During much of the year, Harvey and Sons in Davis, NC looks like a typical supplier to the commercial fishing industry, with stacks of brightly colored crab traps (locally termed "crab pots") a major product. The variable nature of the fisheries, and a desire to keep the family business growing, as a legacy for his sons, prompted Nicky Harvey to look for other products.

Mr. Harvey's roots go deep in the Down East culture, where "making do" and "doing with the materials at hand" are long traditions. His fertile mind played with ideas of what could be done with left-over materials, and he experimented with making miniature crab traps for coastal decor. Then he began experimenting with triangles of the coated wire mesh, and the Core Sound Christmas tree was born.

The unique artificial tree was an immediate hit with friends and neighbors, who loved seeing the traditional material put to a new use. But Nicky's brain just didn't quit there... he experimented until he found a way to string lights on the tree so that the product could be stored in a flat position and then opened for display with the light strings remaining in place.

Here a tree in the "lighting jig" awaits lights while, in the background, crab trap makers are hard at work. Harvey and Sons sell the trees from the shop on Highway 70 in Davis, and they are also in the nearby Core Sound Waterfowl Museum gift shop year round and seasonally from these dealers. During the Christmas season, they sprout like mushrooms in coastal garden, gift and Christmas shops. However if you aren't planning a trip to coastal North Carolina, you can also buy them online. The trees have been taking on lives of their own, however, far beyond Christmas.

In the wake of 9-11, Harvey and Sons showed their patriot spirit with the Freedom Tree. That was just the beginning, however, as folks near and far find more creative ways to use their Crab Pot Trees as the artificial trees for ALL seasons!

In 2009, Nicky Harvey negotiated a national manufacturing and distribution agreement with Fisherman Creations, Inc., who now operates just a few miles down the road from him in Smyrna, NC.

patent number US 6773134