9 places in Texas to visit for a taste of how holidays used to be celebrated
Expecting out-of-state guests this holiday season?
Consider sharing a dose of Texas history with them.
The Texas Historical Commission — along with local partners — stage quite a few seasonal events at its historic sites.
I rustled up a few candidates for authentic holiday festivities within reasonable driving distance of our seven USA Today Network hometowns in Texas.
Consider an adobe open house in El Paso
You won't find many well-preserved historic adobe houses in Texas. After all, mud bricks tend to melt in the rain and crumble in the sun. The Magoffin Home in El Paso, built by Joseph Magoffin in 1875, is a magnificent example of this type of West Texas residence.
The first six rooms were built around a central hall, and more were added before the adobe exterior, protected by lime plaster, was completed around 1887. Amazingly, members of the Magoffin family still lived there almost 100 years later and many of the furnishings on display belonged to them.
More: Magoffin Home's place in history will be recognized at ceremony
This season, the house makes a cozy — and free — holiday retreat for live music, cookies and cocoa, along with participatory activities such as ornament making and, aptly, fashioning gingerbread adobe houses with breakfast cereal bits for decor. Noon-4 p.m. Dec. 2. 915-533-5147, ext. 1002.
Take a candlelight tour of a 19th-century Castroville inn
Located on the Medina River, Castroville was settled by Alsatians led by Henri Castro in the 1840s. Among the genuinely historic buildings here is the Landmark Inn, now a state historic site on the west bank of the river. In 1849 Frenchman César Monod built this one-story structure for his home and a dry-good store.
More: Scout the historic Texas rivers of the southern Edwards Plateau
According to the Handbook of Texas Online, "Irish merchant John Vance purchased the property on Feb. 23, 1853, and built a one-and-a-half-story family residence between the original main structure and the Medina River. He also added a second story and first and second floor galleries to the main structure to make the Vance Hotel. A two-story bathhouse built in the courtyard during the Civil War provided the only man-made bath between San Antonio and Eagle Pass."
This time of year, the Castroville Conservation Society will conduct a candlelight tour of the Landmark Inn. 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Dec. 2 at 402 Florence St., Castroville. 830-708-5680.
See where 'Speaker Sam' lived in Bonham
From 1913 to 1961, Sam Rayburn served for 24 terms as U.S. Congressman while representing the Texas fourth congressional district. Three times, he held the post of speaker of the House, but he also is remembered as a House majority leader and two-time House minority leader. The Democrat mentored his friend, Lyndon Baines Johnson, who rose to Senate majority leader, vice president and president.
More: Get an exclusive look Inside Lyndon B. Johnson's hidden downtown Austin offices
As you might guess, the speaker's house in Bonham is historic.
During a holiday open house, you may take free tours of the first floor of the Sam Rayburn House, hung with garlands and battery-powered candles, then stop by the visitor center for hot apple cider, sweet treats and ornament making. The event is slated for 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Dec. 7, 890 W. Texas 56, Bonham.
Note: Because Dec. 7 is Pearl Harbor Day, you can learn more about the Japanese attack on American forces on that date in 1941 — and Rayburn's role in America's response — at the site.
Christmas where Texans declared independence
Tiny Washington-on-the-Brazos has the distinction of being the place where Texas delegates met to declare independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836. These days, you can wander around the capacious grounds where the historical town stood, peek into a replica of the barn-like hall where the delegates met, and then head over to the Barrington Plantation, a living history site associated with Dr. Anson Jones, last president of the Republic of Texas.
For two days during the holiday season, add festive music, dancing, solemn speeches, musket-fire and Christmas carols. You'll also hear how people enslaved at Barrington experienced the season. Groups of 20 guests will leave every 15 minutes from the entrance of Barrington Plantation. 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m Dec. 8, 23100 Barrington Lane.
More: Texas History: Spelling out life on an 1800s Texas plantation
One more holiday event in the historic town/historical park: "Dickens on the Brazos." From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 16, activities will expand from Independence Hall, where interpreters from Fanthorp Inn will set up a Christmas post office, to Lott's Tavern, where you'll hear readings from Charles Dickens. Contact Adam Arnold (adam.arnold@thc.texas.gov) for more information.
A trail of lights connects two historic La Grange sites
Perched dramatically high above the Colorado River Valley, Monument Hill overlooks the town of La Grange. It is home to two historic sites nestled in a park setting. With its soaring art deco memorial, Monument Hills is the last resting place for Texans who took part in multiple conflicts with Mexico during the 1840s. Nearby is the well-rehabilitated Kreische House, and the Kreische Brewery, mostly in ruins. No beer is served on site, at least not in an official capacity.
