A look into a 19th century Christmas at Glanmore
BELLEVILLE – A historic house in Belleville took visitors on a special Christmas tour fit for the 19th-century.
On Wednesday Glanmore National Historic Site held the first of five ‘Glanmore by Gaslight’ guided evening tours.
The smell of homemade apple cider fills the entrance of the house, the walls are lined with garlands decorated with pinecones and berries, the replica gas lights flicker and the tour starts.
The grand staircase cost the original owner of Glanmore J.P.C Phillips $62.70. Photo by Olivia Waldriff, QNet News
Danielle McMahon-Jones has been working full time at the museum for 5 years but has also worked as a summer student and intern. Photo by Olivia Waldriff, QNet News
Danielle McMahon-Jones, the exhibit development co-ordinator at Glanmore, says although there has been special Christmas events going on since the museum opened in 1973, the Glanmore by Gaslight tours have only been going on for about 20 years.
“It’s a unique situation. We don’t hold too many evening tours,” says McMahon-Jones, “I think because we don’t do many evening tours and it’s Christmas themed that it’s very magical for people to step back in time.”
McMahon says her and her co-worker have called the house a ‘Scooby Doo’ style house because of the style and feel of it.
In 1883 after a year of construction John Phillips, a banker, and his wife Harriet Phillips moved in. Back then it was common to give your estate a name, according to McMahon-Jones, so they decided to name the house after John Phillips’s uncle, who was born at Glanmore Castle in Ireland.
In 1896, 14-year-old Jessie Patterson came to live at Glanmore with John and Harriet Phillips and although they never formally adopted Jessie, she inherited the house when they passed away. Patterson raised her children in Glanmore, and the house remained in the family until 1971 when it was sold to the city of Belleville.
Multiple Christmas trees, big and small, can be found in different rooms throughout the house, all topped with a Union Jack. The one in the breakfast room is embellished with handmade ornaments and children’s presents sitting on the floor underneath it.
“In all honesty, as elegant and feminine as it is, in our modern life this is not practical, you know we have so much freedom as women,” said Linda while talking about some of the struggles of dressing in Victorian clothing, including having to take off her bonnet before getting in the car because it doesn’t fit. Photo by Olivia Waldriff, QNet News
Christmas trees first became popular in the 1800s after Prince Albert and Queen Victoria were seen with a tree, a tradition that Prince Albert brought over from Germany.
“I loved the tour. The house is so beautiful at Christmas time and the tour guide explaining the traditions in Victorian times and the way people lived is so informative and in some ways very similar to how we live today except we tend to do it in a more elaborate and expensive way,” said Linda Rose, who took the tour.
Linda and her husband Greg are from Ottawa and travelled to Glanmore just for this tour. They attend many different Victorian era events in clothing accurate to that time period.
“I like to create the image of what a lady in Victorian times would be wearing,” added Linda.
There are four other tours taking place in December including: Tuesday Dec. 10, Thursday Dec. 12, Tuesday Dec. 17 and Thursday Dec. 19.
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