About Us
This is Mark
Mark and Paul Smith are brothers that started growing Fraser Fir Christmas Trees just out of college in 1980. Mark and Paul were both chemistry majors in college. In 1980 Mark was a chemist with Baxter Pharmaceutical International and Paul was a Presbyterian Minister. Over the years two acres of Fraser Fir in 1980 has grown to 500 acres in 2008.
Paul is the full time President but still involved in ministry on a volunteer basis. Phil Hobart is the Farm field manager. We have anywhere from ten to seventy employees working on the farm during the year. Mark is a director at Baxter International and is in charge of Global Logistics and distribution at the largest intravenous solutions manufacturing plant in the world. He has expertise in shipping that helps Cool Springs Nursery domestically and internationally and is charge of shipping doing all of our logistics and shipping during November. We are known for our on time scheduling and deliver and delivering exactly what you order with no shortages or changes in addition to delivering the almost perfect Christmas tree.
Cool Springs Nursery is known in the industry for its high quality trees. It is know by other Christmas tree growers for its cutting edge cultural practices and use of mechanization. We are a research cooperator with North Carolina State University and are currently working on several experiments on our farm which included the use of “deep phosphors trenching” to meet phosphorus requirements and also a project to use “clover” to supply the nitrogen requirements of Fraser Fir Christmas Trees.
Mark is married to Carolyn and they are dog and exercise enthusiasts. Mark even at the age of 52 rides road bicycles competitively and came in first in the grueling and famous 100 mile Bridge to Bridge ride at Grandfather Mountain last year. Carolynn is deeply involved in the farm and also has a keen interest in retailing antiques.
Paul is married to Serena and they have four children. Three are adults and they are all athletes and runners. Douglas the oldest just got married this summer. He lives and works in Washington D.C. as a health care consultant. Katharine works in biotech. Nathaniel is biology major at UNC-ChapeHill. Paul enjoys working out. Serena is a mother, photography enthusiast and architect.
