The Cartner family had known since last year that one of their farm’s Christmas trees would be headed to the White House this winter, but then Hurricane Helene struck Avery County in western North Carolina, where Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm has stood for decades. Though the farm lost thousands of trees to a mud slide, one 20-foot Fraser fir survived and became something special to Sam Cartner, Jr.

“My parents were extremely humble people, and they would not like all the attention, but they would be very proud that we were representing the Christmas Tree Growers of America, and especially Western North Carolina, to take a tree to the White House.”

Cartner says this tree, which dwarfs those around it, is now more than just a tree.

“Here in Western North Carolina, where we’ve experienced this horrific hurricane and flood, they would want this tree to represent the faith and hope and love and joy and family and generosity, all those good things of mankind that we need to stop and recognize. That’s what they would want this tree to represent.”

He says Fraser firs like this one are indigenous to the western North Carolina mountains.

“They grow on the high peaks, and so it makes a logical choice that you would grow Frasers here, where they require a well-drained soil and slightly acidic soil. They require a lot of rainfall, and we get about 60 inches of rainfall here a year.”

Cartner and his family will present the tree to First Lady Jill Biden in front of the White House. Then Cartner said they planned to return in December to see it decorated in the White House’s Blue Room.

“I like a tree that you have some imagination in the way that you decorate it, you know. I’m not looking for that perfectly dense tree, you know, I think a unique tree really decorates beautifully, and you get to use your imagination on that ornament.”