Return to News Page | Return Home
All Aboard the Holiday Express
to A Brandywine Christmas
(October 2005, #039)
For Immediate Release
CHADDS FORD, PA—During the 2005 holiday season, the Brandywine River Museum continues a famous tradition. A Brandywine Christmas returns November 25 through January 8 with delightful sights and sounds of the holidays.
Family favorites on display include the museum's extensive model train layout, a Victorian dollhouse, Ann Wyeth McCoy's antique doll display and "critter" ornaments made by the museum's volunteers.
This year, A Brandywine Christmas includes The Night before Christmas. This special exhibition examines many interpretations of Clement C. Moore's famous poem, Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas. It presents paintings, prints, drawings and other imagery from the 1800s to the modern day. Included are works by Thomas Nast, Everett Shinn, N.C. Wyeth, Jessie Willcox Smith and others.
Visitors can view a remarkable display of beautiful antique dolls titled Christmas with the Dolls by Ann Wyeth McCoy. The display includes many large and exceptional dolls from Mrs. McCoy's collection. The dolls appear in life-like, holiday-inspired scenes.
The young and the young at heart can enjoy the large Victorian dollhouse. A century old, Sarah Scaife's dollhouse hosts all the amenities of a real home, featuring wallpaper, tiny rugs, miniature food, a nursery full of toys, and even its own copy of The New York Times. The dollhouse shines with small electric lights and holiday decorations.
As in years past, the museum's well-known and expansive O-gauge model railroad features non-stop action on over 2,000 feet of track. Five moving trains operate at all times and include a seemingly endless 60-car freight train winding past a village, stone quarry, oil refinery, mountains, Herr Foods plant, running waterfall and animated skating scene. With the "rail cam," visitors can view the scenery along the railway from the perspective of a miniature locomotive driver. Additionally, Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends, Clarabel and Annie, return to the tracks. New to the display this year are trains from The Ives Manufacturing Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, a well-known U.S. company that manufactured miniature trains between 1868 and 1929.
Charming critter ornaments return to decorate holiday trees, wreaths and diorama settings throughout the museum. These cleverly designed ornaments made from all-natural materials by museum volunteers have filled trees at the White House and the Smithsonian Institution.
The primary sponsors for this year's A Brandywine Christmas are Robert and Bobette Fisk and The Frelinghuysen Foundation.
Don't miss the Brandywine River Museum's Annual Critter Sale on Saturday, December 3 and Sunday, December 4 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Purchases at the Critter Sale may be made by cash, check, Visa or MasterCard. After the sale, these imaginative, hand-made critters can be purchased in the Museum Shop while supplies last. Proceeds from the sale of critters benefit the Volunteers' Art Purchase Fund.
The Brandywine River Museum is located on US Route 1 in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. The museum is open daily, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except Christmas Day. Admission is $8 for adults; $5 for seniors ages 65 and over, students, and children over six; free for children under six and members. For more information, call 610‑388‑2700 or visit the museum's website at www.brandywinemuseum.org.
For digital photography to accompany this press release,
please call 610-388-8337 or email jmaguire@brandywine.org.
Top of page
Brandywine River Museum, U.S. Route 1 and PA Route 100
P.O. Box 141, Chadds Ford, PA 19317