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Community Corner

Guided Holiday Tours of Period Rooms at Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum, invites you to step back in time and join us this holiday season.  The Museum opens for our holiday tours on Saturday December 7th.  The Museum is then open for guided tours and visits to exhibits on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday afternoons, 1pm – 4pm, until December 22nd.  The Museum will reopen for holiday tours of the tree, exhibit and other decorations on January 2nd through January 30th. 

The Museum’s period rooms will be decorated for the holidays in traditional style by the Garden Club of Morristown with fresh holly and boxwood, greenery and other live decorations including a historically-inspired Christmas tree throughout December.  Enjoy docent-led tours through the period rooms to learn the history of the Macculloch family and W. Parsons Todd, the philanthropist who transformed this family home into a museum with a superb collection of fine English and American decorative arts.  In the drawing room visitors will find a special Christmas tree decorated with historically inspired ornaments.  2013 marks the 23rd year Morristown’s Assumption School fourth grade students have handcrafted period-style ornaments for the Drawing Room Christmas tree.  During tours of the gorgeous historic home visitors will view seasonal decorations as well as the Museum's collection of holiday-themed original artwork by caricaturist Thomas Nast.  Nast, a well-known political cartoonist who popularized the Democratic Donkey and the Republican Elephant, also contributed to America’s contemporary image of Santa Claus.  Visitors will find more than thirty of Thomas Nast’s original Santa and Christmas images throughout the Museum’s galleries and period rooms.  Macculloch Hall Historical Museum has the largest collection of Nast originals in the nation.

Visitors can find unique gifts in the museum's expanded holiday shop.  Special items include Thomas Nast Christmas cards and ornaments.  This year the Museum is featuring a photograph of the beautiful 2012 Drawing Room Christmas tree by Stan Freeny on a Christmas card.  This special card captures last year’s tree lit up as if it were the night before Christmas.  Freeny captured this image one evening to create this unique view of the Macculloch Hall drawing room in a way most visitors do not get to see.  The shop also carries a number of Christmas items year round including items with Thomas Nast Santa Claus and other Christmas images. The Museum is also carrying a special edition Nast animal themed ornament and other traditional toys and unique stocking stuffers. 

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum preserves the history of the Macculloch-Miller families, the Morris area community, and the legacy of its founder W. Parsons Todd through its historic site, collections, exhibits, and educational and cultural programs. The Museum is open for house and exhibit tours on Wednesdays, Thursdays & Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. The last tour leaves at 3pm. The galleries and gift shop are open until 4pm on tour days.  Adults $8; Seniors & Students $6; Children 6 – 12 $4. Members and children under 5 are free. The gardens are open Monday to Friday 9am - 4pm and Sundays 1pm - 4pm unless posted otherwise. The gates are secured at all other times. Call (973) 538-2404 ext. 10, visit our website www.maccullochhall.org or find us on Facebook.  Macculloch Hall Historical Museum, 45 Macculloch Ave., Morristown, NJ 07960. Macculloch Hall Historical Museum received an operating support grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State.  Macculloch Hall Historical Museum is a nonprofit educational affiliate of the W. Parsons Todd Foundation.

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