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Horse-drawn wagon rides, traditional Christmas decorations and homemade sorghum Christmas cookies beckon visitors to a Victorian Christmas at Hardman Farm State Historic Site. 0n Friday and Saturday nights, Dec. 6th & 7th, 13th & 14th, 20th & 21st from 4 to 7pm, Hardman Farm’s Victorian Christmas is a step back in time to Christmas in 1877.Guests will feel as though they have been transported into the midst of a Christmas party hosted by the home’s first owners, the Nichols family, at “West-End” as Hardman Farm was first named due to its location at the west end of the Nacoochee valley. Reenactors in period style clothing portray Captain Nichols and his wife Kate, daughter Anna Ruby (namesake of Anna Ruby Falls just north of Helen), mother-in-law Augusta Latimer and a host of friends who have come to the party. Guests walk through the mansion and interact with reenactors who explain various Victorian Christmas traditions.
Local guest musicians fill the mansion with the sounds of Christmas each evening. This year’s musical line-up features everything from a harpist to a blue-grass trio to pianists who play the 1830’s square baby grand piano.
The smell of fresh-baked cookies lures visitors from the mansion to the historic kitchen located just off the back of the house. Bakers prepare batches of homemade sorghum ginger cookies each night, made with sorghum grown, pressed and bottled at Hardman Farm. They are a true Christmas treat!
Santa awaits guests in the farm’s carriage house just a few yards from the kitchen and visitors can also take a horse-drawn wagon ride down the historic Unicoi turnpike, once part of a Native American trading route. Outside the visitors center, guests can gather around the fire-pit for smore’s or meander inside the visitors center to shop for holiday gifts from local artists and crafters.
Tickets for Victorian Christmas can be purchased online at www.hardmanfarm.eventbrite.com.
Tickets are available beginning August 1st. Take advantage of early bird pricing through Oct. 31st while tickets are $18 for adults and $12 for children ages 6-17. Children 5 and under are free. Beginning Nov. 1st, Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for children 6-17. Children 5 and under are free. A family rate of $45 is available and covers 2 adults and their children ages 17 and younger.
For more information, visit gastateparks.org/hardmanfarm or call the Hardman Farm visitors center 706-878-1077.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Hardman Farm State Historic Site, Rex,GA,United States, Helen
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