Volunteers Plant 4,000 Seedlings at The Rocks

Nearly 40 volunteers, including groups from two high schools, planted more than 4,000 Christmas tree seedlings this month at The Rocks in Bethlehem.

The annual "planting party" means a frenzy of spring activity at the working farm, where small seedlings are hand planted in pre-drilled holes across the fields.

Volunteers were inspired by beautiful views of the Presidential Range of the White Mountains while they worked.

Students from The White Mountain School (below), a neighbor to The Rocks, spent the afternoon assisting the effort.

Most of the seedlings planted this year were Canaan fir seedlings, aged approximately 3 to 4 years, and will take approximately six to 10 years to grow into Christmas trees that can be harvested. Each of our more than 40,000 trees is then hand-pruned each summer for optimal shaping.

The Rocks is a 1,400-acre forest reservation, owned and managed by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. 

In 1978, two of John and Frances Glessner's grandchildren donated the 1,400-acre Rocks, including 22 buildings, to the Forest Society, with the requirement that there always be a crop in the field. For more than three decades, that crop has been Christmas trees, and people come to The Rocks from near and far each year to find their perfect tree. Many other Christmas trees are delivered to wholesale clients, and others are collected and donated as part of the Trees for Troops charitable program.

Watch a video about planting day: