Chatham Magazine Dec/Jan 2021

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and Diana May moved to Chatham County from Durham in 1994 after purchasing a historic house with an existing Christmas tree farm on the property.

“We never dreamed of owning a Christmas tree farm,” Diana says. “Both of us are pharmacists who had full-time jobs, but with no children at the time, we thought of it as an adventure.”

Byron and Diana made it through their first season at the Jordan Lake Christmas Tree Farm with some help from the previous owners. “With the knowledge we gained from them, and a little creativity of our own, we have been able to juggle very full lives and also continue to improve the farm and provide the best Christmas memories we can for all who visit,” Diana says.

More than 25 years later, the couple, and now their daughter, Khoury, 20, maintain the farm. “[Khoury] has been working since she was about 6 years old,” Diana says. “Obviously the jobs got a bit more complicated as she has gotten older. Before [then], she was out playing with all the kids who visited.” In the fall, the family prepares the farm for the winter season by setting up parking lots, tree racks, tents, shops and other farm beautification projects. “The list is long,” Diana says. “There is rarely not something to do at the farm.”

The farm offers a variety of choose-andcut Christmas trees, including Virginia yron May

H O L I D A Y S

PUTTING DOWN

ROOTS

JORDAN LAKE CHRISTMAS TREE FARM CELEBRATES ITS 26TH SEASON

BY DANIEL STEVENSON

54

CHATHAM MAGAZINE

PHOTO BY ANDREA ANDERSON

DECEMBER / JANUARY 2021