Day Trips: Dreaming of an aluminum Christmas

The Transylvania Heritage Museum – in downtown Brevard – spends a goodly amount of time collecting stuff from old-timers and displaying it to newcomers to help connect the historical dots.

But not this time of year. This is when things get a little strange.

The museum recasts itself as the Aluminum Christmas Tree Museum & Aesthetically Challenged Seasonal Ornament Museum and Research Center. They call it ATOM for short, and it holds sway next Saturday through Dec. 19.

The museum bills ATOM as “world renowned,” and indeed it has received media attention in the New York Times, on National Public Radio and British Broadcasting. And yes, it features “vintage examples of the ultimate sustainable Christmas trees.”

This, in a Western North Carolina county famed for its forests and tree farms. And in a museum less than three hours from Charlotte but more than 13 hours from where fake Christmas trees first, um, took root.

The wire-and-tinsel assemblies were apparently invented in Chicago in 1958, but through the early 1970s were manufactured nationally in Manitowoc, Wis., under the Evergleam name. As they were clearly built to last many years, customers were lured to buy newer replacements that came in assorted sizes, non-natural colors, featured hue-shifting stationary color wheels and, eventually were motorized to slowly spin on tree stands.

As with most pop icons, they were increasingly derided as crass (check out “A Charlie Brown Christmas”) and fell out of favor. They were relegated to attics and basements ... only to return decades later as campy.

That’s what happened in Brevard in the 1990s. It began as a locally traveling show; the collection was later acquired by the museum, which now boasts more than 25 aluminum trees every yuletide, each with its own theme. They include trees owned by the museum plus those brought in and decorated by others. They’re displayed in the museum’s three rooms.

(Wipe that smile off your face for a minute. Rare Evergleam models fetch prices as high as $1,800. The Wisconsin Historical Museum has mounted seasonal displays of the 20-some in its collection.)

Among aluminum trees returning to ATOM this year is one is about camping; the owners of Ash Grove Cabins & Camping are doing that one. New for Christmas 2015 will be a “macho” tree by museum president and exhibit coordinator Pat Childress. It’s hung with items referencing formerly men-only pursuits such as cars, tractors, hunting and fishing. It will be adorned with camouflage ribbon bows.

Also new will be three done by Mary Allen, of Charlotte, and her daughter, Mary Chism, of Penscola, Fla., both collectors and fans of aluminum Christmas trees – and of ATOM.

They plan to decorate trees themed to “The Andy Griffith Show,” the holiday movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” and a “Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly” creation honoring the 1950s rock ’n’ roll pioneer. The last-named will be hung with Holly photos, album covers, posters and horn-rimmed glasses like the ones Holly used to wear.

Childress’ 9-year-old grandson is providing Minecraft ornaments for another tree.

Returning for the fourth year is a display showing an aluminum tree forest and plant nursery; it includes a fictitious life cycle, from aluminum “seeds” to saplings. Childress says she can always tell when visitors reach the display. It’s where the laughter kicks in.

This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 6:11 AM with the headline "Day Trips: Dreaming of an aluminum Christmas."