Christmas past comes into the present as part of the Historic Houses of Odessa Holiday tour.
For around 30 years, the Historic Odessa Foundation has decorated its various homes for the holiday season and selected one to reflect classic piece of literature. Historic Odessa Foundation executive director Deborah Buckson says the foundation and its staff enjoy the opportunity for a change of pace from their usual historic Colonial tours.
"It's lots of fun. It gives the staff an opportunity to bring things out of storage that aren't normally seen by the general public on our Colonial tour," said Buckson. "The idea is to allow people to step back in time and learn something about the history of American Christmas traditions and how they evolved."
Historic Houses of Odessa take a holiday trip back in time.
Historic Houses of Odessa take a holiday trip back in time.
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This year, assistant curator Brian Miller chose Washington Irving’s “Old Christmas” to recreate in the rooms the Wilson-Warner House.
“This theme of sketchbook of Washington Irving was actually recommended to me by a friend four years ago and I said we wont get to it next year, but I’ll do some research and then decide if our collection and our house would support the whole idea and we’d be able to pull off these different vignettes related to the story.”
Miller says he and the staff work on the concept throughout year. It takes close to a month to pull together the items needed and stage the various rooms. Then, they get to watch how visitors react. This year's tours started on November 14th and Miller says he's enjoyed observing the response and what rooms turn out to be the the most popular.
"They're really enjoying the dining room with the peacock pie," said Miller. "But it's kind of half and half. The other half of the public are really enjoying the Christmas Eve celebration upstairs where we have a great collection of Delaware gaming tables and the mistletoe is hung from the ceiling. You can imagine all your relatives and guests gathering Christmas evening for gaming. Then, putting everything at the chair rail at the end of the evening, after the children have gone to bed and then its dancing all night long."
And its that kind of story that Miller hopes the tour - taken as a whole - coveys to those who visit.
"It's all about the story," said Miller. "Sometimes our guides will get caught up in describing individual pieces or unusual things in our collection, but we highly recommend to them that they stick with the Christmas story and the public will really enjoy the experience."
Buckson says visitors this weekend will find opportunities to enhance the experience with additional events related to the them, including a hearth cooking demonstration.
"Our hearth cooks will be preparing foods that were cooked and eaten in the 18th century. Everything they do is based on historic research and they are using all the tools and techniques of the period. And people are amazed," said Buckson.
The cooking demonstrations run throughout the day Saturday from 10am to 4:30pm at the Collins-Sharp House. There’s also a lecture Sunday at 1pm by Amherst College’s Michael A. Lord called a “The View From Sunnyside: A Sketch of Washington Irving."
Miller says the tours and related events seem to be garnering more attention each year.
"It's kind of interesting, we're starting to get a following of individuals in the area and the region who come back every year and are excited to see what the theme is going to be and their already asking if I've made a choice for next year." said Miller.
And Buckson is happy to encourage that kind of interest.
"Brian makes the choice, but he gets lots of suggestions," said Buckson. "We take all comers. So, if anyone has an idea, email us. Give us your ideas. You may find it on our Christmas tour in a year or two."
The Historic Houses of Odessa are open for tours 10am to 4:30pm Tuesday through Saturday and 1-to-4:30 Sundays. For more information on the tours, you can visit their website.
This piece is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the national Endowment for the Arts.