The Story of Charleston’s First Christmas Tree

Thanks to Dr. Nic Butler and his research for the Charleston County Public Library, we bring you the story of Charleston’s First Christmas Tree.

 But before we plunge in, take a good look at this famous illustration, published in a very popular American periodical called Godey’s Lady’s Book.

The magazine’s December 1850 issue included an engraving of Britain’s Queen Victoria and her family standing around a decorated evergreen tree placed on a tabletop and surrounded by small presents.

We can trace the beginning of the Christmas tree tradition in Charleston, with a fair amount of certainty, to a specific incident that also took place in December of 1850.       

Thanks to Dr. Nic we know that the story revolves around a mega-celebrity of that day, Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, who in September 1850 embarked on a long tour across the United States organized by master showman P. T. Barnum.

After appearing to sold-out audiences in New York City, Ms. Lind and her fashionable entourage traveled in a private rail car across the northeastern states and performed in a number of cities. In mid-December, she sailed by steamship from Baltimore to Charleston, where our local newspapers had covered her travels with close attention.

The sea voyage was stormy and unusually long, so Ms. Lind arrived in Charleston on December 23rd feeling seasick and exhausted. The first of her three concerts in the Palmetto City wasn’t until December 26th, but throngs of fans and admirers gathered outside her room at the Charleston Hotel on Meeting Street in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the celebrated “Swedish Nightingale.”

On Christmas Eve, 1850, the people passing along the street noticed an unusual sight in the window of Jenny Lind’s room. “A Forest Tree,” observed the Charleston Courier, “was placed at her window, decorated with variegated lamps, which attracted much attention.”

The immense popularity of both Jenny Lind and Queen Victoria, combined with the affection both ladies demonstrated for evergreen decorations, propelled the Christmas tree into the vanguard of holiday necessities in the Charleston area and beyond.

Source: Hopsewee Plantation (Facebook)