More: Texas History: Taking the long view from Monument Hill
Every day at dusk during the holiday season, the grounds are transformed into a trail of lights. Themed displays include Candy Lane, Holiday in the Dog Park and the O Tannenbaum musical display. Kreische House will be decorated in the traditional 19th century German style. Guests can enjoy live entertainment, holiday refreshments, family crafts and activities, visits with Santa, and more. 5:30 p.m.-8 p.m. Dec. 8-23, 414 Texas Loop 92, La Grange.
An 1850s cooking demo in Austin
The state of Texas recently renovated and upgraded the array of historical structures at the French Legation, completed in 1841 for Alphonse Dubois de Saligny, the chargé d’affaires for France in the Republic of Texas. One place that looks great there — perfect for living history — is the 19th-century kitchen, rebuilt in the 1960s on the footprint of the original detached kitchen.
More: Savoring the peace and the past at the reopening French Legation
Makes sense, then, that staff and volunteers will prepare a full 1850s holiday meal in the kitchen, which will include most of the ingredients available to Texans then: turkey, chicken, duck, beef, pork, wild game, seasonal fruits and vegetables, and imported delicacies. The demo is included in the price of admission. (Look hungry. You might get samples. That usually works for me.) 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Dec. 9, 802 San Marcos St., Austin.
Prairie Christmas sing-along at the Goodnight Ranch
Confession: During my road trips around the Panhandle, I've never visited the Charles and Mary Ann Goodnight Ranch State Historic Site. The famed trail captain — a model for Woodrow F. Call in "Lonesome Dove" — and his wife, among many other things, are credited with helping to save the bison from extinction.
More: ‘Mr. Texas’ befriends legendary cattleman, ‘Lonesome Dove’ inspiration
Their house on the prairie will be decked out for the holidays. For a special event, not only can you tour the home, you are invited to join an old-fashioned sing-along by the campfire, while you take in the aromas of chuckwagon cooking. (Looking hungry might work here, too.) Weather forecast: It will be crisp if not cold this time of year. 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Dec. 9, 4989 Country Road 25, Clarendon.
Victorian Christmas fair at Fort McKavett
Located near the headwaters of the San Saba River, Fort McKavett is exactly what one imagines an isolated Texas frontier military base looked like in the mid-19th century. You learn a lot here about the Buffalo Soldiers, the African American recruits who guarded the trails west during the waning years of the Indian Wars. Be sure to stroll down to the wooded pools that give birth to the river.
More: Forts evoke a rough and isolated, but well-ordered, frontier life
Besides the excellent museum and the ghostly remains of the barracks, during a holiday event one can attend the Victorian Christmas Fair. Activities include making Christmas decor, helping to cook up treats in the officer’s kitchen, writing a Christmas card, and taking pictures with a Victorian Santa. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.. Dec. 6, Fort McKavett.
Christmas in Mexican Texas at Stephen F. Austin's capital
As recently explored in this column, San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site has been given, during the past decade, expert attention that includes a relatively new museum and a replica settlement. The treatment is appropriate for the town on the Brazos River that served as Stephen F. Austin capital in Mexican Texas from 1823 to 1836, when it was burned to the ground by settlers to deprive the approaching Mexican army of supplies.
More: Once capital of Stephen F. Austin's colony, San Felipe de Austin celebrates bicentennial
Suitably, Christmas in Mexican Texas is the theme of this year's holiday event. Historians and others will talk about religion at the time and read from “Legend of the Poinsettia." Kids can engage in poinsettia paper crafts, while food will be available at the outdoor oven in the Villa de Austin exhibit, a cluster of studiously put together replica buildings located next to the museum. 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Dec. 16. 220 Second St., San Felipe.
Candlelight Christmas at Varner-Hogg
The Varner-Hogg Plantation, located directly on Varner Creek just above the Brazos River, was owned by three main families before the prominent Hoggs gave it to the state of Texas. The site includes an excellent visitors center, a small museum, excavated sites of the slave cabins and a sugar mill, a climate-controlled warehouse for antiques, and a stately plantation house.
More: Guides at Texas plantation committed to preserving truth of 'a very uncomfortable history'
For the season, the staff has chosen to take the house back to the mid-1800s with a feather tree, popular 19th-century toys, and dining room table set for a sumptuous holiday feast. Relax outside with wassail and Christmas cookies. A Victorian Santa will be on standby for photos. 6 p.m.-9 p.m. Dec. 18, 1702 N. 13th St., West Columbia.
Michael Barnes writes about the people, places, culture and history of Austin and Texas. He can be reached at mbarnes@gannett.com. Sign up for the free weekly digital newsletter, Think, Texas, at statesman.com/newsletters, or at the newsletter page of your local USA Today Network paper.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Select from these Texas Historic Sites for Christmas festivities