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A Victorian Holiday
At Cobb House Museum
Saturday December 2nd, 1-4 PM
Members $5
Non-members $7
To purchase tickets click here
(tickets also available at the door)
On request!
Last winter BHS sent out a survey asking what events folks would like to see us offer. A holiday tour at Cobb House Museum topped the list, and here it is!
According to some historians, Queen Elizabeth II‘s great-great grandmother started our love of tinsel-trimmed trees. Queen Victoria of Great Britain and her German husband, Prince Albert, celebrated an ornate Christmas with their children every year during the mid-1800s. Their festivities included a Christmas tree decorated with candles, fruit, and handmade ornaments. After Christmas trees became a holiday staple at Windsor Castle, families across England and America began introducing them into their own homes for the holiday season. Most trees during this time weren’t the grand ones we think of today. Many were small enough to fit on a dining table! But by the end of the century, floor-to-ceiling trees became more popular.
The tradition of hanging popcorn, cranberry, or nut strands around the tree hails from the Victorian era too. Many families used dried apple slices, dried oranges, cinnamon sticks and more for garlands. These decorations were readily available for many Victorian families, and they smelled beautiful and fresh during a season when the house had to be shut up to stay warm. Victorian Christmas ornaments came in lots of different materials, but paper provided an affordable and pretty way for people to decorate a tree.
The Cobb House will be filled with handmade sparkly paper, glass, fruit and nut ornaments and garlands that reflect the period, tabletop feather trees, and a traditional full-size tree decorated in keeping with Queen Victoria’s elaborate bows and tinsel. Costumed docents will share more historical information as you move from room to room.
And don’t miss the exhibit of Victorian era greeting cards and postcards. In keeping with that theme, visitors can send a postcard to Santa with their list of special holiday wishes and put it in the slot of the old East Brewster Post Office – postage on us! Toys and gifts of the period will also be displayed, including a beautiful dollhouse that was built by shipmaster Josiah Knowles for his small daughter, Nellie.
But there’s more! We’re excited to present the MADRI-GALS -- Susan Barrett, Elaine Felos Ostrander, Tina Nielson Felos, Mary Allen Watson, and Jan LaTanzi -- a group of local women musicians who met playing ukuleles with Cathy Hatch and the Cape Cod Ukulele Club. Susan is a docent at the Cobb House Museum and has researched holiday music that was played there during the period of 1873-1877, gleaning her playlist from the diaries of Caro Dugan, Elijah Cobb’s great granddaughter, who spent most of her life in the home. The Madri-Gals will bring these songs to life again in the Cobb House, wearing Victorian era costumes and playing ukuleles, xylophones, tin whistles, harmonicas, various bells and other instruments.
Period refreshment of gingerbread and hot cocoa will be served!
With thanks to Tina Smith and Susan Barrett for these fun facts.
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