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IMMEDIATE
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“Christmas at
Hagley” Cultivates the Spirit of Sharing and Giving
Wilmington, Delaware – November and December
2012 – Hagley Museum and Library celebrates the season by sharing a Christmas
exhibit and family activities with our community and giving children fourteen
and under free admission during the Christmas season. Our theme is holiday
entertaining at home. We welcome you to visit “Christmas at Hagley,” open
Friday, November 23, 2012, through Sunday, January 6, 2013 (closed on December
25). The holiday display is included in the cost of admission and free for
members. Hagley, located in the
beautiful Brandywine Valley is where the du Pont story begins, and features the
original du Pont mills, estate, and gardens.
“Christmas at
Hagley” Exhibit in Eleutherian Mills
Glimpse nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century holiday entertaining in Eleutherian Mills, the du Pont family
ancestral home. The morning room is ready for the New Year’s Day Calling, originally a tradition in which men visited ladies with
whom they were acquainted, enjoyed some
refreshment, dropped off a calling card, and wished their host a
happy New Year before moving on to the next house. Another annual holiday, Twelfth
Night,
called “le Jour des Rois” in France, was celebrated by the du Pont family and
the dining room is beautifully set with an elaborate dessert service for the delicious
Twelfth Night sweets. Downstairs, the charming
terrace room is festively decorated for an afternoon Christmas lunch. The first
bus leaves for the exhibit at 10 a.m. and the last bus at 3:30 p.m.
Family Christmas
Activities
Hagley’s Workers’ Hill will be
buzzing with fun for visitors. Like the nineteenth-century
families who lived on Workers’ Hill, visitors can enjoy making Victorian Christmas
paper decorations and ornaments, taste holiday cookies, admire the “Dear Old
Tree,” and experience family Christmas traditions. These activities are offered 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
on November 23 through 25, weekends in December (1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23),
Christmas Eve (24), and December 26 through January 1, 2013. Programs are
included in the cost of admission.
The Spirit of Christmas
at Home
In the spirit of the du Pont family who
founded the black powder mills along the Brandywine, Hagley Museum and Library
is committed to giving back to our community.
Hagley
encourages visitors to bring a new, unwrapped toy, game, book, or clothing item
for children up to fourteen to donate to the Sunday Breakfast Mission. Hagley
thanks visitors by extending free admission to children fourteen and under from
November 23 through Sunday, January 6, 2013.
Belin House
Organic Café
The Belin House Organic Café will
serve an à la carte brunch menu Saturdays and Sundays, November 24 through
January 6. The special holiday brunch menu is
la carte and features made-to-order omelets,
pumpkin leek soup, open-faced roasted turkey sandwiches, Maryland crab cakes,
warm apple cider, and more. The Belin House Organic Café is self-service with
self-seating. The café is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. No reservations necessary.
Visitors can guess the local
building used by Chef Roy as the model for his gingerbread house, and try to
spot all the candy he used.
The Hagley Store
The Hagley Store will be festively
decorated and filled with a unique selection of books, gifts, hand-crafted
pieces, and children’s items for the season. Many of the items featured in the
store are made in America. The Hagley
store is open seven days a week, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
About Hagley
Museum and Library
“Christmas at Hagley” runs from November
23, 2012, through Sunday, January 6, 2013. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Hagley is closed on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday November 22, and Christmas Day,
Tuesday, December 25, 2012.
Admission to the holiday display and
entire 235-acre museum is $11 for adults, $9 for students and senior citizens. Children fourteen and under are free from
November 23 through January 6, 2013.
The museum is located on Route 141 in
Wilmington, Delaware. GPS Address is 201 Hagley Creek Road, Wilmington,
Delaware, 19807.
Hagley Museum and Library collects,
preserves, and interprets the unfolding history of American enterprise. Call
(302) 658-2400 weekdays for more information or visit www.hagley.org.
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