How Victorians Invented Christmas…
A Special Victorian Christmas Traditions Tour

FRIDAYS December 4, 11, 18 AT 2:00 pm AND

Saturdays DEcember 5, 12, 19, 26 at 11:00 am

$17 each, members receive a 15% discount

Join Hearthstone’s Executive Director George Schroeder on a special tour that explores how almost all of today’s popular holiday secular traditions - from decorating trees to sending cards to caroling to even eating turkey dinner - started in the Victorian Era.

The tours are 80 minutes in length and visit each room of the residence focusing on the lavish holiday decorations that bring to life the finest in Victorian Christmas celebrations.

Guests will not only be amazed at how relatively recent the secular celebration has developed. They will also be armed with enough Christmas trivia to wow any family gathering! The tour is guaranteed to get even the greatest Scrooge into the holiday spirit (that’s a Victorian tradition too!).

Each guest will also receive, as a small holiday gift from Hearthstone, recipe cards featuring favorite Victorian Christmas fare.

Victorian Christmas: Paper Dreams
Open House Evening Events

FRIDAYS December 4, 11, 18

Saturdays november 28 and December 5, 12, 19, 26

6:00 - 8:30 pm

Adults $17, Children $5, members receive a 15% discount

PLUS SANTA WILL BE JOINING US!

THE JOLLY OLD ELF HIMSELF WIILL BE DECKED OUT IN HIS VICTORIAN FINERY TO VISIT WITH THE KIDS. BRING YOUR WISH LISTS AND CAMERAS TO SPEND A FEW MOMENTS WITH HIM AS YOU STROLL HEARTHSTONE.

Step into a Victorian Christmas and see how paper, scissors, and imagination once carried holiday wishes from hand to hand. This event explores the season through cards, scrap, and handmade keepsakes.

Guided by our mission to tell compelling, relevant stories, we’ll trace the quiet drama of ink, ornament, and memory. Join us as we unfold these “paper dreams” and consider the stories we still choose to send today.

Hearthstone is brimming with hand-crafted holiday décor, lavishly decorated trees in every room, and our docents dressed in their finest Victorian holiday attire ready to welcome you into the home of Henry, Cremora, and Kitty Rogers.

The evening events are “open-house” type of affairs with no set guided tour. Rather, holiday merry-makers are encouraged to wander from room to room to take in the sights at their own pace. Our docents will be on-hand in each room, wearing their Victorian holiday finest, to explain Victorian holiday traditions and to answer any questions that may arise. The evenings also feature traditional Christmas carols played on our 1875 Kranich and Bach square grand piano as well as other musical performances.

After seeing the paper traditions throughout the house, guests are encouraged to create your own decorations to take home with you!  Be sure to leave enough time to explore our lower lever exhibits and activities.

Please note:

• Our evening’s guests are encouraged to linger as long as they like (though we do close by 8:30 pm).  

• However, PLEASE ARRIVE DURING THE TIMES STATED ON YOUR TICKETS.  This helps immensely to avoid over-crowding.

• To see all of the rooms, guests must be able to climb steps to the second floor.

• Children’s tickets are purchased separately. Children must accompany their ticketed parents or guardians.

Click to purchase tickets for…

November 28
December 4 December 5
December 11 December 12
December 18 December 19
December 26