The US Coast Guard Cutter ‘Mackinaw’ was loaded with 1,200 Christmas trees from northern Michigan last week and, on Monday, left Cheboygan County for Chicago where the trees will be unloaded and delivered to families in need preserving the tradition of the ‘Christmas Tree Ship’.
Shipping Christmas trees from northern Michigan to Chicago is a tradition more than a century old. Thus, a group of mariners, coming from commercial, recreational and military fields wanted to keep the tradition alive and give Christmas trees to disadvantaged families who would not otherwise be able to have a Christmas tree.
With the assistance of the US Coast Guard, crew-members and volunteers unloaded trees and sent them up to the deck of the US Coast Guard cutter “Mackinaw” which is meant to be the “Christmas Tree Ship”.
The “Rouse Simmons” was the original “Christmas Tree Ship” that came to Chicago at the beginning of the holiday season in the early 1900’s. The “Christmas Tree Ship” was a three masted schooner that was easily recognized by waiting crowds when they saw a Christmas tree tied to her main mast and her decks loaded with thousands of Christmas trees destined for Chicago families.
Unfortunately, the original “Christmas Tree Ship” sunk in a violent storm on Lake Michigan in 1912. The ship was bound for Chicago with the cargo of Christmas trees when she foundered off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, killing all on board.
Thompson Harbor was the last port to see the schooner leave with a shipment of 5,500 trees before it sank over a century ago.
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The Mackinaw now carries on her legacy. The trees are off-loaded from the Mackinaw by local youth volunteers, including sea cadets, venture crews, sea scouts and young marines and loaded onto trucks for distribution to more than a thousand deserving families throughout Chicago.
The Cutter Mackinaw arrived in Chicago on Friday, November 30 and a special ceremony will take place before the Christmas trees are unloaded from the ship and placed into waiting trucks for delivery.
