From Nova Scotia, with love: Boston’s Christmas tree
begins its odyssey- WE ALL RUN FOR BOSTON
--------------
FOUR MORE SLEEPS! Get your google maps ready and drop by
4405 Highway 7, Purlbrook, Antigonish County. My big day! The cutting ceremony is planned for Monday at 10:30am. Cindy Day is coming!!!
https://www.facebook.com/TreeForBoston
----------------------------
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Oh Christmas Tree
Follow @listofsurprises
What Christmas Cheer and a Mushroom Cloud Have in Common
This is Boston’s Christmas tree. Every year, it is lit on the Common, giving commoners like me the chance to bask in the glow of holiday cheer and tiny lightbulbs. The tree brings all the serenity and charm of Stars Hollow to the bustling Boston downtown, but with less fast-paced banter and fewer roaming musicians to disturb the peace and quiet. It’s as peaceful a scene as one can imagine- and it’s all thanks to the worst man-made accidental explosion in history.
Until December of 1917, WWI had been surprisingly good to Halifax, Nova Scotia. With a large, deep, and easily protected harbor, the city was well-suited to be a wartime port. It had become the home base for the newly-founded Canadian navy, and thousands of Canadian soldiers traveled through the city en-route to Europe. Military industry and the city’s population had boomed. The world was at war, but Halifax was seeing some considerable silver linings.
All that was to change. On December 3rd, the Norwegian ship SS Imo arrived in Halifax harbor, where she docked and awaited inspection and the wartime supplies she needed to take on to Belgium. Two days later, a French cargo ship named the SS Mont-Blanc also arrived in Halifax from New York. She was piled high with explosives that were ultimately headed to Europe- and by high, I mean 584,911,735 lbs high. Because flying a warning flag would make her an easy target for German ships, the Mont-Blanc was unmarked. There was no way for other vessels to know about the deadly nature of her cargo.
On the morning of the 6th, both the Imo and Mont-Blanc needed to head through a narrow section of Halifax harbor, appropriately dubbed ‘the Narrows.’ Despite the growing importance of the Halifax harbor, traffic control had not been adjusted for the increase in congestion. Accidents were frequent, as military ships, ferries, fishing vessels, and small civilian craft all squeezed together through the thoroughfares. The traffic rules were simple and similar to those we follow when driving- keep to the right, and signal your movements. The rules might seem clear-cut, but the Imo didn’t follow them. Instead, she tried to skirt around traffic in the channel by traveling on the wrong side. She was going so fast that the captain of the Stella Maris, a tug boat also in the harbor at the time, ordered his crew to head towards shore to avoid the crazy driver (again, life on land and sea seems to have parallels).
The Mont-Blanc was traveling in the correct lane, but the Imo was barreling down the same lane the wrong way. The Mont-Blanc whistled in warning to the oncoming ship, but the Imo whistled back to indicate that it would not be yielding. The Mont-Blanc’s captain stopped his ship and tried to angle her out of the way of the approaching Imo. The Mont-Blanc, realizing too late a collision was unavoidable, also stopped her engines. Still, the two ships continued to be carried on by inertia. The Mont-Blanc turned more sharply away, and for a moment, it seemed a collision had been averted. Then the Imo decided to back up, forcing the two ships into a disastrous crash. The Imo pulled away from Mont-Blanc in the moments afterward, creating sparks in the hull of the explosives-laden cargo ship. It wasn’t good.
The Mont-Blanc was rapidly consumed by flames, and the crew abandoned ship before the explosion they knew would follow. Haligonians gathered along the shoreline to watch the disaster. The Mont-Blanc drifted, unmanned, towards the city while the crew tried to yell warnings of the explosion over the din of the fire. The French crew spoke no English, so their cries would have been useless even if others could hear them. About an hour after the collision, the Mont-Blanc exploded with about a fifth of the force of an atomic bomb. A fireball blasted more than a mile into the air, forming into a mushroom cloud. Melted metal and shards of glass fell down upon Halifax, and upon the residents who had gathered outside to watch the commotion. Windows shattered inward, spraying glass into homes and blinding at least 38 people watching the disaster unfold through their windows. The tremors could be felt up to 220 miles away, but the explosion wasn’t the end of the destruction. The force of the blast triggered a tsunami, pummeling 60-ft high waves down on to the city. The Imo was hurtled onto the shore, her crew mostly dead. The Mont-Blanc was blown into pieces, falling down on to the city. Some chunks were over 1,000 pounds, and traveled more than 2 miles onshore. Stoves and lamps were upended, causing massive fires that burned down entire streets and trapped people in their homes.
