People love to see the tradition of the funky, vintage wooden Christmas trees with Charlie Brown lights that so many homes in the WHHA area love to display during the holiday season. While these trees are associated with the WHHA neighborhood, the trees are unfortunately not produced by the WHHA. For several years the trees were produced by volunteers as detailed in the history below. Production is currently on pause, but there is a waiting list (link at the end of the page) in case production is resumed.
History of Christmas Trees in the Neighborhood
by Marla Hartsell
How It Started
Sometime in the late 1960’s, at Christmas time, painted wooden Christmas trees started appearing in front of the homes on Somerton Drive. These trees were not store bought, mass produced trees. They were identical, handcrafted wooden trees painted Christmas green and adorned with strings of brightly colored “vintage” lights.
Eventually, every home up and down Somerton displayed these trees at Christmas, turning a nice, but ordinary street, into something magical. Several homes on Gooding joined in and more trees appeared on that street too. As things sometimes happen, one Christmas in the early 1970’s most of the trees disappeared. Rumor has it that late one night several rambunctious high school kids tore through Somerton and broke or damaged most of the trees. And the spell was broken. Some of the trees were repaired, but over the next few years, fewer and fewer trees made their appearance, until only two of the original trees remained.
In 2017 The Trees Came Back!
Thanks to the fundraising and organizational efforts of Modern Mile Dallas, Inc, a Section 501c3 public charity that operated from 2016 – 2019 (Link to Facebook page for Modern Mile Dallas), within the Walnut Hill square mile, the trees were produced again with volunteer efforts from a multitude of neighbors. We specifically want to recognize Erina Alvarado, Ken & Mary Peltier, Mark Blitzer, Kathy Adcock-Smith, Marla Hartsell, Francey Beall & Kathryn Rafter who all volunteered hours on end to bring this tradition back. Since Modern Mile Dallas closed its doors in 2020, a handful of neighbors have ventured out on their own to continue to build and sell trees in an attempt to continue this neighborhood tradition. We applaud those who take on this challenge, as building, selling and distributing the trees is not an easy task. The Walnut Hill Vintage Christmas trees are a tradition that bring our neighborhood together every holiday, and hopefully will continue for years and years to come.
Installation instructions: Place your tree perpendicular to the street, approximately 5-6’ away from the curb so that the trees will be viewed in a line from either direction. It’s a wonderful sight as you drive through the streets of Walnut Hill!
Waitlist for Christmas trees
If you would like to add your name to the waitlist in case production resumes, please click the link to the Signup Genius here:
Signup Genius to get on waitlist for a wood Christmas tree
