Fayette County Historical Society focuses on National Road in Christmas exhibit
Frances Borsodi Zajac/For the Observer-Reporter
Mary Tichner of Uniontown stands in the section decorated to look like Uniontown’s busy Main Street during the mid-20th century.
Jo Lofstead of Masontown welcomes visitors to the Abel Colley Tavern, where the Fayette County Historical Society's exhibit "Visions of Christmas Past on the National Road'' is running from noon to 4 p.m. Dec. 8, 15 and 16 and noon to 2 p.m. Dec. 9.
The Andrew Stewart Room, featuring a portrait of the 19th-century U.S. representative who was born near Uniontown
The Civil War era is represented in this room that includes a Christmas tree with natural decorations, such as dried fruit, cookies, candy and feathers.
Frances Borsodi Zajac/For the Observer-Reporter
This Civil War-era Christmas tree includes natural decorations, such as dried fruit, cookies, candy and candles.
This Victorian-era Christmas tree shows how the celebration of Christmas was becoming more elaborate.
Christine Buckelew, left, of Uniontown, president, and Jo Lofstead of Masontown, secretary of the Fayette County Historical Society, adjust red, white and blue bunting on the staircase of the Abel Colley Tavern.
The World War I-era Christmas tree is decorated with photographs and biographies of Fayette County residents who served during the Great War.
The chest of drawers in the World War I-era display is decorated with a bust dressed as an elegant lady of the period and a tribute to Lila Belle Stillman, who left her teaching post at North Union Township High School to run a YMCA canteen in the American sector of France in 1918. There is also a framed flag from the first American division in France that was donated by AMVETS Post 103 in Hopwood to the Fayette County Historical Society.
This Christmas tree lot is part of the section that depicts Uniontown's Main Street during the mid-20th century.
Frances Borsodi Zajac/For the Observer-Reporter
This scene depicts a mid-20th century diner with a booth, register and display case filled with sweets.
Photographs of department stores that graced Uniontown's Main Street in the mid-20th century help visitors step back in time.
Fayette County Historical Society is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the National Road as part of its annual Christmas exhibit at the Abel Colley Tavern in Menallen Township.
“Visions of Christmas Past on the National Road” is open from noon to 4 p.m. Dec. 8, 15 and 16 and noon to 2 p.m. Dec. 9 at the tavern along the National Road, present-day Route 40. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students and free to youths 12 and younger.
The tavern’s rooms are decorated to show visitors what Christmas was like during the heyday of the National Road in the mid-1800s, when it was an avenue for travelers and commerce by stagecoach and wagon, through its transition to automobiles in the 20th century.
“The National Road has always been the main artery through this area,” said Jo Lofstead of Masontown, who serves as secretary for the historical society. “This recognizes its importance and the way people celebrated Christmas along it.”
Visitors enter the tavern through a side door, where the first floor reveals what Christmas was like in the 19th century, beginning with the Andrew Stewart Room, where a portrait is hung of the 19th-century U.S. representative who was born near Uniontown. The room is decorated sparsely with natural elements, such as apples and nuts, that depict an era when Christmas was very different from modern times.
“In the Early American period, except for the Germans, Christmas wasn’t celebrated like we do today,” said Lofstead. “The Puritans and Quakers didn’t celebrate Christmas.”
Christine Buckelew of Uniontown, historical society president, noted this room contains features such as a Dutch cupboard with rat-tail hinges that was made in Menallen Township about 1760 and is believed to be the oldest piece of furniture made in Fayette County. There are also two tavern tables – one a reproduction built by Christine’s husband, Tom Buckelew, for this exhibit and another from the late 18th century, as well as a pen-and-ink drawing of the White Swan Tavern from Uniontown.
A larger room reveals the holiday during the Civil War era when Christmas trees were becoming popular, showing one decorated with dried fruit, cookies, candy and feathers. Greenery covers a mantel over which hang portraits of Joshua Strickler and his wife, natives of Luzerne Township who moved to Uniontown. The room also contain paintings of other Fayette Countians by noted artist David Gilmour Blythe, an Ohio native who later moved to Pittsburgh and is known for the statute of General Lafayette that stands in the Fayette County Courthouse.
The foyer near the front door shows a Victorian era, circa 1890s, Christmas tree with more elaborate decorations and toys beside it. The banister for the staircase that leads to the second floor is decorated with red, white and blue bunting in observance of the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I.
At the top of the staircase is a Christmas tree trimmed with bunting and ribbons that show photographs and biographies of Fayette County residents who served during the Great War as soldiers and nurses. There’s also a World War I uniform as well as a framed flag from the first American division in France that formerly hung in Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 47 in Uniontown and was then transferred to George C. Marshall AMVETS Post 103 in Hopwood before being donated to the historical society.
This section includes a bust dressed as an elegant lady of the era and a tribute to Lila Belle Stillman, who left her teaching post at North Union Township High School to run a YMCA canteen in the American sector of France in 1918.
Visitors move into the large upstairs room that has been divided into sections, starting with a World War II display that shows a soldier camped out and receiving a Christmas package from home.
Connie Kikta of North Union Township, who chairs the “Visions of Christmas Past” exhibit, recreated a 1950s diner that includes a booth, register and display case with pastries decked out for Christmas. A menu from the Old Route 40 Diner hangs on the wall.
Visitors then step onto Uniontown’s Main Street that recreates former stores, such as Metzler’s and Kresge’s, as well as the Manos Theater, where movies such as the Christmas tale “It’s A Wonderful Life,” starring Western Pennsylvania native Jimmy Stewart, were shown. The exhibit includes seats from the State Theatre Center for the Arts.
Mary Tichner of Uniontown and Mary Gruskowski of German Township re-created the Main Street section that also includes a Christmas tree lot and an opportunity for visitors to peek through a window to see a scene from Santa Claus’ North Pole home.
“We wanted you to step back in time as if you were walking down Main Street,” said Tichner. “Our idea was to create what Uniontown was like – how wonderful the stores were and the movie theaters.”
Tichner also chaired the “Candlelight Christmas Dinner” held in early December at the tavern that celebrated the National Road with a 19th century-inspired dinner, which featured beef-and-vegetable stew in a recipe by Tichner’s great-great-great-grandmother.
“Our vision for the dinner,” Tichner said, “was to re-create it as if you were back in a Colonial tavern.”
Along with exhibit tours by people in costume, the dinner included Christmas carols by musician Mary Kay Karolewics of Menallen Township, who is historical society treasurer; and vocalists Bill and Karen Dreucci, Lori Detweiler and Dr. John and Jean Nass on the first night, and vocalist Nancy Kalasky on the second.
“We’re hopeful to do it again,” Tichner said.
Artwork that depicts scenes along the National Road by Karolewics and Madelyn Cindric of Uniontown also hang throughout the exhibit.
Other historical society members who helped make this exhibit a success include Connie Sagosky of Masontown, Patty Stavish of New Salem, Darlene Check of Uniontown, Paul Tichner, Vince Karolewics and Joy Stewart.
More information on the exhibit and the historical society, including membership, is available at www.fayettehistoricalsociety.org.