Christmas at Historic Odessa featured by Delaware Online
This week DelawareOnline.com featured Odessa as one of the top five holiday attractions to see this November! Christmas in Odessa is a self-guided walking tour of private homes and public buildings, many dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, decorated for the holidays.
Christmas in Odessa
The first Christmas in Odessa was born 50 years ago as a fund raiser for the Women's Club of Odessa. Our purpose was to fund college scholarships for local high school seniors. With the help and cooperation of Odessa homeowners, we have provided scholarships to more than 100 students.
Christmas in Odessa is a self-guided walking tour of private homes and public buildings, many dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, decorated for the holidays. The tour will take place on December 3, 2016 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. In addition to the house tour, we have many special events which are included in the ticket price.
Tickets are $25.00 if purchased on the day of the tour. Children ages 6 to 12 are $10.00, and under 6 years old are free. Tickets can be purchased at the Old Academy at the intersection of 4th and Main Street in Odessa.
Exhibit: The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
A 200-year-old story of the battle between a nutcracker and a mouse has inspired this year’s Christmas at Odessa display.
The Historic Odessa Foundation will once again transform the Wilson-Warner House to reflect the story and scenes from a work of literature, this one E.T.A. Hoffman’s tale of “The Nutcracker and The Mouse King.”
In addition to setting up vignettes from the well-known story of a little girl’s wooden nutcracker that magically comes to life and fights off an army of mice, the display will include more than 60 nutcrackers from the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum in Leavenworth, Washington. It features many types of tools, not just the toy wooden soldiers so many are familiar with.
In the display, says designer Brian Miller – an assistant curator and Middletown High School art teacher – the Stahlbaum family’s Christmas Eve dinner table will have a nutcracker at each place setting. Others will be on display throughout the National Historic Register house. It opens Nov. 15 and ends Dec. 31.
Past Odessa homes have been inspired by the works of Jane Austen, Beatrix Potter and Lewis Carroll, among others.
Tickets to holiday house tours are $10 for adults; $8 for groups, seniors and students; children under 6 are free.
