From Accuval. Read it all here.
Year after year, many Americans take part in the holiday tradition of purchasing and decorating a Christmas tree. While decorating homes with greens and lights was started by the Romans, it was the Germans and Scandinavians that placed evergreen trees inside their homes in a demonstration of hope for the upcoming spring. It was not until 1510 in Riga, Latvia that the first Christmas tree was decorated. The Christmas tree was introduced to the U.S. much later, in 1776 during the Revolutionary War. However, it was not until 1850 that the first Christmas tree was sold commercially, followed by the first Christmas tree retail lot in 1851. Since then, the Christmas tree has evolved into a multi–billion dollar a year industry with the most popular Christmas trees being the Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Virginia pine, Balsam fir and White pine.