“I saw a man’s head blown off and houses tumbled down all around me and still the lumps of red hot steel were coming. Then gasses and smoke, my one thought then was that the end of the world had come…I passed out and would judge in the ten minutes the shock was over and the pieces had stopped flying,” wrote survivor Percy Harding in a letter to a friend. “Everybody in the open was either killed or badly injured and women then started to run out of houses with children all covered with blood. To add to the horrors, fires then started around the part of the town where the ship went up…. The street was full of horses in wagons with heads blown off and half of bodies, cars and automobiles upside down. The Protestant Orphanage, full of little mites, was blown to bits. The dead must be up in the thousands…there is not a window around here for ten miles that’s not blown out.”
James Pattison was a child on his way to school when the explosions and tsunami knocked him off his feet. Years later, he remembered waking up to find himself lying in the street in a pool of water. “ I remember pushing myself up with my hands, trying to get on my knees. And whether there was another shock then or whether I kind of collapsed again I don’t know. I remember falling down and striking my face on the road, and the next time I came conscious I noticed my nose was bleeding. And there was, looked like there was a shingle nail right in my face. I remember pulling the nail out and looking at it, and wondering where that came from.”
Even those trained to handle emergencies were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster. A firefighter on the scene recalled the horror years later, saying “The first thing I remember after the explosion was standing quite a distance from the fire engine ... The force of the explosion had blown off all my clothes as well as the muscles from my right arm.” He remembered people hanging dead from their windows, and bodies flung over telegraph wires. The fires seemed inextinguishable. Since their hoses were not designed to fit with Halifax’s hydrants, firemen from neighboring areas had a hard time pitching in. The flames weren’t contained until the evening. The next day, things only got worse, when a blizzard dropped 16 inches of snow on the city. People were further trapped in their homes, or froze to death in the streets.
About a square mile of the city lay totally destroyed. Damage stretched as far as 10 miles away. All told, about 2,000 people were dead, including 600 children. 12 days after the explosion, a funeral was held for 200 unclaimed dead, charred beyond possible recognition. There were so many bodies that a makeshift morgue had to be set up in the basement of a school. For the survivors, prospects were grim. Twelve thousand buildings were severely damaged, and 1630 were completely destroyed. 6,000 Halifax residents were left homeless. Many of the survivors were severely injured, and the city’s hospitals were overrun.
In the aftermath of the disaster, help poured in from neighboring areas and from the US, particularly Massachusetts. ‘Relief trains’ carrying medical professionals and supplies rolled in to help the overburdened local hospitals. One train traveled through the night from Boston, 700 miles away, making it through heavy snow to arrive in Halifax the day after the disaster. Back in Boston, citizens rallied around the relief effort. The Boston Symphony raised $10,000 with a benefit concert. Local building companies rushed train cars full of plate glass, iron, and steel. A roofing company purportedly donated enough materials to roof a thousand houses. Bostonians of all stripes banded together to collect clothes, bedding, furniture, and money for the cause. Aid workers staffed makeshift hospitals and built temporary housing, as pictured below.
In 1918, Halifax sent Boston a Christmas tree as a thank-you for their help during the crisis. The city rebuilt itself in the explosion’s aftermath, eventually beginning to thrive yet again. Halifax’s gratitude lives on. In 1971, the Lunenburg County Christmas Tree Producers Association (I wish I was a member of an association like that), and then the Novia Scotia Government, revived the Christmas tree tradition. Every year, a Christmas Tree Specialist from the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources (seriously, that’s the title) fields calls from Nova Scotians who want to volunteer their tree for the Boston donation. To be eligible, trees must be at least 50 years old and 50 feet high. A forester then visits all the sites and makes a decision. To be selected is considered an honor. The family who donates the tree often dedicates it to a relative who died in the explosion.
The 2009 tree donors
“For many of us, this annual ceremony marks the start of the Christmas season here in Nova Scotia,” says John MacDonnell, Minister of Natural Resources. “A symbol of goodwill and thankfulness, the Boston tree represents the true meaning of Christmas.”
