Mercahnt's House Museum Announces Upcoming Holiday Events

The Merchant's House Museum is New York City's only family home preserved intact - inside and out - from the mid-19th century.

Home to a prosperous merchant-class family for almost 100 years, it is complete with the family's original furnishings and personal possessions, offering a rare and intimate glimpse of domestic life from 1835-1865.
"The distinction of the Merchant's House and it is a powerful one is that it is the real thing. One simply walks through the beautiful doorway into another time and place in New York."

The New York Times
"Not so much a museum as a raw slice of history" AVENUE Magazine
On the web: www.merchantshouse.org

Exhibition: Christmas Comes to Old New York
Date: Thursday, December 2, through Monday, January 10, 2011
Time: Thursday through Monday, Noon to 5 p.m. (closed Tuesday & Wednesday)
Location: Merchant's House Museum, 29 East Fourth Street (btwn Lafayette & Bowery)
Description: Scenes of holiday preparation recreated throughout the House show how many of our modern holiday customs originated in mid-19th century New York. Included with regular Museum admission: $10, $5 Students & Seniors. Reservations not required.

19th-Century Holiday Party
Date: Tuesday, December 7
Time: 6 to 8 pm
Location: The Merchant's House Museum, 29 East Fourth Street
Description: Enjoy holiday decorations, savor festive delicacies, drink from the 'Bowl of Bishop,' participate in the silent auction and gift bazaar, and join in the caroling.
$25, FREE for MHM Members. Reservations required; call 212-777-1089.

"To All, Wassail": A Concert of 19th-Century Holiday Songs & Stories
Date: Friday, December 10
Time: 7 pm
Location: The Merchant's House Museum, 29 East Fourth Street
Description: The Bond Street Euterpean Singing Society will present a concert of vocal quartets, solos, holiday readings and sing-alongs. A wassail reception to meet the artists will follow. $25, $15 MHM Members. Call 212-777-1089 early, this event sells out.

An Old Fashioned Christmas in New York: Tours by Candlelight
Date: Friday, Saturday & Sunday, December 17, 18 & 19
Time: Tours begin every 20 minutes: Friday 6-9 pm, Saturday & Sunday 4-8 pm
Location: Merchant's House Museum, 29 East Fourth Street (btwn Lafayette & Bowery)
Description: The halls will be decked, the stockings hung with care, and the rooms lit by flickering candlelight as costumed actors relate how tradition of Christmas came to be in mid-19th century New York. $20, $15 Children 12 & Under, $10 MHM Members. Reservations suggested; call 212-777-1089.