Allison-Antrim Museum is holding Heritage Christmas Open House on Friday, December 3, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm ~ Members of the board of directors will be hosts & hostesses. Masks are encouraged. ~ Guests will enter the historic1860 Irwin House, through the grand Boxwood entrance and will be guided into the parlors. The two parlors will be decorated for the holiday season as it would have been during the Civil War. ~ Guests will exit through the back hall door and will be guided to the Barn by luminaries. ~ A Della Robbia fruit arrangement will decorate the transom of the front door. ~ Roping on the banister and fresh greens will decorate the parlors. ~ A tree decorated with dried fruit, gilded walnuts, Marzipan fruit candies, gingerbread cookies, and Civil War flags will take visitors back to a much simpler time. ~ Bonnie Shockey, president of the museum, will be dressed in Civil War period attire, as the lady-of the-house, Martha Irwin, may have been in 1860. ~ An 1800’s, one-horse, drawn sleigh, made in Mercersburg, will be displayed on the kitchen porch, facing Ridge Avenue. ~ Experience this historic Civil-War era home after dusk in the low light of the evening.
Allison-Antrim Museum’s annual Christmas Celebrations will be quite pared down this year due to the Coronavirus. On the kitchen porch (Ridge Avenue South), a “living holiday scene” depicting a Civil-War era scene of decorating the Christmas tree, will take place between 5:30 and 8:30 pm, on Friday, December 11. Decorations during the Civil-War era were handmade, such as marzipan fruits, cookie cutouts, dried orange and apple slices, and strings of popcorn, like those on the Museum’s tree.
And of course, the one-horse open sleigh, donated by the Sellers’ & Coldsmith families, will be in its traditional place, also on the South Ridge Avenue Irwin House porch.
Allison-Antrim Museum looks forward to seeing you as you drive by in your car or stroll down the sidewalk. Don’t forget to drive down the Museum’s driveway and catch a glimpse of the 1860 Irwin House front-door transom, decorated with a Della Robbia fruit arrangement.
Also, enjoy the December Virtual speaker at Allison-Antrim Museum, a look back at the twenty-three paintings of Mark Twain Noe, a legacy of the Greencastle area. View here.
As part of the Heritage Christmas season, the Greencastle-Antrim Chamber of Commerce is delighted to offer the 2020 Shop Small Sweepstakes. The contest begins on Shop Small Saturday, this year November 28, and runs through December 18.
The rules are simple: participants are asked to shop at five different Greencastle-Antrim Chamber of Commerce member locations between November 28 and December 18 and bring their receipts as proof of purchase to the Chamber office by December 15 to be entered into a drawing for one of three $25 cash prizes. (Receipts will be returned after being checked.) The drawing will be held on December 21. Winners will be contacted by phone.
Visit these Chamber members for Shop Small Saturday: All Things Country; Alternative Choices; Antrim Way Honda and The Shoppes @ Antrim Way; The Bean & Biscuit; Bill Bowers Tire & Auto Center; Blaise Alexander Chevrolet; Breathe Bodywork; Brother’s Pizza, Buchanan Auto Stores; Carl’s Drug Store; The Center of Balance; The Dapperhouse Barbershop; E.L.M. Department Store; ELM Shoes; El Sombrero Restaurant; Farmer’s Union Co-op; Greencastle Golf Club; Greencastle Ace Hardware; Greencastle Golf Club & Fireside Pub; Growing With Music (CVSM); Henry’s Floor Covering; Ivy Hill Farm; The Jewelry Shop; The John Allison Public House; Keystone Ford; Lizzy’s Restaurant; Lumber Direct; Mi Tierra Linda; Mikie’s Ice Cream & Green Cow Gifts; Rebound Adventure Cycles; Sunbodies Tanning Salon; Sunnyway Diner; Sunnyway Foods; Teal Blossom Boutique; the shop; Tony’s Pizza; Tracey’s Orchard; Wildflower Apparel; Vinnie’s on 11 and Violets & More. For a complete list of Chamber members, pick up a membership directory in the Chamber office, or visit the online directory at www.greencastlepachamber.org.
