Candlelight Tours Return to Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest With Holiday Style
December 5-20, 2014 |
Forest, VA: “We have spent holidays and indeed every day in such a perpetual round of visiting and receiving visits that I have not had a moment to my self since I came down,” wrote Martha Jefferson Randolph to her father, Thomas Jefferson, on January 1, 1796.
In late 18th-century America, the holiday season was a time for visiting and celebrating with family and friends. This December, Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest invites you to establish a new holiday tradition with a magical candlelit tour of Mr. Jefferson’s cherished villa retreat dressed for the holidays with 18th-century panache. These rare after-hours tours offer an intimate look at what Thomas Jefferson and his family’s evenings might have been like. Tours will be held on four different December evenings—Friday, December 5; Thursday, December 11; Thursday, December 18; and Saturday, December 20—with the tour leaving at 5:30 p.m. each evening.
While Mr. Jefferson did not decorate for the holidays, the house will be decorated in 18th-century style using greens and other natural materials found on the plantation grounds. Outside, the house will be illuminated by the warm, welcoming glow emanating from cressets (18th-century outdoor torches) installed around the carriage turn.
As visitors walk through the octagon house, they’ll be entertained by anecdotes gathered from Jefferson’s letters and diaries. Highlights of the tour include the east bedchamber, where Jefferson’s grandchildren slept and from which they walked out onto the terrace for their evening strolls with the owls and bats; and the parlor, which housed his extensive library. Guests on the holiday candlelight tours can catch up on their shopping with unique gifts from the Poplar Forest Museum Shop, which will be open until 7:00 p.m. each evening.
Admission is $20 per person. Reservations are required and can be made by calling the Museum Shop at 434.534.8120. The Poplar Forest candlelight tours are sponsored by Progress Printing and The News & Advance.
Holiday Week & Winter Weekends at Poplar Forest
Share the holiday spirit at Poplar Forest with your friends, family and out-of-town guests! Poplar Forest will be open to the public between Christmas and New Year’s Day—December 26 through December 30. Holiday hours are 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily, with the last tour of the day leaving at 3:00 p.m.
Poplar Forest will be closed to the public from Wednesday, December 31 through Saturday, January 17. The plantation will reopen for winter weekends beginning on Sunday, January 18 and continue through Sunday, March 8. Winter weekend hours are 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily, with the last tour of the day leaving at 3:00 p.m.
For more information about the holiday week or winter weekend hours, please call the Museum Shop at 434.534.8120.
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Website:
poplarforest.org |
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| Location Information |
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Forest, VA |
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| Contact Information |
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press@poplarforest.org |
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