Nova Scotia gives Boston a Christmas tree every year as thanks. In 1917 a ship carrying explosives exploded near the city of Halifax, killing 1,500 people immediately and hundreds in the next few weeks. The city of Boston immediately sent doctors, supplies, and money by ship and train to help.
This year’s 49-foot white spruce (donated by a former Boston Marathoner) is the latest gift of thanks from Nova Scotia to Boston for the city’s help during the deadliest non-natural disaster in Canadian history: the Halifax Explosion.