Pottsgrove by Candlelight - Christmas Mansion Tour December 13, 2009

n Sunday, December 13th, from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., visitors will be welcomed through the front doors of Pottsgrove Manor and invited to step back in time to experience the holiday season as it would have been celebrated by English colonists over 250 years ago.

“Pottsgrove by Candlelight” brings the visitor into this historical world to meet the people of Pottsgrove—particularly the servants and slaves whose work allowed the John and Ruth Potts, their thirteen children, and their guests to enjoy the high life. Costumed interpreters will bring Pottsgrove Manor to life as visitors tour the house.

In the formal parlor, the housekeeper organizes her staff to ‘deck the halls’ and ornament the stately mansion with sprigs of holly, mistletoe and other greens. Elegant side tables are being assembled with sparkling glassware pyramids holding all manner of sweet delights, the construction supervised to perfection by the butler. In the servants’ hall, chambermaids discuss options for the positioning of decorative greenery, the merits of various wassail recipes, and how properly to ‘clove’ an orange. In the kitchen, the head cook and her assistants are busy preparing authentic colonial dishes and cooking them in the large hearth.

As a wealthy ironmaster, John Potts and his household may well have socialized in high style, but the iron forges and furnaces that provided his wealth were kept in operation with no time off for holidays. Day-to-day business in Mr. Potts’ home office in the rear of the house would continue as usual during this time.

Domestic tasks were many and the servants and slaves residing at Pottsgrove manor lived in a world of much work and little leisure. But on December 26th they enjoyed a day off for the old English holiday of Boxing Day and received gifts from their masters or employers. In the servant and slave quarters, members of the household staff steal a few moments to themselves to open their gifts.

On the other side of the house in the family bedchambers, the children are kept occupied by a nanny. In the colonial period, holiday celebrations were usually limited to the grown-ups, unlike Christmas today. Across the hall, the lady of the house is dealing with the age-old question of “what shall I wear to the party?” with the assistance of her ladies’ maid. You’ll see just why it was much more complicated than simply throwing on a little black dress in the 1760s, with a wardrobe including corsets, side-hoops, petticoats, and wigs!

After touring the house, visitors can watch eighteenth century country dancing and enjoy the music of a harp and a harpsichord in the 1820s addition to the Manor, shop for seasonal gifts in the Museum Shop, and warm themselves by a bonfire in the courtyard. For a small fee, visitors can also enjoy a cup of spiced cider and cookies in the historic Miller’s House next to the mansion, and younger guests can try their hand at making a pomander (a fragrant, clove-studded orange) to take home.