Dates of Event: Every weekend in December, 2016, except Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (photos taken on December 16, 2016)
Location: Old Sturbridge Village (1 Old Sturbridge Village Rd.
Sturbridge, MA) (about an hour and half west of Boston and 45 minutes east of Springfield, MA)
Price: Adults: $22 | Youth ages 4 –12: $14 | Children 3 and under: Free (there are discounts if you’re in the military and if you purchase your tickets before December 1st for future reference)
Hours: 3:00 pm – 9:00 pm for the Christmas By Candlelight event (regular November hours are 9:30 -4:00 but their hours and the days they are open change depending on the time of the year)
Parking:There are an ample parking in the parking lot but it does get full during big events like the Christmas By Candlelight event
Handicapped Accessible: No, unfortunately, many of the houses do not have ramps
Dog Friendly: No
Highlights: family-friendly, historical, living museum, actors, carolers, animals, horse drawn carriage
Web Site: Christmas By Candlelight At Old Sturbridge Village
Stage coach rides, carolers, time period actors, Christmas trees; these are a few of the magical attractions at the annual Candlelight Christmas event at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.
The first exhibit at the Old Sturbridge Village Museum is the gingerbread house contest. The contest is broken into 4 categories: adult professional (there are professional gingerbread house makers?), adult, youth and family. Some of the designs are very creative. Each visitor to the museum could vote for their favorite.
There are many houses with living actors who answer questions about the traditions and how Christmas was celebrated during the colonial and post colonial days,
There were also stations where you could get some mulled cider and, appropriately enough, freshly roasted chestnuts…on an open fire no less.
The houses were all decorated with lights (for safety purposes, lights replaced the candles which would have been used to light up the houses). I have tried to show a progression of how the houses looked as darkness descended on the village so there may be some duplicate photos of the same buildings.
All of the houses were open to the public, especially since it was another cold New England afternoon. The homes were all decorated in different eras. In fact, one could see the decor of diffeerent eras in each room in the house.
This shoppe was a realistic version of the shoppes of the day.
There were actors throughout the village. The last two gentlemen pictured below were playing instruments of the day. The man in the second photo is playing a Psaltery, an instrument dating back to the 3 B.C.E.
In one of the houses, The Ghost of Christmas Present waited for us. He told me he hasn’t had to scare anyone since Scrooge (not even any reality stars or politicians, apparently). So, he’s a pretty easyy going guy I guess. Tiny Tim’s cane leaned on a chair in the corner.
This actor was pretty quiet. He didn’t tell me much about his character. Hey, wait a second…
Of course there were carolers roaming the village and breaking into song when the mood struck them. They also sang, appropriately enough, “Oh Christmas Tree!” at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony.
It was too cold outside (single digits at some points of the evening) for most of the animals. But, the chickens and some chicks were in the barn.
There were also some bulls on the farm. They’re such beautiful animals.
And, of course, the horses that pulled the horse drawn carriage and stage coach. Don’t you just love how they walk?
Happy holidays too all and don’t forget to leave out your shoes in the hopes of getting carrots!
Below are some videos from my visit to Candlelight Christmas! You’ll have to turn your head or device to watch the tree lighting ceremony ( :
New England Nomad 