Merry Christmas, Halifax.
Works Referenced:
“Halifax Buries 200 Dead.” New York Times. 18 December 1917. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0E15F9385F1B7A93CAA81789D95F438185F9 “The Halifax Explosion.” CBC. http://www.cbc.ca/halifaxexplosion/he4_recover/he4_recovery_rebuilding.html ‘
The Boston Christmas Tree.” Nova Scotia Canada. http://www.gov.ns.ca/natr/christmastrees/bostontree.asp
Senator Donald Oliver, Halifax. “Halifax Explosion.” http://www.senatordonaldoliver.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=101
Tutton, Michael. ‘The Maritimes’ Team? It’s Not the One from the Other Coast.” The Star. 6 June 2011. http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/nhl/article/1003443--the-maritimes-team-it-s-not-the-one-from-the-other-coast “
Boston Christmas Tree Cut in Fox Point, Nova Scotia.” Chester.NS.Ca. 2009. http://chesterns.ca/2009/11/boston-christmas-tree-cut-in-fox.html ‘2010 Tree En Route to Boston.” Scotia Web. 2010. http://www.scotiaweb.ca/201011163415/nova-scotia/department-of-natural-resources/2010-christmas-tree-en-route-to-boston-15-metre-white-spruce.html CTV.
“Survivors share stories of the Halifax explosion.” 6 Dec. 2007. http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20071206/halifax_explosion_071206/ First-hand account: Percy Harding in the Midland Free Press, Dec 20 1917. http://www.halifaxexplosion.org/iwasthere/p_hardy.html
“Boston Symphony Helps Halifax.” New York Times, Dec 17, 1917. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F40E11FE355F157A93C5A81789D95F438185F9 “Helped Halifax from Lean Bins.” New York Times. Dec. 17, 1917. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F00711FE355F157A93C5A81789D95F438185F9
What Christmas Cheer and a Mushroom Cloud Have in Common
This is Boston’s Christmas tree. Every year, it is lit on the Common, giving commoners like me the chance to bask in the glow of holiday cheer and tiny lightbulbs. The tree brings all the serenity and charm of Stars Hollow to the bustling Boston downtown, but with less fast-paced banter and fewer roaming musicians to disturb the peace and quiet. It’s as peaceful a scene as one can imagine- and it’s all thanks to the worst man-made accidental explosion in history.
Until December of 1917, WWI had been surprisingly good to Halifax, Nova Scotia. With a large, deep, and easily protected harbor, the city was well-suited to be a wartime port. It had become the home base for the newly-founded Canadian navy, and thousands of Canadian soldiers traveled through the city en-route to Europe. Military industry and the city’s population had boomed. The world was at war, but Halifax was seeing some considerable silver linings.
All that was to change. On December 3rd, the Norwegian ship SS Imo arrived in Halifax harbor, where she docked and awaited inspection and the wartime supplies she needed to take on to Belgium. Two days later, a French cargo ship named the SS Mont-Blanc also arrived in Halifax from New York. She was piled high with explosives that were ultimately headed to Europe- and by high, I mean 584,911,735 lbs high. Because flying a warning flag would make her an easy target for German ships, the Mont-Blanc was unmarked. There was no way for other vessels to know about the deadly nature of her cargo.
On the morning of the 6th, both the Imo and Mont-Blanc needed to head through a narrow section of Halifax harbor, appropriately dubbed ‘the Narrows.’ Despite the growing importance of the Halifax harbor, traffic control had not been adjusted for the increase in congestion. Accidents were frequent, as military ships, ferries, fishing vessels, and small civilian craft all squeezed together through the thoroughfares. The traffic rules were simple and similar to those we follow when driving- keep to the right, and signal your movements. The rules might seem clear-cut, but the Imo didn’t follow them. Instead, she tried to skirt around traffic in the channel by traveling on the wrong side. She was going so fast that the captain of the Stella Maris, a tug boat also in the harbor at the time, ordered his crew to head towards shore to avoid the crazy driver (again, life on land and sea seems to have parallels).
The Mont-Blanc was traveling in the correct lane, but the Imo was barreling down the same lane the wrong way. The Mont-Blanc whistled in warning to the oncoming ship, but the Imo whistled back to indicate that it would not be yielding. The Mont-Blanc’s captain stopped his ship and tried to angle her out of the way of the approaching Imo. The Mont-Blanc, realizing too late a collision was unavoidable, also stopped her engines. Still, the two ships continued to be carried on by inertia. The Mont-Blanc turned more sharply away, and for a moment, it seemed a collision had been averted. Then the Imo decided to back up, forcing the two ships into a disastrous crash. The Imo pulled away from Mont-Blanc in the moments afterward, creating sparks in the hull of the explosives-laden cargo ship. It wasn’t good.
The Mont-Blanc was rapidly consumed by flames, and the crew abandoned ship before the explosion they knew would follow. Haligonians gathered along the shoreline to watch the disaster. The Mont-Blanc drifted, unmanned, towards the city while the crew tried to yell warnings of the explosion over the din of the fire. The French crew spoke no English, so their cries would have been useless even if others could hear them. About an hour after the collision, the Mont-Blanc exploded with about a fifth of the force of an atomic bomb. A fireball blasted more than a mile into the air, forming into a mushroom cloud. Melted metal and shards of glass fell down upon Halifax, and upon the residents who had gathered outside to watch the commotion. Windows shattered inward, spraying glass into homes and blinding at least 38 people watching the disaster unfold through their windows. The tremors could be felt up to 220 miles away, but the explosion wasn’t the end of the destruction. The force of the blast triggered a tsunami, pummeling 60-ft high waves down on to the city. The Imo was hurtled onto the shore, her crew mostly dead. The Mont-Blanc was blown into pieces, falling down on to the city. Some chunks were over 1,000 pounds, and traveled more than 2 miles onshore. Stoves and lamps were upended, causing massive fires that burned down entire streets and trapped people in their homes. “I saw a man’s head blown off and houses tumbled down all around me and still the lumps of red hot steel were coming. Then gasses and smoke, my one thought then was that the end of the world had come…I passed out and would judge in the ten minutes the shock was over and the pieces had stopped flying,” wrote survivor Percy Harding in a letter to a friend. “Everybody in the open was either killed or badly injured and women then started to run out of houses with children all covered with blood. To add to the horrors, fires then started around the part of the town where the ship went up…. The street was full of horses in wagons with heads blown off and half of bodies, cars and automobiles upside down. The Protestant Orphanage, full of little mites, was blown to bits. The dead must be up in the thousands…there is not a window around here for ten miles that’s not blown out.”
James Pattison was a child on his way to school when the explosions and tsunami knocked him off his feet. Years later, he remembered waking up to find himself lying in the street in a pool of water. “ I remember pushing myself up with my hands, trying to get on my knees. And whether there was another shock then or whether I kind of collapsed again I don’t know. I remember falling down and striking my face on the road, and the next time I came conscious I noticed my nose was bleeding. And there was, looked like there was a shingle nail right in my face. I remember pulling the nail out and looking at it, and wondering where that came from.”
Even those trained to handle emergencies were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster. A firefighter on the scene recalled the horror years later, saying “The first thing I remember after the explosion was standing quite a distance from the fire engine ... The force of the explosion had blown off all my clothes as well as the muscles from my right arm.” He remembered people hanging dead from their windows, and bodies flung over telegraph wires. The fires seemed inextinguishable. Since their hoses were not designed to fit with Halifax’s hydrants, firemen from neighboring areas had a hard time pitching in. The flames weren’t contained until the evening. The next day, things only got worse, when a blizzard dropped 16 inches of snow on the city. People were further trapped in their homes, or froze to death in the streets.
About a square mile of the city lay totally destroyed. Damage stretched as far as 10 miles away. All told, about 2,000 people were dead, including 600 children. 12 days after the explosion, a funeral was held for 200 unclaimed dead, charred beyond possible recognition. There were so many bodies that a makeshift morgue had to be set up in the basement of a school. For the survivors, prospects were grim. Twelve thousand buildings were severely damaged, and 1630 were completely destroyed. 6,000 Halifax residents were left homeless. Many of the survivors were severely injured, and the city’s hospitals were overrun.
