Boston's 2015 Christmas Tree Set to Arrive From Nova Scotia

Photo Credit: Getty Images/Lighting ceremony 2004

The annual gift of an evergreen Christmas tree from Nova Scotia will arrive by police escort at Boston Common on Friday, Nov. 20.

This year marks the 44th anniversary of this traditional gift giving, a way to thank the people of Boston for providing emergency assistance when Halifax, Nova Scotia’s capital city, was devastated by a wartime explosion in 1917.

Boston’s official 2015 Christmas tree is a 50-foot spruce donated by Andrea and William MacEachern of Lorne in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. In addition, Nova Scotia is donating smaller trees to Rosie’s Place and the Pine Street Inn.

On Nov. 20, the official 2015 Christmas tree will be escorted by the Boston Police Department beginning around 10 a.m. from Billerica via Route 3 South to Route 128 North to Interstate 93 South to Sullivan Square to Rutherford Avenue over the Charlestown bridge and will weave through downtown Boston on North Washington, New Chardon, Cambridge, Tremont, Boylston, and Charles Streets to enter Boston Common at the corner of Beacon and Charles Streets at approximately 11 a.m.

Boston Parks Commissioner Chris Cook, an official Nova Scotian town crier, Santa Claus, and local schoolchildren will greet the tree at its final destination near the Boston Visitors Center at 139 Tremont Street.

The tree will be lit at approximately 7:55 p.m. as the City of Boston’s Official Tree Lighting comes to Boston Common on Thursday, December 3, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.