The Ghosts of Christmases Past

The Ghosts of Christmases Past

For Hartford Magazine – Home Living Holiday Issue 2008

 

Andy William's famous song, “It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” paints an idyllic scene of what the Holidays mean to the American identity.

 

And nowhere is Mr. William's Christmas tune coming more alive than at the We bb-Deane-Stevens Museum of Old Wethersfield. Complete with parties, trimmings, carols, and yes, even “ghosts” sharing their traditions and festivities of Holiday's past, Dec. 5 from 5 – 8 p.m. marks the kick-off to the museum's Holiday cheer.

 

“We're looking forward to our big opening night,” states Charles Lyle, the museum's Executive Director of two years. “Because last year was so successful, this year, we are decorating and opening up all three houses for tours.”

 

Along with Lyle, Ellen Goldberg, director of the museum's Garden Angels and, as Lyle has dubbed her, “our local historic researcher,” has also had a hand in bringing local flair to the exhibit. The partnership has resulted in a tour with a uniquely and historically accurate Connecticut tradition, with a touch of the celebratory flair many of the restored home-museums of the mid-Atlantic states are known for – which has been Lyle's regional area of expertise over the course of his career.

 

“Remember, these were Puritan stock celebrating Christmas, so it was very subdued and in many instances, a normal work day,” explains Goldberg. “This was especially true during the 17th and early 18th centuries. The traditions we now recognize as holiday staples did not come about until the middle 19th century.”

But, because they pride themselves as a living museum, one deeply vested in partnering with the community, Lyle and Goldberg know that the displays need to connect with and entertain visitors of the 21st century just as much as acting as educational forums.

 

Hence, the Second Annual Holiday Tours' Opening Night Party. Live entertainment, hors d'ouevres and wine, as well as knowledgeable tour guides in period dress will be part of the evening and included in the ticket price of $25 per couple/ $15 single admission, as visitors are brought from home to home.

For the rest of the season, the museum will providing candle-light tours after 4 p.m. every Thursday evening in Dec. up through the 24,, which coincides with the extended shop hours of the various business lining Main Street. This is in addition to the museum's daily hours of Monday, Wednesday - Sunday. Rates after the Opening Night Party will be $10 per adult, $9 for seniors, and $5 for students/children.

 

“The idea,” states Lyle, “is to be a part of the community, rather than act as a separate entity.”

 

Readying three large, historic homes for an influx of visitors takes careful planning and strict attention to detail. They must all flow to show continuity during the tour, but also showcase each house's particular character. Like Santa's elves scurrying and bustling in the workshop, the staff of the Webb-Deane-Stevens museum has been hard at work creating authentic themes for each home.

 

The Joseph Webb House, a structure built in 1725, and famous for having housed General George Washington for five nights, will be the most elaborately decorated. It is where the Holiday Tour begins, and must therefore be enticing from the very start.

 

“We will recreate an early 20th century family holiday,” says Lyle. “Each room will be decorated with greenery, ornaments, and fashions of those early decades – namely the 1930s. The upstairs foyer will have a large, real fir tree decorated just like how they did back then. It's nice because people can see the tree from outside, as there is a window on the second story landing. As they enter the home, they will not only be greeted with Christmas decorations, but also tunes from the '30s playing from an old-time radio.”

 

A Georgian-style floor plan, which was typical of the 1700s – meaning four rooms on the first floor, and four on the second, with a stair way and hall in the center of the home – is definitely a house of elegance and well-to-do. The multi-purpose parlors are light-filled due to the expensive glass-paned windows. The grand stairwell leads to an upper landing that is spacious without being grandiose.

 

Taking advantage of this layout, Lyle and Goldberg know this house can support the lively 1920/30s style of celebrating Christmas. The dark, mahogany stained banisters and white painted mantle pieces will be ensconced in locally grown garlands and greenery, while displaying 30-40 arrangements of pointsettias – a flower which became popular in New England around that time period. The dinning room will have a large spread of savory and sweet dishes, as well as punches and other festive drinks available to families in that time. Even the adjoining gift shop to the Webb House will be decked out in Christmas lights and fantasy, and will be doubled in size for the seasonal exhibit.

 

“Even though visitors will recognize many of the decorations and traditions, there are many differences that one should look for, especially in the details,” says Goldberg. “To really get the home effect just right, I searched through issues and issues of Goody's Magazine – their equivalent to our Ladies Home Journal. Did you know that there was no printed wrapping paper like we have today?” she asks eagerly. “I found an article instructing women on how to fold plain old white paper into something festive and pretty. So, many of our presents on display will be wrapped in white paper, as per the article's instructions.”

