How one little Christmas tree on a NJ beach branched into a beloved tradition

OCEAN CITY, N.J. − Sue McElwee didn't realize she and her friends were about to start a holiday tradition in 2019 when they set up a Christmas tree on the beach.

They just wanted a beautiful backdrop for family photos. "We left the tree up," she said, "and let the kids write their names on shells with Sharpies."

Soon, others were stopping by, leaving their own messages on seashells and taking their own photos.

Five years later, there are at least eight other trees at various spots along the Ocean City, New Jersey, beach, each with its own story. "It really took off in 2020," said McElwee, a mother of four whose family moved to the town that calls itself "America's Greatest Family Resort" full time the same year.

"People, even in the winter, will still walk on the beach," she said. "And with it being 2020, I think they were just looking for a way to be outside and be connected. Everyone appreciated small things, and they'd hear about it on social media and travel down here. They can put a message or their name on a shell."

Her children, ages 8 to 17, have learned the value of connections and simple beauty, and McElwee said she's honored that people have taken the idea and made it their own.

"People tell their stories, and it's a really special thing."

'A true celebration of nature'

Paul Ribble lives in Ocean City in the offseason. He's semi-retired and finds it quieter (not to mention cheaper) to rent during the cooler months. He is one of the people caring for the tree at the southernmost tip of Ocean City, on the 59th Street beach.

Melanie Stampone set up a tree at 50th Street in 2021, and as a storm approached, some of her neighbors, including Wendy Smith and Gail Ping − knowing Stampone wasn't nearby − gathered up all the shells, took down the tree so it wouldn't be swept away and replaced everything once the storm passed.

"It’s a labor of love," Smith said. "If you didn’t have people there to care for them, it would be a mess." The next year, a dredging project prompted them to move the tree a few blocks south to 59th Street.

McElwee said making sure the North Street tree was as environmentally friendly as possible was important: "You have to think about (what's on and around the tree). You don't want stuff blowing into the ocean. You have to be conscious of that − it's not your living room."

The tree McElwee maintains at North Street is donated to Funny Farm Animal Rescue in nearby Mays Landing after the holidays. Smith said the 59th Street tree is usually donated to a local farm or to the Cape May Zoo. Most of the trees have ornaments made of shells, driftwood, even starfish.

"Our tree (on the 50th Street beach) is a true celebration of nature," Lisa Walsh of the OCNJ Queens wrote in an email, "adorned with handmade ornaments crafted from bird seed, peanut butter, pinecones, pretzel sticks, and, of course, clam shells."

Christmas trees and causes

The 59th Street tree is donated by Ponderosa Tree Farm in Egg Harbor City. This year, while Smith recovered from surgery, Ribble and others picked it up and installed it on the beach (burying the trunk deep in the sand and reinforcing it with two-by-fours). Caretakers collect shells and put them into baskets. Plastic buckets hold markers, though Ribble said some people take the shells home and paint them with more elaborate designs.

There are string lights along the wooden fence leading from 59th Street, past the dunes and onto the beach. And this year, visitors can bring nonperishable items to be donated to a local food pantry; Ribble said two big rubber bins have already been filled a few times since Thanksgiving.

A "Memorial Tree" at 34th Street offers visitors a place to leave messages to lost loved ones. At 11th Street, another tree pays tribute to military members and veterans and has American flags and shells for people to leave messages of thanks for those who serve and sacrifice.

And at 50th Street, the OCNJ Queens, a philanthropic women's group, raised nearly $1,000 last year for Angels in Motion, which helps people dealing with substance use disorder and homelessness. This year, the group's tree supports the cancer nonprofit Gilda's Club of South Jersey.

Thousands of shells, visitors from all over

Smith said thousands of shells have been collected over the years just from the 59th Street tree. Visitors have come from all over the East Coast and as far away as Canada. McElwee remembered one family who left messages to two daughters who died from medical conditions. Their mother wrote to her from Boston to tell her how much it meant to her to leave a small memorial to them near the ocean.

Smith, a retired educator, said she has welcomed her former students and their own families to the 59th Street tree. She's grateful for everyone who visits and has seen marriage proposals, someone playing "O Christmas Tree" on the violin, and countless beachfront Christmas photos.

"You know when someone thanks you for something and you think, Why are you thanking me?" she said. "That tree gives more to me than I could ever give to it. People find joy in it, and in caring for it. We love doing something that makes so many people feel good."

Reach Phaedra Trethan at ptrethan@usatoday.com, on Bluesky @byphaedra or on Threads @by_phaedra.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How one Christmas tree on a NJ beach became a beloved tradition