Celebrate Christmas Victorian-style at Landmark Park

It’s a holiday tradition that started in December 1979, and it will continue this Sunday as Landmark Park hosts its annual Victorian Christmas.

From 1-4 p.m., the public is invited to attend the open house and celebration of the season at Landmark Park. There is no official entry fee, but visitors are asked to bring a non-perishable food item with them to be donated to the Wiregrass Area United Way Food Bank.

It promises to be three hours filled with activities, food, music and fellowship for the entire family as visitors will celebrate the holiday season in a style reminiscent of the late 1800s.

“We invite the public to come out and see what an old-fashioned Christmas is like,” said William Holman, executive director of Landmark Park. “We will have natural greenery decorating the park. There will be food and music. And, one of the featured items is a dessert sampler where our guests will taste many of the old dessert recipes. As an added feature to the dessert sampler, we are trying to collect as many old recipes as we can. In addition to the recipes, we want to collect the family stories that go along with them.”

Hot chocolate and mulled cider will be available in the Waddell House and the Watson Cabin. There will also be another treat taking place in the auditorium of the Interpretive Center.

“Chef Michael Sigler will present a holiday cooking demonstration,” Holman said. “That will go along with our dessert sampler.”

Holiday music for the day will be provided by members of the 98th Army Band. They will perform in the Victorian-style gazebo.

“We will also have a circuit-riding preacher who will deliver a Christmas message,” Holman added. That presentation will be given in the Headland Presbyterian Church on the park grounds.
The natural decorations that will grace the park are in keeping with the Victorian age.

“Another tradition of the turn-of-the-century was the community Christmas tree,” Holman said. “We will do a Christmas tree in the schoolhouse. Children can help decorate the tree with hand-made ornaments.”

The children will be allowed to make ornaments to take with them as well.

Free wagon rides for the children will also be provided.

Not to be overlooked will be the seasonal items and unique gifts for sale in the Martin Drug Store and the Shelley General Store. Honey and syrup from the park’s beehives and sugar cane fields will be available for purchase.

Arts and crafts vendors are encouraged to contact the park office, 794-3452, if they would like to participate in the Victorian Christmas activities.

Since its inception in 1979, the Victorian Christmas has experienced tremendous growth. Holman says 1,400 visitors attended last year’s event.

“We started the Victorian Christmas when we opened the Waddell House to the public in December 1979,” Holman said as he explained the purpose behind the special Sunday afternoon event. “We did it as an open house to let the public see what our plans were.

“It was also a way to say thank you to the community. We waived the admission fee to encourage people to come out and see their park, which is a community project. We decided to do a Victorian Christmas to tie into the theme of the park.

“Many years ago, Christmas and the Fourth of July were the two main holidays in the Wiregrass. They were the only times of the year that farming families could celebrate, because they came at a break in the agricultural cycle.”

In addition to providing the community an opportunity to celebrate and old-fashioned Christmas, Holman says the day will also be used to help those in need.

“We are encouraging people to bring non-perishable food items for the Food Bank,” Holman said.

The Victorian Christmas at Landmark Park is sponsored by HIS Radio 94.3 FM.
(Elaine Brackin is managing editor of The Dothan Progress.)