Coast Guard's Christmas Ship delivers 1,200 Michigan trees to Chicago
By Maddie Forshee | mforshee@mlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on December 09, 2016 at 4:35 PM, updated December 09, 2016 at 4:36 PM
CHICAGO - 1,200 Christmas trees made their way into Chicago homes after the Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw - decked out as the legendary "Christmas Ship" - returned to the docks on Dec. 3 for the annual Christmas Tree delivery.
The trees were grown at different farms in the Cheboygan area and were purchased by the Chicago Christmas Tree Committee. The trees were taken from the Mackinaw's home port in Cheboygan and traveled the 350 miles to Chicago.
The trees are being distributed throughout the city to more than 20 community service organizations and more than 1,000 families.
When the cutter Mackinaw arrived, students from Goodwin Elementary and Jacqueline B. Kennedy schools were invited to climb on board to learn about the original Christmas Tree ship, the Rouse Simmons, and get a tour of the cutter.
The crew of the cutter, active duty, reserve and auxiliary USCG members and local volunteers took part in unloading the Christmas trees from the ship.
The annual delivery of holiday trees follows the tradition of the Rouse Simmons, a three-masted schooner from Michigan known for delivering its festive cargo to the Windy City. The ship's loss is among the most famous of Great Lakes' shipwreck stories.
During its 1912 voyage, weighed down with 5,500 trees from the Upper Peninsula, the Rouse Simmons sank in Lake Michigan, off the coast of Wisconsin. Its crew was lost, as were some Chicago-bound lumberjacks the ship's captain had offered drop home for the holidays.