Q. When did the first Christmas tree appear? A. There is no record of when the first Christmas tree came into existence. The first historical references of a Christmas tree appeared in the early 16th century in Latvia and Estonia. The first decorated Christmas tree in America was in the German Moravian church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1747. However, the “tree” was not an evergreen but the “European style of wooden pyramids covered with evergreen boughs (p. 25)”. Accounts of the use of a real evergreen Christmas tree began to show up around 1820. And the mostly widespread reference of a Christmas tree was published in 1832 in Boston mentioning the use of the top of a young fir tree.
Source: Snyder, Phillip. V., (1976). The Christmas Tree Book; The History of the Christmas Tee & Antique Christmas tree Ornaments.
