Freight All Kinds: US Capitol Christmas Tree graces Chattanooga, Tennessee

Hundreds gathered for a glimpse of the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree as it stopped in downtown Chattanooga on its way from Carson National Forest in New Mexico to the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Nov 21.

“The People’s Tree” is part of a 55-year-old tradition that began when John W. McCormack, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, placed a live Christmas tree on the Capitol lawn in 1964.

Each year, a different national forest provides the Capitol Christmas Tree as well as several smaller trees for offices around Washington.

This year’s tree was loaded onto a truck in New Mexico and en route beginning in early November. In the past two weeks, the truck has made several stops in cities across the South as it makes its way to the Capitol.

“This journey has been amazing,” said Hannah Mattingly, U.S Capitol Christmas Tree Tour communications director. “We have loved every minute of it so far, and we are so excited to be in Chattanooga today.”

The truck carrying the tree stopped in Miller Park around 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. Families and local businesses were able to get a close look of the tree, sign their name on the truck and purchase Capitol Christmas Tree ornaments for their own trees.

FleetLocate by Spireon’s advanced trailer management technology provided real-time GPS tracking for the famous tree’s journey to the Capitol at capitoltreetracker.com.