Did You Know Michigan is Home of The World’s Largest Ice Tree?

Michigan is known for Great Lakes, the automobile industry, cherries, apples, blueberries, and the world's largest ice tree.

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What is an Ice Tree?

Most Michiganders only think of an ice tree when their power gets knocked out by an ice storm.

When it's wet snow or just normal rain when the temperatures are around freezing trees get covered in ice and can be very beautiful to look at, especially if the sun comes out but the ice tree that I am referring to is a bit different than what Mother Nature brings us.

Where is the Worlds Largest Ice Tree?

The world's largest ice tree is located in Gaylord Michigan. It's not an actual tree covered in ice but something that is man-made using water.

As you can see at the top of the picture above where water is sprinkling out is how the ice tree is formed.

Some years the ice tree takes a different shape and this one is known as the "Angel Ice Tree."

When Did Gaylord Begin Having an Ice Tree?

Sometime in the early 1950s, a group of businessmen created Gaylord's first ice tree. The men piled up a bunch of old Christmas trees and then sprayed them down with a ton of water which made that first tree. The tree was named "Cold Faithful" in 1957.

The popularity of the ice tree grew very quickly and other places around the country tried the ice tree but it just didn't work like "Cold Faithful" did in Gaylord. As a matter of fact, the tree became so popular with tourists that in 1965 the community built a metal frame that had enhanced underground hosing to keep the waterlines from freezing.

In more recent years LED lighting has been added to the ice tree to give an even more spectacular look when the sun goes down. To really get an idea of just how big the ice tree is, on average it weighs around 190 to 200 tons. Now that's a lot of ice.