Step back in time and enjoy Christmas on the Farm at Renfrew Museum & Park on December 2-4. Renfrew comes alive with the sights and sounds of the holiday season and pays tribute to its Pennsylvania German heritage.
Renfrew Museum & Park was the family farm of Daniel Royer. The Royers were an early Pennsylvania German farming family, who worked the land as many “Pennsylvania Dutch” or Pennsylvania Germans of south central Pennsylvania did. Daniel Royer was a tanner, a farmer, and gristmill operator, and built the beautiful limestone farmhouse that is the Renfrew Museum House. He and his wife, Catherine, reared ten children on their farm. Renfrew was also owned by the Nicodemus family and Emma Nicodemus donated the 107-acre tract as a community resource and respite to Waynesboro in 1975. Emma Nicodemus is also responsible for beginning the folk art collection on display at Renfrew. Today, the 1812 Royer farmhouse displays artifacts of its early American history and the Nicodemus family.
Step back in time and begin a holiday tradition with a visit to Renfrew’s Christmas on the Farm. Throughout the property, luminaries are lit and cresset baskets light the way to the Royer House, decorated for the holiday season. Within the walls of the farmhouse are the sights, sounds, and traditions of the holiday. The Royer Farmhouse comes to life with baking, friendly card games, and memories of past Christmas celebrations.
Carolers wander throughout the park. The Visitors Center, housed in the 1902 Victorian barn, displays the permanent John Bell pottery, exhibits of period crafts as well as contemporary, local art. Be sure to taste the holiday cider and cookies. In the wagon shed, John Shindledecker shares Christmas stories, “The Belsnickeler” and “Miracle in the Wilderness.”
Christmas on the Farm is Friday December 2nd from 5:30-8:30pm, Saturday December 3rd from 2:00-8:00 pm, and Sunday December 4 from 1:00-5:00 pm. Admission prices are $8 for adults, $7 for seniors, $5 for ages 7-18, and free to ages 6 & under. Renfrew offers membership, and Christmas on the Farm is free to members.