Holly Tree Park Traditional Geocache
chameleon68: will try to make a new one at a later date...
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(micro)
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A different kind of micro... may be very easy or give you fits... if it does, thank Run&Hike for the idea from their cache down near Virginia. Please replace just like you found it and don't include any spoilers in your log! The area may be crowded during December but normally no one there. Cache placed with permission of the director of Cecil County Parks and Recreation Dept. ****The road going back to the park (Holly Tree Lane) looks like a private driveway but it isn't.****
Nothing says “Merry Christmas Cecil County!” like the Holly Tree - also known as the B&O Railroad's Travelers Christmas Tree - located on Jackson Station Road in Perryville, Maryland. It is now an official Cecil County Park.
Evan G. Sentman noted that it was “just a twig” in 1870. Holly trees grow slowly, less than a foot a year, so it narrowly escaped with its ilexian life 18 years later when the Baltimore & Ohio railroad workers, laying track, missed the tree by fewer than 50 feet. The property the tree is located on was bought by B&O Railroad in 1930 to preserve the Holly Tree. Christmas of 1947 was the first year workers from the B&O decorated the Holly Tree. The community donated lights and ornaments, but since the decorations weren’t meant for outdoor use, bulb mortality was high and the B&O was constantly sending down to the Perryville 5&10 for more! During the next two decades, conductors would wear holly sprigs on their lapels and in the earliest years, special trains ran from Baltimore accompanied by the B&O Glee Club and was broadcasted on a Baltimore radio station. Thru the duration of the season regular passenger trains would slow down, dim the lights, and would announce the approach of this spectacular display.
By 1971, budgets and interest in the tree declined and the tree and park fell into disrepair. In the early 1990’s, a committee was formed and the park was cleaned up and volunteers from local schools, scout troops, and others organized to decorate the tree once again. Every year, volunteers gather to string nearly 50 strands of giant multi-colored lights and huge Mylar ornaments in the chilly days before Thanksgiving, attaching them to the protective metal structure designed to safeguard the Holly Tree.
On the first Saturday in December, local bands celebrate the lighting of the Holly Tree with a short but invigorating parade and participants march down Holly Tree Lane. The lighting, at 6pm sharp, is an awe-inspiring sight. A small building nestles on the grounds of Holly Tree Park; its interior walls are covered with old photographs and newspaper clippings about the tree. There is a comfy caboose inside, where free photo sessions with Santa take place during the holiday season. Hundreds of children spend time with the jolly old elf, and the committee joins forces with the local Ray of Hope Mission Center to include gifts of toys and winter coats for each child.
In myth, holly symbolizes rebirth. It is evergreen, offering hope for spring, and its crimson berries provide sustenance during a season when all things seem dead. In truth, Cecil County’s Holly Tree and the people who maintain it provide just that: hope and sustenance, from one neighbor to another, a gift of goodwill during a season of joy.
Parts reprinted with permission from an article in Cecil Soil Magazine by Maggie Creshkoff. CecilSoilMagazine.com
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