GRANITE QUARRY ó More than 300 people attended another Christmas celebration at Old Stone House Saturday.
And even with rain pouring down, the observation of old times drew 75 visitors on Sunday, said Kaye Hirst, executive director of Rowan Museum, which operates Old Stone House on Old Stone House Road.
“On Sunday, it was raining so hard that the rain drops splashed the food out of the pots on the fire,” Hirst said.
“We tried to provide a taste or glimpse into an earlier lifestyle of Rowan County and a holiday celebration of centuries gone by. For our ancestors, a few sprigs of holly and cedar and a cup of hot apple cider were just about as festive as it got. We hope through our celebration, that guests may have caught a glimpse of the ghosts of Christmas past.”
Visitors were able to enjoy potato soup, vinegar chicken, rosemary cookies, hot apple cider and apple butter.
The staff sold apple butter in jars and still has some available at the museum, located in the Old Rowan County Courthouse in downtown Salisbury.
Children could sample games that their counterparts in colonial times enjoyed playing.
“Everyone got to dip a candle and burn a sprig of holly to burn away 2007’s troubles and to bring good luck for 2008,” Hirst said.
There were musket firing demonstrations, calligraphers penning guests’ names, a blacksmith and two woodworkers crafting objects by hand.
A weaver worked on the big loom upstairs, and a spinner kept one of the spinning wheels busy.
Volunteers also offered tours of the Old Stone House and visitors could wander the trail down to the creek or visit the family cemetery while enjoying the music of the Yadkin Valley Folklore Society.
Hirst said visitors came from Rowan, the Piedmont and other states, usually people here visiting relatives for the holidays.
“It was truly a way to wind down from all the commercialness of our modern celebrations and relax a bit and enjoy a simple celebration,” Hirst said.
Greenery on the windows came from holly, pine and cedar trees. A wreath was crafted of the same, Hirst said, with a wasp’s nest, snake skin, bird’s nest, some dried flowers and berries. Who knows what a colonial child might have tucked in, during the 18th century?
“These folks believed in witchcraft and superstitions, and greenery with needles kept the witches out,” she added. “You see, witches didn’t count well and had to count all the needles before they would enter a house through the door or windows. Therefore, the greenery slowed them down and might just have kept them out totally.”
Hirst noted that the staff and volunteers always get “hundreds of questions about everything down there, but one of the most frequently asked questions, especially around the food this year, was: ‘How do you make rosewater?’ ”
Hirst made rosemary cookies, a buttery shortbread cookie with lots of minced rosemary in it, this year. The recipe also calls for 2 tablespoons of rosewater.
Using regular water, Hirst steeps rose petals ó dry ones if you don’t have fresh ones ó in hot water. “And it is a very delicately flavored water which ends up tinted pink or amber,” she said.