It is one and a half weeks until Christmas or at least until Christmas takes over the Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park in Big Stone Gap, VA.  On Nov. 10, 2013, the Festival of Trees begins at the Museum. 

Welcome Christmas with open arms

Christmas trees are right at home here at the Southwest Virginia Museum. The building, formerly the Ayers mansion, was built in the Victorian Era of the late 1880s and early 1890s. It was during this time that the Christmas tree, made fashionable on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean by England’s Queen Victoria (for whom the Victorian Era was named), reached its artistic zenith! Elaborately decorated trees graced the affluent homes of high society. Those who could not afford store-bought decorations made their own and even the poorest families would often have a small decorated tree in their homes.

But the Victorian Era is not the only connection between Christmas trees and the Museum. C. Bascom Slemp, the driving force behind the establishment of the Museum, provides a more personal link. Mr. Slemp served as the personal secretary to President Calvin Coolidge. In 1923, a group from the Electrical League and the Washington, D.C. public schools approached him with an idea for a “national Christmas tree” to be erected on the White House lawn. Mr. Slemp took the idea to the First Lady, and a tradition was born. (See the cartoon on the next page.)

To honor C. Bascom Slemp’s part in this American tradition and to help celebrate the holidays as our Victorian ancestors did, the Southwest Virginia Museum created the Festival of Trees eighteen years ago. With this event, we hope to link our present to our past and to help keep long-standing holiday traditions alive.

Deck the Halls!

The Museum is open for public viewing of the trees each Tues.– Sun. until the end of 2013.  Night viewings are also available on Dec. 7, 14, and 21.  Night viewings are from 5:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.  Regular fees apply.  For more information about this event, please call the park office (276) 523-1322. 

For more information about other VA State Parks, click here.  Reservations for all state parks can be made online.