DC -- U.S. Capitol Grounds -- Christmas Tree (2016):
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- Description of Pictures: 2016 -- Engelmann Spruce -- 84 feet (26 m) -- Payette National Forest -- Idaho -- The tree will be lit at a public ceremony on Dec. 6. Thousands of LED lights and 6,000 ornaments made by children in Idaho will hang on the tree. The ornaments represent things relevant to Idaho, including salmon and pine cones.
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- Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- CAPX_161222_10.JPG: You can see they've started to construct the inaugural standard in the background.
- CAPX_161222_18.JPG: An Idaho Mountain Gem
US Capital Christmas Tree
The Payette National Forest in Idaho was selected to carry on the tradition of providing a Christmas tree for the nations [sic] capitol.
This Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) tree is 80 feet tall. Nearly a year in the planning, preparing this years [sic] US Capitol Christmas Tree involved Forest Service staff, community members, volunteers, civic organizations, and corporate partners.
Not only did the Payette National Forest deliver this tree, but 70 smaller Christmas trees for government offices also came from Idaho and included handmade ornaments gathered from all over the state.
Over 18,000 ornaments have been made for these trees. Ornaments reflected Idaho's official State symbols such as the mountain bluebird, appolousa horse, cutthroat trout, and Idaho's famous potatos. [sic]
Engelmann spruce are commonly used for plywood and veneers that are found on instruments like violins, guitars, and pianos and other specialty products.
- CAPX_161222_72.JPG: It's that time again! Enjoy the holidays and store up the good cheer. January 20 is right around the corner and cheers will be few and far between afterward.
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- Wikipedia Description: Capitol Christmas Tree
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Capitol Christmas Tree (formerly the Capitol Holiday Tree) is the decorated tree that is erected annually on the West Front Lawn of the United States Capitol, in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the Christmas holiday season. The selection, installation, and decoration of the tree are all overseen by the Superintendent of the Capitol Grounds of the Architect of the Capitol (AOC).
Records of the AOC indicate that a Christmas Tree was purchased in 1919; however, it was not until 1964, one year after the suggestion of John W. McCormack, the 53rd Speaker of the House, that a procedure was established for the installation of a yearly tree.
The 1963 tree was a live Douglas-fir, purchased from a Pennsylvania nursery. It was re-decorated each year through 1967 when it was severely damaged in a wind storm and subsequently died as a result of root damage. After the 1963 tree died, white pines from Maryland were cut down and put on display for the 1968 and 1969 seasons. Beginning in 1970, trees have been provided by the U.S. Forest Service from various National Forests.
The Capitol Christmas Tree is traditionally lit during a ceremony at the beginning of December, and remains lit each night though New Year's Day.
Name controversy
In the late 1990s, the Capitol Christmas Tree was renamed to the Capitol Holiday Tree. There was never a clear explanation as to why the name change occurred, but the name change raised controversy. On November 29, 2005, the day after the 2005 tree arrived from New Mexico, the tree was renamed the Capitol Christmas Tree at the request of Dennis Hastert, the 59th Speaker of the House.
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