Gerald Wilson had been growing his Santa beard for months. His farm, Brewery Hill Christmas Trees, was preparing to open for the holiday season, and a cloud of white whiskers framed his chin. He'd already hung 30 stockings -- one for each relative-- above the fireplace and capped the noses of the deer heads that look over his Le Sueur, Minn., family room with red knit booties.

I was at Brewery Hill scouting ways to turn cutting your own Christmas tree into a weekend getaway. The farm was perfect: It was charming and only a 10-minute drive downriver from Henderson, a dot of a town that's home to several excellent antique stores, cross-country skiing at Rush River Park and Ney Nature Center and the delightful Henderson House Bed & Breakfast.

Wilson doesn't manage the farm anymore. That demanding job belongs to his son, Scott, who is also the town barber and a wrestling coach at Le Sueur-Henderson High School. While Gerald decorated his home, which also serves as the tree farm's office, Scott put the finishing touches on 20,000 pines, spruces and firs that line fields in this picturesque patch of the Minnesota River Valley.

Throughout the year, Scott spends three hours every weekday and entire weekends planting, pruning and protecting evergreens that take between seven and 10 years to grow tall enough to hold court in someone's living room.

The farm has been in the Wilson family since 1972, and they planted their first trees in 1981. Today, everyone pitches in. Grandchildren mow the fields and shear the trees. Gerald's wife, Sue, makes fudge, toffee and other holiday candies to sell to tree customers. "People don't know how to make the traditional candies anymore," Gerald said as he proudly described her divinity.

On the day I visited Brewery Hill, the trees were trimmed to perfection -- each one a plump emerald cone with branches hardy enough to support even the gaudiest ornaments. Lanes of trees towered above like a rustic hedge maze. Nearby, saplings braced themselves against the wind gusting up from the river.

Star Tribune, Star Tribune
Henderson House Antiques is located in an 1850 barn and specializes in American period antiques.

Where to shop

Once a stopping place for steamboats and stagecoaches, Henderson's Main Street now combines a 1978 American Legion Hall with Italianate and Queen Anne storefronts straight out of a Currier & Ives lithograph. The town exudes a quiet confidence that's evident by a restoration boom that's been going on since 1995. This is a place where people obviously believe that the beauty of the past enhances modern life.

One of the town's leading tastemakers is Jeff DuCharme, a California transplant who is a furniture designer and antiques dealer. His shop, J.M. DuCharme, is open on Saturdays and by appointment, but DuCharme was extremely gracious when I rapped on his door on a Thursday morning. His collection of 18th- and 19th-century American, French and English furniture, decorative arts and porcelains is stunning and priced accordingly.

More affordable options are available down Main Street at Wit's End Antiques. This is a place where you can snag anything from a porch swing, to hand-embroidered hankies, to a jadeite mixing bowl. The second floor of Wit's End once was home to the town's Opera House and you can still see the box office window and the former dressing area.

Where to eat

I was hungry after all that shopping, so I stopped at Bittersweet Coffee and Cafe for a satisfying cream of tomato soup and grilled chicken, cheddar and bacon sandwich. (Nearby, Hog Wild is known for its ribs.) For dessert, I headed across the street to Toody's Sweet Treats, a soda fountain where the velvety chocolate malt recipe has been handed down through the shop's various owners. Toody's also makes its own baked goods -- including a salted nut bar that is lighter than the candy version because of a layer of marshmallows.

Where to sleep

At the Henderson House Bed & Breakfast, the four guest rooms are elegantly inviting, with floral drapes highlighting the high windows and thick quilts warming the antique beds.

Out back, innkeepers Jan Herda and Jeff Hayden have transplanted an 1850s barn to house their antique store, which specializes in American furniture and decorative arts. There's also a chicken run where Raymond, a Buff Washington rooster, struts past Ameraucanas, guinea fowl and Rhode Island Reds. If the chickens are laying, guests get to take home a dozen eggs when they check out.

Elizabeth Larsen • 612-673-7110