Finding Minnesota: Christmas At Glensheen Mansion
DULUTH, Minn. (WCCO) -- Christmas typically comes once a year, unless you are visiting the Glensheen Mansion in Duluth.
They began opening up the mansion a few years ago for Christmas tours, which take place through Jan. 8.
"Many people say Christmas at Glensheen is when it feels most like a family home," said marketing manager Jane Pederson.
Pederson and her colleagues decided three years ago that they wanted visitors to see what the Congdon family would have seen when they came home for the holidays.
"A normal Saturday for the Christmas tour was probably about 200 people. Now, we are seeing numbers that are right alongside our July and August numbers with 700, 800, 900 people," Pederson said.
The most wonderful time of year has also become one of the busiest. Twenty-five Christmas trees have been added, along with hidden elves and hundreds of feet of garland.
"In the library we have the Congdon's own ornaments, so the ornaments they would have had on their own Christmas tree are on display for everyone to see," Pederson said.
It takes two weeks of no visitors and a lot Christmas helpers to decorate 27,000 square feet for the holidays. But when they re-open on Black Friday, the transformation is clear. And it is complete with Mrs. Congdon's original shortbread recipe.
"We are constantly restocking the cookies," Pederson said. "Everyone loves Clara Congdon's shortbread."
Like the holiday spirit, nostalgia is everywhere, from a photo of the living room fireplace from 1910, to a Christmas menu from 1911. And there are pictures of the coachman and gardener, whose jobs were to fashion Christmas wreaths for the holidays.
Unlike the modern Christmas, the Congdons' living room did not have iPads or televisions.
"Back then they didn't have those luxuries, so they were forced to talk to one another, and they have some wonderful conversation pieces," Pederson said.
Such as their own quarters. The Congdon childrens' rooms are decorated with their favorite Christmas colors.
"As you can tell the majority of this room is blue, so it's affectionately called the 'blue room,'" she said.
But one of the biggest draws of this tour may be Clara Congdon's nativity collection. It contains nativity scenes from around the world, some of which are more than 100-years old.
"They did say Clara was big collector and I found that interesting," said visitor Lauren Crabtree. "It looked like it was done in a way that would not have looked out of place at the time when the Congdons still lived here."
Pederson says it feels like family is home for the holidays.
"You can imagine yourself like the Congdons, next to a fire, hot cocoa, opening presents, being together with family," she said. "It is my favorite time of the year."
Glensheen will be offering Candlelight Christmas Evenings beginning Dec. 26 through the end of the year. Guests will get a chance to see the mansion at night, illuminated only by the glow of 25 Christmas trees inside.