Stagecoach stop hosts open house
BRADY TWP — Candles lit the walkway to the Old Stone House leading visitors into the annual Christmas open house Saturday and a sample of life in the 1800s.
About 10 volunteer members of Friends of the Old Stone House, dressed in period clothing, sat by a cracking fire in the huge hearth and demonstrated wool spinning and weaving or threaded popcorn to decorate a tree at the 1822 stagecoach stop, which is now managed as a museum by Slippery Rock University's the history department.
“People come and enjoy the house and learn a little about the house and we hopefully raise some awareness about history,” said Beverly Heasley, a Friends member who wore an apron over her early American-style dress as she served up hot apple cider, coffee and cookies to visitors.
The North Country Sessions Players performed early American, Scottish, Irish and English music, and people squeezed through crowded, candle lit rooms to look at displays.
The way in which Christmas is celebrated in America today began in the mid-1800s, said Aaron Cowan, an associate history professor at Slippery Rock and the Stone House curator.
“In Colonial days, it was like a party holiday like New Year's Eve,” Cowan said.
Charles Dickens' 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol” was a sign of how Christmas was transforming into a family holiday, he said.
“It wasn't really about family and gift giving. It really changed in the 1800s and that's what we're doing here. Christmas didn't develop into a significant holiday until the mid-1800s,” Cowan said.
Open house visitors Saturday could follow the outside stairs at the Old Stone House to the top rooms at the inn where Friends members like Shane Williams would explain about the cozy accommodations and amenities for travelers in the 1800s.
He said the hay-stuffed mattresses of the day usually contained insects and gave rise to the cliche “don't let the bed bugs bite.”
The innkeeper often rented one bed to up to five people during an era when hygiene wasn't a priority.
“So you had some five stinky people in a bed together,” Williams said.
