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Christmas Tree Capital

At least two counties in the United States call themselves the Christmas tree capital of the world. One is in Oregon. The other is Indiana County, Pennsylvania, in the southwest part of the state. According to botanists with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Indiana County has held that title since 1956, when as many as 700,000 Christmas trees were cut there.

Historians say some of the first Christmas tree farms in the nation started in Pennsylvania, where farmers realized they could cultivate white pine and scotch pine trees specifically, taking into account needle length and softness, color and branch strength. The state Christmas tree harvest has been in decline. Experts say there's a growing interest in artificial trees and in Frazier firs, which grow slower here than in warmer, more southern states.

But PA remains at the top of the lists of both working Christmas tree farms and trees harvested.