In the aftermath of the disaster, help poured in from neighboring areas and from the US, particularly Massachusetts. ‘Relief trains’ carrying medical professionals and supplies rolled in to help the overburdened local hospitals. One train traveled through the night from Boston, 700 miles away, making it through heavy snow to arrive in Halifax the day after the disaster. Back in Boston, citizens rallied around the relief effort. The Boston Symphony raised $10,000 with a benefit concert. Local building companies rushed train cars full of plate glass, iron, and steel. A roofing company purportedly donated enough materials to roof a thousand houses. Bostonians of all stripes banded together to collect clothes, bedding, furniture, and money for the cause. Aid workers staffed makeshift hospitals and built temporary housing, as pictured below.
In 1918, Halifax sent Boston a Christmas tree as a thank-you for their help during the crisis. The city rebuilt itself in the explosion’s aftermath, eventually beginning to thrive yet again. Halifax’s gratitude lives on. In 1971, the Lunenburg County Christmas Tree Producers Association (I wish I was a member of an association like that), and then the Novia Scotia Government, revived the Christmas tree tradition. Every year, a Christmas Tree Specialist from the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources (seriously, that’s the title) fields calls from Nova Scotians who want to volunteer their tree for the Boston donation. To be eligible, trees must be at least 50 years old and 50 feet high. A forester then visits all the sites and makes a decision. To be selected is considered an honor. The family who donates the tree often dedicates it to a relative who died in the explosion.
The 2009 tree donors
“For many of us, this annual ceremony marks the start of the Christmas season here in Nova Scotia,” says John MacDonnell, Minister of Natural Resources. “A symbol of goodwill and thankfulness, the Boston tree represents the true meaning of Christmas.” Merry Christmas, Halifax.
Works Referenced:
“Halifax Buries 200 Dead.” New York Times. 18 December 1917. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0E15F9385F1B7A93CAA81789D95F438185F9 “The Halifax Explosion.” CBC. http://www.cbc.ca/halifaxexplosion/he4_recover/he4_recovery_rebuilding.html ‘
The Boston Christmas Tree.” Nova Scotia Canada. http://www.gov.ns.ca/natr/christmastrees/bostontree.asp
Senator Donald Oliver, Halifax. “Halifax Explosion.” http://www.senatordonaldoliver.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=101
Tutton, Michael. ‘The Maritimes’ Team? It’s Not the One from the Other Coast.” The Star. 6 June 2011. http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/nhl/article/1003443--the-maritimes-team-it-s-not-the-one-from-the-other-coast “
Boston Christmas Tree Cut in Fox Point, Nova Scotia.” Chester.NS.Ca. 2009. http://chesterns.ca/2009/11/boston-christmas-tree-cut-in-fox.html ‘2010 Tree En Route to Boston.” Scotia Web. 2010. http://www.scotiaweb.ca/201011163415/nova-scotia/department-of-natural-resources/2010-christmas-tree-en-route-to-boston-15-metre-white-spruce.html CTV.
“Survivors share stories of the Halifax explosion.” 6 Dec. 2007. http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20071206/halifax_explosion_071206/ First-hand account: Percy Harding in the Midland Free Press, Dec 20 1917. http://www.halifaxexplosion.org/iwasthere/p_hardy.html
“Boston Symphony Helps Halifax.” New York Times, Dec 17, 1917. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F40E11FE355F157A93C5A81789D95F438185F9 “Helped Halifax from Lean Bins.” New York Times. Dec. 17, 1917. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F00711FE355F157A93C5A81789D95F438185F9
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BLOGGED: year 2013
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Dec 5-6 2013-NOVA SCOTIA THANKS OUR BOSTON- Halifax Explosion Dec. 6 1917- Canada thanks u- a beautiful journey of remembrance- of humanity
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/11/nova-scotia-thanks-our-boston-halifax.html
AND...
BLOGGED year 2013
CANADA MILITARY NEWS- Halifax Explosion- nobody helped the coloureds of NS/White Trash foster kids of WWII/Nova Scotia our black history- Human Rights and Freedoms in Canada- Nelson Mandela-South Africa Canada Dec 7 2013
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/12/canada-military-news-halifax-explosion.html
FROM NOVA SCOTIA
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Halifax Explosion: The Aftermath and Relief Efforts (1917)
Uploaded
on Aug 17, 2010
Actual
footage following the 1917 Explosion in Halifax, showing devastation and the
relief effort, beginning with activities the day after the Explosion and
following the reconstruction in the north end of Halifax, including the
Hydrostone housing project.
