All the houses and shops of Colonial Williamsburg are dressed for the season. While the decorations aren't entirely traditional, they are inspired by 18th c. tastes. Many of the decorations reflect the shop's trade or the interests of the house's owner, with scrolled sheet music, milliner's hats, imported porcelain tea-dishes, or even a horse collar and stirrups incorporated into the greenery. Everything used has to have been available in colonial Virginia; no plastic snowmen, polyester ribbons, or LED Santa-heads allowed! For more about the decorations, see this article on the Colonial Williamsburg web site.
Happy Holidays from the Two Nerdy History Girls!
One of us -- 
6 comments:
I once visited Florence at Christmas time, and all the shops had decorations of greenery and lemons above their windows. It looked lovely. Going into the museums, I noticed that they were full of Della Robbia garlands of greenery and lemons.
This was 25 years ago, so things might be very different now.
Thank you for your good wishes, and may I wish TNHG and all their readers a wonderful holiday season and much happiness in 2010.
Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!
I hope all good things come to you in the new year and you'll have many more adventures like this one.
I went to Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village last night. I took several pictures (with my phone grrr since my camera wasn't a happy camper last night) and have posted them here:
http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c27/nightsmusic/Greenfield%20Village%20Holiday%20Nights/
Keep in mind that everything is exact to each period. Some houses have no decorations because in the 17th century especially, there were many Congregationalists and they didn't believe in outward shows of holiday spirit.
Also, I took quite a few pictures of Webster's house because it was the most well lit. Others that would have been weren't open. Some that are very dark are exactly the way I saw them, with only one or two candles lit.
Anyway, this is just a small sampling, but I really wanted you both to get a chance to see a bit of Greenfield Village. And if you ever travel this way, I'd love to take you!
theo
I can't make a 'sub album' public if the parent album is private so you'll need this password:
CellarDweller
Sorry.
theo
Thank you all for the kind wishes, and much happiness back to you!
Ingrid -- That's interesting about Florence -- many of the decorations here in CW also involve fruit, and there's a definite della Robbia feel to it. Unfortunately the climate's a bit too warm to keep fresh fruit outdoors for a month, so it has to be "refreshed" on a weekly basis. But the birds do enjoy all those apples!
Theo -- I tried to follow your link, but it didn't work. :( Sounds like Greenfield must have been very beautiful last night!
It seems to have cut off part of the address. I'm sorry.
Try this one:
http://tinyurl.com/ybg898l
and the password is CellarDweller
Theo, finally made it work! Looks like you & your daughters must have had a splendid time -- how neat that they show Christmas in different eras to match the houses. Coincidentally, I just posted a picture of CW's fife and drum corps, with links to music that might well have matched your last two pictures of the pipers as well. :)
Thank you so much for sharing -- and persevering with Blogger (which is taxing me mightily with the picture "arrangement" this week.)
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