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Historic
Victorian Christmas at Fort Verde
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Depicting
an 1800's Christmas event
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From mid-December
to early January, Fort Verde State Historic Park in Camp
Verde, Arizona, is decorated for the holidays.
Visitors to the architectural
heritage site, which is Arizona’s best-preserved fort
from the time of the Indian Wars, get a chance to see
how Christmas was celebrated in the middle to late
1800s.
“Everything is true to the
period,” says Dennis Lockhart, the park’s
interpretive ranger and head historian. “We don’t do
Hollywood here.” |
Three historic
homes—all that remain of the 22 buildings that once housed
members of General George Crook’s Army—are decked out in
authentic Victorian-style garlands and Christmas trees. Lockhart
cuts the trees himself. The
size of the trees reflects the prestige of the quarters.
The commanding officer’s house gets the largest tree: a
10 to 11 foot pine. The surgeon’s quarters gets the next size
down: a six to eight-foot tree, and the bachelors’ quarters
gets a 4-foot tabletop version.
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A Christmas
tree from 1900
(picture not taken at Fort Verde)
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The
trees are decorated as they might have been by their
pioneering residents.
Some of the decorations are homemade, such as
cut-out ornaments.
Other are stamped, tin items, such as stars and
snowflakes.
In
addition to the holiday dressing, the homes (all of
which are listed on the Register of Historic Places) are
furnished to reflect life during the pioneering days of
Fort Verde—right down to the china and silverware.
The park also has
a visitor center and small museum with interpretive
exhibits and military artifacts. The building was once
the fort’s administrative headquarters. |
Fort
Verde State Historic Park is located at 125 E. Holloman Street
in Camp Verde. The
park is open 364 days a year from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed
on Christmas Day. For more information about special events at Fort Verde, call
(928) 567-3275.
Coming
up after the holidays is the popular History of the Soldier
event, the second weekend in April. It features reenactments
from the Revolutionary War to today.
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Victorian
Wreath-Making
On
Saturday, December 8, 2007, Fort Verde State Historic
Park will offer a wreath-making workshop from 10 a.m. to
2 p.m. For a nominal fee, participants can decorate
their own live wreaths, Victorian-style.
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