Filmmaker: W.G. MacLaughlan
Filmmaker: W.G. MacLaughlan
--------------
Halifax Explosion 1917 Online Resources
~ | "A Vision
of Regeneration" | Remembrance Book | Halifax
Explosion Film | ~
| Personal Narratives | Halifax Relief Commission |
| Personal Narratives | Halifax Relief Commission |
Tree for Boston
2014 Boston Tree Cutting Event
November 17th, 10:30am
4505 Highway 7, Purlbrook
Antigonish County
For more information call 902-424-6295
'A Vision of Regeneration'
The dynamic story of how Halifax was rebuilt in the years immediately following the disaster is re-created through 150 heritage photographs, maps, architectural plans and documents, plus useful background information. An ideal source for school projects – and a powerful visual memory of a city destroyed and rebuilt.
Halifax Explosion Remembrance Book – A List of Those Who Died
NSARM is pleased to host the online version of a project recently completed by the Halifax Foundation. The 'Halifax Explosion Remembrance Book' is the first really definitive listing for those killed in the disaster of 6 December 1917. The online version features a searchable database with detailed information for 1950 casualties – more than 300 of whom are newly-confirmed and identified victims.
NSARM is pleased to host the online version of a project recently completed by the Halifax Foundation. The 'Halifax Explosion Remembrance Book' is the first really definitive listing for those killed in the disaster of 6 December 1917. The online version features a searchable database with detailed information for 1950 casualties – more than 300 of whom are newly-confirmed and identified victims.
Halifax Explosion Film
View thirteen minutes of black-and-white moving images attributed to professional cameraman W.G. MacLaughlan. The film is an early news documentary from the silent-screen era, capturing in eerie silence the waste and devastation of a city destroyed, and the efforts that went into rebuilding it. Newly re-mastered in digital format and running in close to 'real time', these film clips provide the clearest views and the closest details ever seen of the terrible days immediately following 6 December 1917.
View thirteen minutes of black-and-white moving images attributed to professional cameraman W.G. MacLaughlan. The film is an early news documentary from the silent-screen era, capturing in eerie silence the waste and devastation of a city destroyed, and the efforts that went into rebuilding it. Newly re-mastered in digital format and running in close to 'real time', these film clips provide the clearest views and the closest details ever seen of the terrible days immediately following 6 December 1917.
Personal Narratives
Five first-hand survivor accounts of the Explosion, ranging from a letter written on 10 December 1917 by a Halifax housewife, to the reminiscences of an elderly woman in 1985, looking back to the events of 6 December when she was six years old and at Chebucto School.
Five first-hand survivor accounts of the Explosion, ranging from a letter written on 10 December 1917 by a Halifax housewife, to the reminiscences of an elderly woman in 1985, looking back to the events of 6 December when she was six years old and at Chebucto School.
Halifax Relief Commission
The most important archival resource for studying the Halifax Explosion is the nearly 60 meters of records accumulated by the Halifax Relief Commission, 1917-1978. View a brief description of this material to plan for in-depth research.
The most important archival resource for studying the Halifax Explosion is the nearly 60 meters of records accumulated by the Halifax Relief Commission, 1917-1978. View a brief description of this material to plan for in-depth research.
Tree for Boston
902-424-6295
Follow
the tree's journey on Twitter @treeforBoston or Facebook.
Since 1971, Nova
Scotia has given a Christmas tree to the people of the City of Boston in
gratitude for their assistance and support following the Halifax Explosion in
1917.
This tradition of
giving has been in place for 43 years. The tradition is a way for Nova Scotia
to express sincere thanks for the help they provided during a difficult time.
This year, John and
Ethel Ann MacPherson of Purlbrook, Antigonish Co., are donating the tree for
Nova Scotia to give to the city of Boston.
The 13-metre
(43-foot) white spruce is about 55 years old. It will be cut during a festive
public ceremony Monday, Nov. 17, at 10:30 a.m. All are welcome. Each year, the
Nova Scotia tree for Boston stands proudly in Boston Common throughout the
holidays. The annual event attracts more than 30,000 people each year and
300,000 more tune in to watch the live televised event on ABC.
Here some important
dates to keep in mind.