 

The only room that will not be touched is General Washington's chamber, in order to preserve the history and artifacts of the room, like the four-post feather bed with pink wool and silk hand-stitched blanket, and original velvet ivory and brown fleur-de-lis inspired wall papering.

 

The next stop in the Christmas tour pulls visitor's back a century, into the 1830s. The Isaac Steven's House was built in 1789, and is the smallest of the three properties, but by no means uncomfortable. Functional and cozy in every way, it is what we would deem a “middle class” home. The most telling and touching room in the house is the kitchen, also set in the back. Here we find a home that could not indulge in the luxury of servants, so all tasks fell to family members. In one corner is the desk and ledger, with the family's business accounts opened. Where in more affluent homes a man's business did not mingle with his wife's, in the Steven's home, it was the norm.

 

Taking the home's middle class foundation as a cue, Lyle and Goldberg are showcasing a typical Christmas of a business class family in 19th century Wethersfield. The celebrations and decorations will be sparse compared to the splendor showcased in the Webb House. Stockings will be hung on the fireplace, a few simple toys or trinkets will be the token gifts for the children, and perhaps some small bit of greenery like mistletoe toe will be incorporated.

 

“Now [1830s] is a time when folks in New England are just beginning to really make festivities for Christmas,” says Goldberg. “A real fascination with England was popular again, especially as we entered the Victorian Era, and so we adopted many of their traditions as our own. Also, The Night Before Christmas had been published and that was the first time a secular model on how Christmas should be celebrated came into public awareness.”

 

The real motif that will be showcased at the Steven's House is the banquet parlor with tables of desserts, sweet meats, and punches – all of which will be cooked and displayed in authentic style. This was the true hallmark of Christmas in the 19th century America.

 

“High emphasis was placed on a person's ability to entertain. Everything was about the desserts. A bad dessert table could make or break a hostess,” states Lyle, who goes onto to say that a hostess could expect visitors and guests all day long, as tradition was to move from house to house. Keeping the kitchen busy and the pantry stocked with treats was essential during the Christmas season – an aspect that will also be seen in the exhibit.

 

Lastly, the tour takes guests deeper into the past. Meandering next door to the Silas Deane House, visitors will be transported to the time when the old house was new.

 

Also a Georgian layout, this home is the stateliest of all three. Completed in the 1770s, its owner built and furnished it sparing no expense. Perhaps because Deane had married Webb's widow and did not wish to live in the man's shadow. Whatever the reason, this was a house meant to impress – as evidenced by much larger and spacious ground-floor foyer and second story landing. The stairwell is made of Connecticut Cherry wood, and many of the rooms enjoy hand carved paneling, baseboards, and moldings. They are all airy, and light filled, though the floors are not stained with any varnishing, as was the norm to leave them bare. Instead, as a first floor parlor displays, canvasses were painted in various patterns and set as rugs to adorn the room and protect the floors. The upstairs landing is large enough to have acted as a musicians' gallery while any of the front parlor rooms served as banquet halls or ballrooms. The kitchen is atypical of the locality and era in its size. This home boasted an ability to retain many servants and could afford the expense of entertainment.

 

However, for all the home's grandeur and decorating possibilities,Christmas was not as big a deal back in the late 1700s as it is now. And for that precise reason, Lyle and Goldberg have decided to downplay Christmas and devote the Deane House to a particularly favorite colonial holiday, New Years Day. New Years décor, which will consist of foliage and fauna seasonably available at the time, will be decking the visiting parlors. Tea trays and small tables set with cookies, pies, and other sweets will be set on antique porcelain, for a key role.

 

“Back then, people would go from house to house with the purpose of settling debts.” Goldberg goes on to say, “It was a time to start with a clean slate in the community, and to forgive those who were in your debt, as well. That's why people would be invited in for food and drink, toasting to a better year ahead.”

The blending of history and passing down traditions is what Christmas and the Holiday season are all about. Whether sitting round the breakfast table, peeling oranges found in ones stocking, or toasting health and good cheer to friends, or dancing to corny songs that put a smile on your face, the Holiday Spirit can be wrapped up in one word – nostalgia. And that is exactly what the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum stands for: taking the best of our past and making it a fixture in our future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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