(HALIFAX)—Watch authentically costumed Revolutionary War soldiers recruit volunteers to help fight for America’s freedom and savor the festive aroma of colonial holiday dishes at the 2007 Historic Halifax Christmas celebration, planned Saturday, Dec. 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Other activities will include tours of the state historic site’s 18th century Tap Room Tavern and Owens House, which will be decorated for Christmas with natural materials. The holiday program is free and open to the public.
Outdoors, visitors can join the colonial “soldiers” in a typical military camp of the period, learn how to shoot a musket and a swivel gun and even “drill” alongside the patriot soldiers. The recruitment reenactment will be presented inside the Tap Room where several typical colonial dishes such as a ham will cover a sideboard. Here historical interpreters will also be carving wooden toys, just like those children in late 1700s North Carolina treasured. Should hunger strike, step into the seasonally decorated visitor center where a homemade baked goods and hot drinks will be sold from a “coffee shop” and Christmas music will fill the air.
The goal of Historic Halifax is to preserve and interpret the history of the town, where North Carolina first declared independence from Great Britain in 1776. Throughout the American Revolution, Halifax was one of the state’s key commercial and political centers.
The first 85 years of the town of Halifax’s life are recalled in the historic site’s preservation. The Owens House is the oldest building and dates from about 1760. The Roanoke River Valley’s prosperity during the 18th and 19th centuries is also reflected in the many Federal-style plantation homes built here from the 1790s to the 1820s.
Historic Halifax is located in Halifax County, a little over five miles east of Interstate 95. Take exit 168 onto State Route 903 and follow brown historic site signs to the Historic Halifax Visitor Center. For more information on this program, call (252) 583-7191 or visit http://www.halifax.nchistoricsites.org.
Historic Halifax is an agency of the N.C. Division of State Historic Sites, Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history, and culture. This program is part of Cultural Resources’ year long celebration “History Happens Here,” which tells North Carolina’s stories of struggle and freedom, memorable characters and colorful daily life. For more information, visit www.ncculture.com or call (919) 807-7385.