The holiday season means hustle and bustle, but this weekend Hampton National Historic Site in Towson is inviting visitors to return to a simpler time at its Holidays at Hampton celebration, which recreates Christmas in early America.
The decades-old tradition will be held at Hampton Mansion, 535 Hampton Lane, Friday-Sunday, Dec. 9-11 with the mansion and grounds playing host to holiday craft activities, dances and historic tours.
Volunteers from the Lutherville Garden Club continued their annual tradition of working alongside park employees Dec. 5 to make the mansion ready for the holiday season.
In past years, the women volunteered and contributed to the greenery arrangements and wreathes around the house.
This year, however, Linda Tingle of Rosedale and Lutherville residents Marie Frederick, Jean Riott and Sheryl Marocco had a new responsibity: decorating the tree.
"We volunteer every year," Tingle said, "but we think its an honor (to decorate the tree)."
Later in the week, volunteers from the Lake Roland, Glen Arm, York Manor And Halten garden clubs were scheduled to lend their services with arrangements of their own.
Paul Bitzel, a Mount Vernon resident who works on the grounds, said the garden clubs have contributed to the holiday recreations for each of his 24 years at Hampton.
"We really couldn't do it without their assistance," he said.
And once the preparations are done, visitors can enjoy the holiday season as they never have before.
Curator Gregory Weidman said one of the featured attractions of the weekend is the evening candlelight tours. On Friday and Saturday, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., the mansion will open its doors for tours that provide visitors with a unique perspective of how Christmas was celebrated in centuries past.
Weidman said Hampton's holiday re-enactments differ from those at other historical sites such as Monticello or Mount Vernon because the mansion doesn't reflect only one era.
Instead, Hampton interprets seven generations of one family — from the late 18th century to the early 20th century, meaning every room depicts a different era's holiday celebrations.
"It's not like you'll see Victorian Christmas trees in every room," Weidman said.
In fact, the only room with a Christmas tree — which Wideman notes is a post-Civil War phenomenon — will be the music room. The music room is also where visitors will find Christmas gifts, many of them the same holiday books and toys given to the children who lived at the mansion over a century ago.
But holiday traditions develop over time, and the different rooms in the mansion reflect those changes.
The mansion's parlor, for instance, is set up for a festive holiday evening tea party from the late 18th century, with more subtle décor than a modern holiday party would see.
"In there, we just have pine or holly sprigs on the mantles, windowsills, and on top of paints, because a little simple greenery is pretty much all the decoration you would have had in that period," Weidman said.
And while organizers of Holidays at Hampton try to make small changes to the program's staples each year to keep things fresh, Weidman said there's one new aspect this year that should appeal to many guests.
"To me, the special treat that I'd love to come for would be the 1861 ball performance," she said. "That's something we haven't done before."
Choreographie Antique, Goucher College's historic dance ensemble, will recreate a holiday ball that, in all its Victorian splendor, stands in stark contrast with the Civil War that was being fought simultaneously.
Holidays at Hampton
Friday, Dec. 9
6 to 8:30 p.m. – Evening Candlelight Tours. Hampton Mansion will open its doors for visitors to tour decorated rooms and its Great Hall, with music from the Junior League of Baltimore's choral group, the Larks, and Doug Jimerson.
Saturday, Dec. 10
10 a.m. to noon – Hourly guided house tours, leaving on the hour.
Noon to 4 p.m. – Period Craft Activities. Visitors can make their own Victorian greeting card, design a "gold gilded" frame and more. First come, first served.
1 to 4 p.m. – Open House. Visitors can tour Hampton Mansion at their own pace, with park staff telling holiday stories.
2 p.m. – African American Tales of the Season. Park Ranger and storyteller Angela Roberts-Burton tells stories of how the slaves at Hampton Mansion celebrated the holiday season.
2:30 to 3:30 p.m. – 1861 Ball performance by Choreographie Antique. Goucher College's historic dance ensemble will recreate a holiday ball from the beginning of the Civil War. A half-hour children's session, in which visitors can learn the dances, will be held at 2 p.m.
6 to 8:30 p.m. – Evening Candlelight Tours. The mansion will open for visitors to tour the rooms and Great Hall, with music from Doug Jimerson.
Sunday, Dec. 11
10 a.m. to noon – Hourly guided house tours, leaving on the hour.
Noon to 4 p.m. – Period Craft Activities. Visitors can make their own Victorian greeting card, design a "gold gilded" frame and more. First come, first served.
1 to 4 p.m. – "Oh My Heart! Carriages" will provide 20-minute carriage tours of the grounds. Tickets cost $10 for adults, $5 for children 16 and under, and children under age one are free. Tickets go on sale at noon. Space is limited.
1 and 3 p.m. – African American Storytelling. Storyteller Robert Smith portrays a free black chef who has been hired by the Ridgely Family to prepare Christmas dinner, and tells traditional Christmas tales.
1 to 4 p.m. – Open House. Visitors can tour Hampton Mansion at their own pace, with park staff telling holiday stories.
For more details, call 410-823-1309, or go to http://www.nps.gov/hamp.