Courtesy of Creative Commons.Īs Christmas became more accepted in New England, so too did decorations. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert around a Christmas tree. But in the mid-19th century, you start to see people mentioning hanging stockings by the fire, and having Santa Claus stop by.” “While I was researching diaries and letters for evidence of Christmas traditions,” says Cathcart, “sometimes entires would entirely skip over the day-people will say they washed clothes or did other mundane chores. “Typically, you’ll see what’s called a ‘tree in a tub’ that is decorated with whimsies like gold stars, cornucopia, and surrounded by a few toys,” says Cathcart.Īs the 19th century progressed, celebrating Christmas becomes a more accepted tradition: Massachusetts declared Christmas a legal holiday in 1856. The living room of Old Sturbridge Village’s Salem Town House is decorated in the style of the 1830s, and the decorations don’t even take up the entire surface of a small card table. “The majority of the population had Puritan roots, so most people were not decorating the interiors of their homes, especially with a Christmas tree.”Īnd those who were decorating their homes did so very modestly. “In the early 19th century-the 1830s-most New Englanders were not practicing Christmas,” says assistant curator Shelley Cathcart. The idea of historic Christmas decorations usually inspires the image of a room that would make The Ghost of Christmas Past from A Christmas Carol at home-something outfitted with holly and pine, with no shortage of ornaments and candles and ribbon.īut we were curious: Is that mind’s-eye notion of history purely fabricated, or is there any truth to it? How were houses decorated for Christmas in the 1800s?įor answers, we turned to the team at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, which recently installed a display chronicling how Christmas decorations evolved in New England over the course of the 19th century. Welcome back to Period Dramas, a weekly column that alternates between rounding up historic homes on the market and answering questions we’ve always had about older structures.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |