A Look Back at 20 Spectacular Hudson Valley Trees Used at Rockefeller Center

Earlier this week the 91st Rockefeller Center Tree was lit and officially kicked off the holiday season.

2023 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree From Upstate, NY

On November 1st, 2023 we learned that this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was cut down in Vestal, New York. The 80-foot-12-ton beauty made its way down to New York City back on Veterans Day Weekend.

The tree's trip down in the city made headlines after it ran into some trouble while traveling through Monticello. According to our listeners the tree and truck it was on had trouble turning down the small Sullivan County roads.

Thankfully, the tree made it down in one piece to then be decked out with thousands of LED lights and topped with a Swarovski star. The tree was then lit on Wednesday, November 29th in front of millions in person and on TV.

Hudson Valley Rockefeller Center Tree History

While enjoying the festivities last night and looking into the history of the Rockefeller Center tree, I learned that there have been 20 trees that have come from in and around the Hudson Valley.

The first tree to go up was back in 1931 and the first tree from the Hudson Valley didn't come along until 1940.

According to the Rockefeller Center page on Wikipedia, the first tree from the Hudson Valley to be used at Rock Center was in 1940 from Hyde Park. In an archived article from the New York Times, they write:

This year's tree is seventy-six years old and was obtained from a strip of forest near the Hyde Park estate of President Roosevelt.

In 1940 the Hyde Park tree was decorated with 800 plastic balls along with a string of lights. Nothing like it is today! After 1940, 19 other trees were chosen from in and around the Hudson Valley for the big show at Rockefeller Center. Fun fact, all of the Hudson Valley trees (and many others through the years) have all been Norway Spruces.

1940 - Hyde Park
1948 - Mount Kisco
1950 - Mount Kisco
1963 - Hurley
1964 - Lake Carmel
1979 - Spring Valley
1983 - Valley Cottage
1986 - Nanuet
1987 - Suffren
1991 - Suffren
1992 - Stony Point
1993 - Nanuet
1996 - Armonk
1997- Stony Point
2000 - Buchanan

2004 - Suffren: This is the year they added the infamous Swarovski star.

2010 - Mahopac

2015 - Gardiner

2018 - Wallkill

2019 - Florida

Do you have a favorite Rockefeller Center Christmas tree?