Timeless tree: Three generations enjoy antique feather tree

“My maternal grandmother bought that feather tree in Inverness in 1932,” Ferguson said. “I remember her putting icicles on it and they had to be just so. We weren’t allowed to touch it. I’m sure when it was brand new, it was a beautiful little tree. “

It’s still a beautiful tree, and a determined one, too, apparently.

“In 1971, three tornadoes hit Inverness,” said Ferguson, 79. “My mother and daddy drove down to see about her house. They got the tree at that point and brought it home.”

The tree was displayed in Ferguson’s parents’ home until 1983, when her mother died.

“I told my sisters I’d be happy if that was the only thing I got,” she said.

Ferguson put the tree up in her home for the first time in 1984. She’s added vintage ornaments as she finds them at estate sales and antique shops and she has some replicas of old ornaments.

When Ferguson’s grandmother had the tree, it was adorned with big bubble lights, but the weight of them proved to be too much for the aged tree, so Ferguson has switched to light-weight bubble lights.

“Two of the ornaments on the tree – little teacups – were my mother’s when she was a child,” she said. “I don’t know what happened to the original glass balls that were on the tree.”

For the first 30 years Ferguson had the tree, she’d put it up at Christmas and then take it down, cover it with a sheet and store it.

“About four years ago, I decided it was too fragile to keep putting up and taking down, so I keep it up all year,” she said. “It stays decorated with the Christmas village at the bottom. But I don’t turn the lights on it until the first of December. I like Thanksgiving to have its own day.”

Ferguson’s tree, which stands about 5 feet tall, sits on a table in a corner of her living room. Her grandmother also kept hers on a table, although one year she put it on top of the dining room credenza where little hands couldn’t get to it.

“My grandmother was very particular about that tree and I’m glad she was,” Ferguson said. “Three generations have enjoyed it and a fourth can, too, if we take care of it.”