Grateful Christmas tree farmers return to Beaufort after deadly hurricane. ‘We feel blessed’
Each Christmas for almost 40 years the Lacey family, which hails from the western North Carolina mountain town of Newland, sets up shop on a small lot in the Lowcountry city of Beaufort where they sell sweet smelling Fraser firs whose triangular shape is perfect for Christmas trees.
Over the years, the lot, located on a busy stretch of palm tree-lined Sea Island Parkway on Lady’s Island, has become a fixture during the holidays because of the 42-foot-tall inflatable snowman that marks its location — and the family from the North Carolina mountains that’s returned each year to run it ever since Ronald Reagan was in the White House.
The ravages of Helene
Just three months ago, Lacey and her family were among dozens of Christmas tree farmers in western North Carolina who were hard hit by Hurricane Helene, and she wondered whether they would return to Beaufort this year. North Carolina is second in the nation in Christmas trees harvested, in large part due to the dark blue-green Fraser fir that grows in the shallow rocky soils of the southern Appalachian Mountains.
“We’re just country folks who work hard,” Debbie Lacey said Friday, as she walked between rows of 10-foot tall Fraser firs, one of the nation’s top selling Christmas trees, as she explained the annual holiday journey of her family to the Lowcountry and the trees they grow and market here.
Lacey still gets emotional as she ticks off storm statistics like it was yesterday – 1,800 mudslides, more than 100 dead and some 450 people still missing. The basement of her own mother’s house was covered by 7 feet of water. When it receded, 3 feet of mud remained.
“Our area,” says Lacey, pausing to collect herself as her eyes quickly welled up with tears, “was absolutely devastated. We had a family member who was killed in a mudslide.”
Lacey doesn’t think she will see the full recovery of her beloved mountains in her lifetime. One Christmas tree farming family, Lacey noted, lost 60,000 trees. Lacey’s grandchildren are selling hot chocolate at the Christmas tree lot in Beaufort to raise money for that family.
The Lacey family’s initial fears centered on being able to access the waterlogged fields with heavy trucks and the devastation to the region’s transportation infrastructure. The storm hit Sept. 27. It took until the end of October before the highways and local roads began to reopen. The family, she says, was lucky compared to many.
Her mood improves as she recalls the help that came pouring in following the hurricane. Some of that help, she points out, came call the way from Beaufort.
“We feel blessed we were still able to be here,” Lacey says.
Since the Christmas tree lot opened last month, says Lacey, some Beaufort residents have stopped by just to pray for the family and their neighbors back in North Carolina. One person gave the Lacey’s a $4,000 check to be delivered to families in need during Christmas. That’s how much trust the locals place in the owners of the family-owned Christmas tree lot.
“Just about everybody in town I know comes here,” said Robby Gwinn, a resident who’s been buying his trees at the Mountain Beech Farm for years.
The Laceys, he adds, “take good care of their trees” and keep them in water so the needles survive longer.
Between 750-800 trees are sold each during a season, ranging in size from 5 to 12 feet tall. The cost per tree is $75 to $290.
Increased transportation and land costs due to the hurricane have caused minor increases in tree prices this year, Lacey said. A tree that would have cost $95 now costs $100. The family also had fewer 5-6-foot-tall trees as a result of the storm. Instead, the family cut 6-7-foot-tall trees down to 5-6-feet tall, but kept the price the same. “We’ve eaten that cost,” Lacey says.
This year, an 18 ½ foot Fraser Fir from the Cartner Family of Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm in North Carolina was chosen to adorn the White House, a tribute to the resilience of North Carolina communities affected by Hurricane Helene. In 1990, the Laceys of Beech Mountain Farms received that same honor when a tree from their land was picked for display inside the White House.
Despite the hurricane, the quality of Beech Mountain Farms trees remains strong and sales have been brisk in Beaufort with the trees on the front lot now all that remain, Lacey said.
“They hold their Christmas tree shape really well,” Lacey’s daughter, Jennifer, says of the Fraser fir, citing one of the qualities that make it popular. Another factor is the tree’s woody aroma.
Immediately following the storm, Lacey initially had doubts about making the annual pilgrimage to Beaufort to sell Christmas trees.
Since 1988, the family has trucked trees from their home in Newland in Avery County to the Lady’s Island location but it’s more than a business. Children have celebrated countless Christmases on the tree lot. Long-time Beaufort customers have embraced their Tar Heel neighbors like they’re Lowcountry kin, routinely dropping off locally caught shrimp and even dinner on Thanksgiving Day.
“I’ll tell you what,” says Jennifer, “They take care of us.”
Locals like Beaufort firefighter Devin Mitchell, who enjoys the camaraderie of the job and the happy atmosphere on the tree lot, work for the Laceys year after year.
The North Carolina family has been coming to Beaufort for so long that Lacey’s children are now selling Christmas trees, sometimes to customers who were kids themselves when they first ran through the rows of Fraser firs smelling the piney air. Besides daughter Jennifer, son Stephen also is part of the crew, and Lacey’s husband Bruce operates a second tree lot with a partner on Hilton Head Island. Even first cousin Jim Pritchard of Bluffton helps out.
The support that South Carolinians have shown the North Carolina Christmas tree farmers following the Hurricane Helene is heartwarming to Lacey, especially at a time when people claim there’s so much wrong with the world. “It’s not about politics,” Lacey says. “It’s about loving and caring for people.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2024 at 12:00 AM.
