Celebration this weekend
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The scent of clove-filled oranges filled the kitchen of the Vera Estey House Museum last week as Presque Isle Historical Society member and chief decorator Kim Smith added some final adornments to what she hopes will become a new holiday tradition: Victorian Christmas at the Estey.
The museum will open its doors for the first annual old-fashioned celebration on Friday, Dec. 16, and Saturday, Dec. 17. Smith said visitors will be immersed in Victorian-inspired traditions, from scents and sounds to the soft glow of candlelight (electric for safety), and even a scavenger hunt.
From 6 to 9 each evening, the community is invited to visit and stroll through the home on 16 Third St. To add to the ambience, there will be volunteers in period costume who will encourage guests to join them in some Victorian activities, from games to Christmas carols to making their own ornament to take home.
Every room and alcove of the house was growing festive last week as Smith pointed out some of the home’s treasures along with decor reminiscent of the era, most of which she has made by hand, having worked since the first of October on getting the museum ready for the event.
“Now, this isn’t a multimillion-dollar Victorian mansion,” she said. “After all, this is Presque Isle, Maine. But these people did have some money, and what folks are going to see is typically what you would have seen in that era.”
The Victorian period in the U.S. was roughly from 1837-1901, she noted. It lasted longer in the States than Queen Victoria’s actual reign because of distance: “It took trends a bit longer to come across the pond.”
While today people like to copy celebrity styles, back then they copied the royal family, Smith said, indicating the large Christmas tree in the museum’s front room, bedecked with ornaments she made to reflect the period.
“Of course, we get our Christmas tree tradition from Germany. Queen Victoria’s husband was German, so when a royal had a tree, everybody did. The ornaments were all handmade then,” Smith commented. “They had long winter nights and so it was important to have things to keep busy.”
Tree decorations would feature lace, salt dough, beeswax and even scrap paper and fabric. Even walnut shells were added to the mix, she explained, displaying a gold-painted shell attached to a branch with a ribbon.
“People would use the nuts for recipes, and then would put ‘fortunes’ inside in the form of drawings. The shells were painted and hung on the tree, and on Christmas morning, kids would rush to the tree and grab a walnut to see their fortunes,” she said. “A picture of a paintbrush might mean they’d be creative, for instance.”
Festive touches adorned both floors of the house, and Smith said fresh greens will be added just before the celebration. There will be wassail, a pianist playing carols, and a scavenger hunt of sorts based on the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”
According to Smith, the song developed into the version we know today during the Victorian period, and she hopes adults and children alike will enjoy their stroll through the Estey Home as they search for clues.
Admission will be $10 at the door, or $5 for children 10 and under. Parking will be available on the street or in the public lot on Second Street, right across from City Hall, with Molly the Trolley shuttling guests to and from the house.
For further information, visit www.pihistory.org or call 762-1151.