·
November 17th, Tree Cutting ceremony
·
November 18th, Tree for Boston sendoff, Grand Parade Halifax
·
November 21st, Tree for Boston arrival in Boston
·
December 4th, Tree Lighting in Boston Common
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FROM BOSTON
David L. Ryan/Globe StaffThe 45-foot white spruce rode into the city on the back of a flatbed truck and took a tour through downtown escorted by Boston Police before arriving at the gates of the Boston Common.
Once in the Common, the tree was greeted by and a students from Mather Elementary School in Dorchester who have become pen pals with children at St. Stephen's School in Halifax.
Workers will begin decorating the seasonal centerpiece with 6,000 LED lights and string another 48,000 LED lights on 60 other trees throughout the Common. Next
Globe PhotoPictured are the Common's tree in 2008 and in 1968. Next
Globe file photo1931
The Common Christmas tree, which was then covered in blue lights, sits alone on Dec. 22, 1931. Next
Globe file photo
Globe file photo
Globe file photo
Globe file photo
Hugh O'Donnell/Globe Archive1946Wrapping up another year of the Christmas tree lighting, workers took down the decorations on Jan. 5, 1946. Next
Samuel Hammat/Globe Archive
Bob Dean/Globe Archive1965Tony Lascuola of East Boston took photos of his sons, John, 5, and Peter, 8, as they looked at the displays on the Common on Dec. 13, 1965. Next
Bob Dean/For the Globe
Ellis Herwig/Globe Archive
Phil Preston/For the Globe
Jim Wilson/For the Globe
John Mottern/For the Globe
Evan Richman/Globe Staff
Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff1995Molly Shea, 2, of Hopkinton, rides atop her father Bob's shoulders after the tree was lit. It was Shea's first time seeing the tree lit. Next
Justine Ellement/Globe Staff1998Diane Nititham enjoys the lights from the Christmas tree on the Common along with her boyfriend, Johnathan Buya. They were visiting from Chicago. Next
Evan Richman/Globe Staff
Elise Amendola/AP Photo
Evan Richman/Globe Staff
Aram Boghosian/Globe Staff
Evan Richman/Globe Staff
Charles Krupa/AP Photo
Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff2009Janet Pagan and Angel Martinez of Roxbury taking a picture of themselves in front of Boston's Christmas Tree in the Common on Dec. 14, 2009. Next
Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe2010The 2010 tree was donated by Gary and Roseann Meisner of North Alton, Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia.
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/boston/history-boston-common-christmas-tree/kzf4rFoGASAtvxR6rNJ8HM/gallery.html
--------------------
Special Christmas Tree Arrives
from Nova Scotia
A very
special Christmas tree will
arrive at Boston Common at about 11am on Friday, November 14 (date and time to
be confirmed) - by tradition, the first official tree to be set up each year in
the city.
Look for this special tree near the Visitors
Information Center on Tremont Street. It's always the star of the Boston Common Holiday
Lighting Ceremony.
Although Boston fills up with displays of beautiful
Christmas trees throughout November and December, the most
special tree of all is
this Christmas tree proudly displayed on Boston Common. It
symbolizes the close friendship between Nova Scotia and Boston.
Citizens of Nova
Scotia send a
huge, beautiful tree to the people of Boston every year in remembrance of
Boston's help after a horrific explosion of a munitions ship in Halifax Harbor
on December 6, 1917 killed almost 2,000 people and injured another 9,000.
Within 24 hours of the disaster, a train loaded with supplies and emergency
personnel from Boston arrived in Nova Scotia - the first outside help to reach
the disaster scene, and the last to leave.
In a special recognition of those who were killed
and injured in the Boston Marathon bombings last spring, a group of runners led
the way as the tree left Halifax this year.
-
See more at: http://www.boston-discovery-guide.com/boston-events-november.html#sthash.vTf7MEPV.dpufhttp://www.boston-discovery-guide.com/boston-events-november.html
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CANADA
MILITARY NEWS: Dec 5-6 2013-NOVA SCOTIA THANKS OUR BOSTON- Halifax Explosion
Dec. 6 1917- Canada thanks u- a beautiful journey of remembrance- of humanity
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NOVA SCOTIA ARCHIVES- THE
MAGICAL PLACE 2 GO AND BE AND SEE
Nova Scotia - Halifax Explosion- December 6 2013- We Remember
We will be remembering the #hfxexplosion with timed tweets starting tomorrow at 7:30 AM.
