s now ornamented like the trees he sells.
Wadsworth never thought Christmas would be such an integral part of his life. Forty years after planting the first trees, his holiday tradition is still growing.
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Information from: Montgomery Advertiser, https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com
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