Solved: The family story behind Raleigh's little Christmas tree, hanging over the Beltline since 1988

For decades, Raleigh residents have driven past a little Christmas tree, alight and visible from the Beltline near Six Forks Road. They have asked themselves the same question: What's the story behind that little tree?

The mystery of the little Christmas tree has hung over the city since 1988, when it first appeared, fully-decorated, atop the steep hill that overlooks I-440. Like clockwork, it would appear every Christmas season. Over time, it became a tradition the community could count on.

The little Christmas tree was a small dose of joy and wonder that locals could count on glimpsing each day.

Who is behind Raleigh's little Christmas tree?

The Minikus family has been behind this Christmas mystery for over 30 years.

Mike Minikus, who works as a CPA, and his wife Vicki, who works as a cancer nurse at Rex Hospital, moved to Raleigh in 1988.

Back then, Mike Minikus remembers the Beltline being only four lanes, and the tall brick wall that runs alongside the road wasn't there.

Since the Minikus family lived atop the steep hill overlooking I-440, Minkus said, "We thought it'd be neat if you could drive by and see a Christmas tree at the top of the hill."

His two kids, Amanda and Matthew, were very young in those days. "We put a couple of lighted trees outside the house, and we decorated it just for fun," said Minikus.

Back then, the tree was a real Christmas tree, and it was fully decorated.

So it was in 1988 that Raleigh residents caught their first glimpse of what would become a decades-long, mysterious tradition.

When asked if he knew his family's little Christmas tree would become such a well-known tradition, he laughed and said, "I had no idea!"

The 'little Christmas tree' is actually 6 feet tall (and 40+ feet high)

In the days before the Beltline's brick wall, the Minikus family could just decorate a regular tree and leave it on top of the hill.

When the 20-foot wall was built around I-440, that could have very well spelled the end for Raleigh's Christmas tree.

But Minikus was determined to have a tree overlooking Raleigh.

"I used a bow and arrow to shoot a rope over the limb, then used a pulley to hoist the tree up there," said Minikus.

The tree hangs 40 or more feet in the air. From way up there, it looks like a tiny Christmas tree – which is how it gained its name. However, the tree is actually around 6 or 7 feet tall.

Why does the tree change colors and styles?

Some shrewd locals have noticed the tree change a few times throughout the decades. The style and colors have changed multiple times. Sometimes it glowed Christmas colors. Other times, it would suddenly change to green and gold, or UNC blue, or shift to look like an American flag. All of these changes only added to the mystery of the little tree, as thousands drove underneath, asking themselves, "Wow! Look, it's blue now! I wonder why!"

Little did locals know, each color change signaled a personal victory in the Minikus family's life.

"My son went to UNC," said Minikus, which explained the year the tree was Carolina Blue.

"My daughter joined the Marines," he said, explaining the proud red, white and blue colors the tree often showcases. "And my son was in the Navy."

His daughter currently serves at Fort Bragg as an attorney for a general there. After serving 8 years in the Navy, his son went to law school and now serves as an Assistant District Attorney working in the Johnston County District Attorney's Office.

The tree has also evolved over the years, as Minikus learned how to help the tree handle the elements. "Originally, I just made some irrigation tubing and put some lights on it. Occasionally, it would fall down. The squirrels would eat the rope or something," he said.

So around 10 years ago he had a metal frame welded. The current incarnation is a metal frame made of real thin steel with lights wrapped around it.

These days, the little Christmas tree watches over the Beltline all year long.

"It’s a lot of work to keep taking it down and putting it up, so we keep it up all year and set it on a timer," said Minikus.

For a few years, there were two little Christmas trees

After uncovering the mystery of the little Christmas tree, some locals are bound to remember a second tree that hung over the Beltline for a while.

The other tree could be seen dangling over the wall on the other side of I-440.

"Yes, it was five to seven years ago, someone in the neighborhood across the Beltline hung up a tree," said Minikus.

The wall on the other side of the highway wasn't as high, so the tree was a little lower. It hung there for three or four years before, just as mysteriously as it appeared, it vanished.

"For a while there it looked like we might have started a trend," said Minikus jokingly.

Thank you for the magic: Letters of gratitude from the community

The Minikus family never imagined their little tree would make such an impact on the community.

But each year they get messages of gratitude from locals.

"Thank you for having it there. It means so much to so many. It's wonderful to finally know who put it there and what it represents in addition to Christmas," wrote one woman, a passerby from Knightdale.

"The spirit of that 'little' tree is powerful," wrote a teacher from Cary.

"This tree is a Godsend on those mornings I travel to Centennial campus at 6:15 a.m. It really lifts my spirits," wrote another onlooker in 2007.

One teacher was so moved that he wrote a poem about the tree, which is treasured and framed in the Minikus household.

"It's our little claim to fame," said Minikus. "What keeps me doing it is just comments like you. People will say, 'Don’t ever stop doing that.'"

For as long at the Minikus family continues to share their little tree with the world, Raleigh will have a quirky piece of Christmas history that belongs to us.