https://twitter.com/NS_Archives/status/408677303007199232
Nova Scotia - Halifax Explosion- December 6 2013- We Remember
We will be remembering the #hfxexplosion with timed tweets starting tomorrow at 7:30 AM.
https://twitter.com/NS_Archives/status/408677303007199232
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CANADA MILITARY NEWS- Remembering Halifax Explosion 1917 and thanking- Boston /also 2 blogs one on special thanks n journey and 2nd- halifax explosion-noone helped us coloureds- we remember -thank u
2015- Nova Scotia's
Christmas tree gift to Boston selected
TC MEDIA - For years, Andrea MacEachern has wanted to see the towering
spruce tree growing in her backyard draped in Christmas lights. This year, she will.
Nov. 5, arbourists were binding the branches of the approximately 49-foot tree at the home of Billy and Andrea MacEachern in Lorne, Pictou County, preparing it for its journey to Boston, a gift from Nova Scotia.
Each year, a tree is chosen by the provincial government to be sent to Boston as a show of appreciation for the support that city offered during the Halifax explosion of 1917 which killed 2,000 and left 7,000 injured.
Billy put a sign up Thursday morning in his yard announcing the tree was coming from their home and that it will be cut Nov. 17.
He said his wife deserves full credit for suggesting the tree might be good for Boston. Billy used to work for Nova Scotia Power and ,when they moved to the property four-and-a-half years ago, she started suggesting to him that he should get one of the bucket trucks home to decorate the tree.
“She always had it in her head that she wanted to see that tree lit up,” he said.
Last year, as they were hearing about the Christmas tree that was going to Boston from Antigonish, she decided they should enter their own tree and submitted a couple of pictures.
Some men came out last winter to check it out and the couple was informed there would be a selection committee making the decision.
There a number of factors the committee looks at, Billy said. In addition to having a good shape, the tree has to be a certain height, a white spruce and be easily accessed.
Members of the committee came to look at the tree and a short time afterward, the MacEacherns were told the decision was down to two trees in the province.
“I got a call a short time later and they said, ‘You’re going to Boston.,'" Billy said.
The MacEacherns' friend Andrew Fraser - who had for years sheared Christmas Trees in the Garden of Eden, Pictou Count - followed the process with the couple, always assuring them they would get it.
When Billy found out, he said he wanted Fraser, who was living in a seniors complex, to be the one to tell Andrea. Unfortunately, Fraser died in September.
Billy said there are also a few smaller trees sent down with the Boston tree each year and one of those trees will be given in honour of Fraser.
After the ceremony, the tree will travel to Grand Parade at Halifax City Hall for a final public farewell at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18. A large thank you book for Boston will be available at both ceremonies for Nova Scotians to sign. The province will then transport the tree 1,117 kilometres to Boston.
The tree lighting will take place on the Boston Common, Dec. 3, at a ceremony attracting about 30,000 people and broadcast live on the Boston ABC affiliate television station to about 300,000 viewers.
Details on this year's tree-cutting ceremony are online here and people can follow the tree's travels on Twitter and "like" the tree on Facebook.
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BLOGGED:
CANADA
MILITARY NEWS: Dec 5-6 2013-NOVA SCOTIA THANKS OUR BOSTON- Halifax Explosion
Dec. 6 1917- Canada thanks u- a beautiful journey of remembrance- of humanity
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BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS- Remembering
Halifax Explosion 1917 and thanking- Boston /also 2 blogs one on special thanks
n journey and 2nd- halifax explosion-noone helped us coloureds- we remember
-thank u
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CANADA MILITARY NEWS-Halifax
Explosion- nobody helped the coloureds of NS/White Trash foster kids of
WWII/Nova Scotia our black history- Human Rights and Freedoms in Canada- Nelson
Mandela-South Africa Canada Dec 7 2013
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NOVA SCOTIA HISTORY.... little known...GETCHA Nova Scotia and Canada on... come visit - INCREDIBLE HISTORICAL FIND... u can browse and check the photos on the site/ and yes NOVA SCOTIA HAD SLAVES/and all the 1ST newspapers and historical facts are amazing March 19 -2015 /Honouring Nova Scotia's - The Oxford Journal
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..CANADA MILITARY NEWS- Nova
Scotia-DEADMAN'S ISLAND- the War of 1812 Archives and USA and Canada data
honour
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