Every December, a giant Norway spruce attracts crowds to Manhattan's Rockefeller Center to celebrate the holidays. And once the season passes, the famous tree takes on a new life.
Once the tree comes down in January, it's turned into lumber for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit that helps build affordable housing.
The tree typically stands at approximately 70 to 100 feet and is carefully selected each year (for the past three decades) by Erik Pauze, the head gardener for the Rockefeller Center.
After the holiday season, the tree's wood gets chopped into large pieces. Then, it's sawed down at a mill in New Jersey and processed at a landscaping company where it is dried, milled and planed into smooth two-by-four and two-by-six boards that eventually make flooring, porches, cabinetry, furniture, framing reinforcement and more.
The first Rockefeller Christmas tree, put up by Rockefeller workers during the Great Depression in 1931. (Image via Rockefeller Center.)
"The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is a reminder to reflect, be thankful and to remember to give back to others among the hustle and bustle of the holidays," said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International in an article the organization published about the tree's repurposing. "That symbol will live on as part of Habitat homeowners' lives in their new houses."
A children's book titled "The Carpenter's Gift" was published in 2011, celebrating the tradition of turning the Rockefeller Christmas tree into homes.
According to an article published in USA Today, recipients of houses made with Rockefeller Christmas tree lumber are randomly selected, although the lumber typically makes its way back to the same state from which it was donated. However, once recipients have been selected for a Habitat home, they are made aware of the wood's unique history. Some of the exposed areas of wood are typically branded with the year the tree served as the Rockefeller Christmas centerpiece.
Rockefeller Christmas tree wood can be found in homes in Mississippi, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and beyond.
(Image via Habitat for Humanity website.)