Each year, the Greene County Historical Society decorates the museum for Christmas and hosts an open house the weekend after Thanksgiving and the first weekend of December.
Santa and Mrs. Claus wait in the Main Hall, passing out cookies and candy canes to the children coming in. Children stop for a moment to deliver letters to Santa, grab a treat, and take a picture on Santa’s lap. Train displays are setup in the hall – one even features a miniature version of the Kelly Miller circus that visits Waynesburg each year.
The lower floor of the museum is filled with Christmas displays; many of them fully decorated Christmas trees. The Christmas trees are decorated by local businesses, individuals, and are donated to the museum for a Christmas tree raffle. Each tree is unique, with its own theme. Last year’s trees included a wooden tree frame with canned goods from Corner Cupboard, a tree from books created by the library, and a tree from grapevine created by Thistlethwaite Vineyards, just to name a few. The trees are spread across the main hall, as well as into the music room and the parlor.
You can wander up the hallway and enter the music room, where local musicians play Christmas carols amidst the antique musical equipment. Across the hall, the parlor sits and inside it, a dollhouse size replica of the museum awaits the twice-daily puppet show. Children gather around the miniature museum to watch the show, starring an owl, a dog, a cat, and those two pesky enemies of museums everywhere – a moth and a rat. There’s a surprise guest at the end of the puppet show but we aren’t telling!
In the dining room, there are tables full of snacks and the perfect drinks for a chilly almost-Christmas day – hot chocolate and mulled cider. You can grab a bite to eat as you wonder the hallway, choosing what tree to drop your raffle tickets in. In addition to the Christmas trees, raffles for other items are available. And the Gift Shop is open, full of books about local and Pennsylvania history, locally handcrafter items, and small toys – perfect for some early Christmas shopping.
Make sure not to miss a chance to visit the GCHS Museum in all of its Christmas splendor this year. Christmas Open House will be held Nov. 30, Dec. 1, Dec. 7, and Dec. 8 from 3pm to 7pm. FMI, visit greenecountyhistory.org or check out the museum on Facebook @gchsofpa.