“The purpose of the contest is to encourage shoppers to spend their holiday dollars locally. Especially now, with our small businesses feeling the effects of COVID, the loyalty and support of the community is vital,” commented G-ACC’s Interim Executive Director Valerie Meyers. She added, “Imagine our town without it’s small businesses, and you’d be imagining a place without the neighborly smiles or friendly hellos that greet you when you walk through the doors of our local shops. We have so many great retailers and services just outside our own front doors that shopping local is super convenient. By shopping locally, we’re supporting our neighbors and strengthening our whole community by circling those holiday dollars back into the community.”
For more information, call the Chamber office at 597-4610 or visit the Chamber’s website at www.greencastlepachamber.org. Serving the area since 1955, the Greencastle-Antrim Chamber of Commerce strives to promote member prosperity through economic well-being and community vitality. Join. Grow. Prosper.
Allison-Antrim Museum will participate in Greencastle’s first evening of Heritage Christmas on Friday, December 1, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm. Members of the board of directors will be hosts and hostesses. Weather permitting, luminaries will guide the way to the front-door entrance.
In the historic 1860 home, we welcome mother and daughter, Pat and Victoria Beard, Greencastle-Antrim natives. Pat is an artisan, weaver, and musician, and is very involved in 42 West ARTS Co-op, an art and craft co-operative gallery at 42 West Main Street, Waynesboro, which features the work of artists and craftsmen from the greater-Waynesboro area. Victoria graduated from Greencastle-Antrim High School and is an attorney and musician. Pat and Victoria will play a variety of music from the Civil-War era in the large parlor of the historic Museum house to welcome guests, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served in the Museum house.
In the German Bank Barn between 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm, Susan Shaffer, owner of Joyful Arts Studio, 21 E Baltimore St, Greencastle, will lead guests during a come-and-go evening of painting a take-home Christmas ornament. All supplies will be provided. Joyful Arts Studio is taking reservations and payment for making the ornaments at: http://joyfulartstudio.com/ and then click on “Classes” or call 717- 658-2177.
How might your ancestors have celebrated the Christmas holiday during the American Civil War? To find out, visit the historic 1860 museum house which will be decorated as homes would have been during the mid-Victorian period. Della Robbia fruit arrangements in the Victorian concrete urns and transom of the front door will welcome guests. Roping on the banister, fresh magnolia and boxwood greens, and cedar tree decorated with dried fruit, gilded walnuts, Marzipan fruit candies, gingerbread cookies, antique candle holders, and Civil War flags will take visitors back to a much simpler time. The epergne on the hall table, which was used in the McLaughlin Hotel (the former Antrim House) for their guests during the first half of the 20th century, will be used in a traditional way to display fruit. Bonnie Shockey, president of the museum, will be dressed in Civil War period attire, as the lady of the house Martha Irwin may have been in 1860. An 1800s one-horse, drawn sleigh, made in Mercersburg, will be displayed on the kitchen porch.
The dining room, parlors, children’s bedroom, and master bedroom are all furnished with period donations and the floors are covered with oriental rugs, also donations to AAMI. Upstairs, in the children’s room, are the late 19th century toys that belonged to the Carl family, of Carl’s Drug Store. The Carl family toys are made of tin, wood, cardboard, papier-mâché, and plaster of Paris. Antique dolls are also displayed. Light refreshments will be served to museum visitors in both the house. Experience this historic Civil-War era home after dusk in the low light of the evening.
December’s special rotating exhibit will be the collection of vintage boyhood toys, from the 1930s, that belonged to the late James H. Craig Jr., D.D.S. who passed away September 19, 2017. Dr. Craig was a director on the board of Allison-Antrim Museum for 17 years, beginning January 2000. The exhibit will be displayed in the South Exhibit Bay in the German bank barn from Friday, December 2 and will close on December 24.
Allison-Antrim Museum is open regularly Tuesday through Friday, from noon to 4 pm, and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is closed for all major holidays.
For more information, please visit the museum’s website at www.greencastlemusem.org, Facebook, and on Twitter @greencastlemuzm, or call 717-597-9010. There is no charge for admission but donations are greatly accepted.
