Each January, Historic Kenmore presents Twelfth Night at Kenmore, a dramatic theater presentation that imagines the first Christmas that Fielding and Betty Washington Lewis spent in their newly built home. The play is set in January 1776 and that year is not a time for the usual celebration. War brings fear, doubt, and frustration to the Lewis family and their friends.
The 2017 edition of Twelfth Night at Kenmore took place this past weekend. Here are a few photos from that performance.
Historic Kenmore in the snow on Saturday night.
Betty Washington Lewis (Barbara Cochran) welcomes her Twelfth Night guests and toasts the season while stepson John Lewis (Michael Taylor) looks on with a smile.
Lucy Thorton Lewis (left-Sarah Hall) persuades Nancy Alexander Lewis (right-Corinn Keene), who is worried about the war, to rejoin the party.
The Lewis Family sings a carol in the Dining Room.
Betty, Lucy, and Nancy talk in the Dining Room.
Fredericksburg merchant Henry Mitchell (left-Preston Simms) laments to Pompy (right-Marcus Salley) about how his neighbors whisper about Mitchell’s alleged loyalty to the crown.
Rachel (left-Gladys Perkins) argues with Hetty (right-Ashleé James) about the future that war might bring for the enslaved community and if that future will include freedom.
On Friday, January 6, Saturday, January 7, and Sunday, January 8, Historic Kenmore will again present Twelfth Night at Kenmore, a dramatic theater presentation set in January 1776. It is the first Christmas that Fielding and Betty Washington Lewis celebrate in their newly built home. It is not the usual celebration, however. War brings fear, doubt, and frustration to the Lewis family and their friends. Immerse yourself in the experience the candlelight, music, and decorations of an eighteenth-century Christmas!
Performance times: 3:30 p.m., 4:15 p.m., 5:15 p.m., and 6:00 p.m.
Reservations required. Call 540-370-0732 x24 or email hayes@gwffoundation.org Cost: $12.00 adults, $6.00 ages 3-17; free ages 3 and under.
Here is a collection of photos from the last performance way back in January.
The Lewis family and guests sing “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”
Betty Washington Lewis (L-Barbara Cochran) and Nancy Alexander Lewis (R-Corinn Keene) determine to smile through the troubles of war.
George Weedon explains to Captain Richard Taylor (Sam Fulton) why horse racing ought to be banned during the war.
George Weedon (L-Rae Ehlen) and Fielding Lewis (R-John Hollinger) lament the burning of Norfolk and Dunmore’s Proclamation.
Captain Taylor, John Lewis (Mike Taylor), and George Lewis play cards.
Rachel (Gladys Perkins), enslaved cook, and Hetty (Ashlee James), enslaved washerwoman and house servant, ponder the future.
Rachel ponders the future that war might bring for the enslaved community and if that future will include freedom.
The George Washington Foundation wishes everyone a joyous holiday season! Enjoy these photos of holiday decorations created by wonderful volunteers! The George Washington Foundation Garden Guild decorated at Historic Kenmore and the Lake Anna Garden Club decorated at George Washington’s Ferry Farm.
Next week, there will still be time to see Kenmore and Ferry Farm adorned for the season as well as each site’s annual display of dollhouses, miniatures, and gingerbread creations. For details about these exhibits and our holiday hours, visit kenmore.org/events.
During the holidays, it’s the curatorial team’s job to festoon Historic Kenmore in period-appropriate holiday swag to celebrate the Christmas season. Greenery is brought in to cheer up the rooms and a table of special desserts is laid out as if ready for Christmas guests. These sweet treats are a pretty traditional fare but one particular dessert garners far more attention and questions than the others: the hedgehog sitting at the center of the table.
The Christmas dessert table complete with faux marzipan hedgehog in the Passage at Historic Kenmore.
“What is it?” and “Why a hedgehog?” are heard from visitors again and again. I decided to investigate to see if I could find out how and why this spiny confection graced Betty Lewis’s table during the holidays. Unfortunately, my research raised more questions than answers and ultimately lead me to an interesting but ambiguous conclusion based mainly on my own conjecture.
First, I have often heard the hedgehog referred to as a “cake” but it is not a cake. It is made out of marzipan; a sweet created using sugar or honey and ground almonds. Marzipan can be flavored, contain fruit and nuts, or even covered in chocolate …the possibilities are endless! It is often shaped into miniature fruits, vegetables, or animals and colored with dyes. The confection is usually eaten on special days or for special events.
A closer view of the faux marzipan hedgehog.
No one knows for sure where marzipan was first created but it likely originated in the Middle East around the ninth-century.[1] It made its way to Europe through trade and immigration. Each country personalized the candy by adding its own unique ingredients and traditions.
Regardless of which country has the honor of creating this particular delicious dessert, it became quite popular. Recipes for marzipan began to show up in various cookbooks dating from the sixteenth century onward. The two books most important to my investigation were The Compleat Housewife or, Accomplished Gentlewoman’s Companion by Eliza Smith published in 1727 and Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy published in 1747. We know Betty owned both of these books because they are listed in the 1781 probate inventory. [2]
In Mrs. Smith’s The Compleat Housewife, the chapter “All Sorts of Cakes” includes a recipe for ‘march-pane’ which is an old English word for marzipan.[3] The recipe is a traditional non-baked marzipan that includes ground almond, refined sugar and orange-flower water for flavoring. [4] Twenty years after Mrs. Smith published her book, Mrs. Glasse published The Art of Cookery and, by this time, the hedgehog had made its debut. The Art of Cookery does not list marzipan specifically but in chapter sixteen titled “Cheesecakes, creams, jellies, whipt syllabubs” there is a recipe “To make a hedge-hog”.[5] This is a cooked marzipan recipe that instructs the baker to form the almond paste into the shape of a hedge-hog with little slivered almond spines.
How did the hedgehog become associated with this almond dessert? The short answer is I’m not sure. I researched hedgehogs trying to discover any relation to the holiday season, to winter, or to the New Year. I was unable to find any.
Hedgehogs are native to England, where both cookbooks were published, but not to the Americas.[6] Colonial Americans would likely never have seen a hedgehog. There is not a lot of positive symbolism or folklore associated with the little creatures besides being industrious and cute.[7] They have been used medicinally for a variety of ailments and were a food source in many cultures.[8] None of this provides a reason why these little creatures were immortalized in almond meal and sugar at Christmas.
A photo of a real hedgehog because it’s so cute! Credit: Wikimedia/AlmaGz
I think the most likely development of this holiday treat was a combination of coincidence and novelty. Someone made the marzipan for the holidays,shaped it into a dome, and then decorated it with almonds. Eventually maybe someone else thought this resembled a hedgehog and added a little hedgehog face because it was clever and cute.
Why would Betty choose a marzipan hedgehog to sit on her holiday dessert table in colonial Virginia? As previously noted, marzipan was an established treat used to celebrate special days. The cost of the ingredients, which included two pounds of almonds, orange-flower water, canary wine, cream, butter and sugar, was substantial and illustrated to guests the effort and expense the family lavished on the party. While the table would probably have smaller bite-sized marzipan pieces in the more traditional fruit shapes, the novel hedgehog with the slivered almond spines created a visually appealing and attention-grabbing dish. The Christmas hedgehog was a great conversation starter then! The Christmas hedgehog is a great conversation starter now!
Heather Baldus
Collections Manager
[1] Habeeb Salloum, Muna Salloum, and Leila Salloum, Sweet Delights from A Thousand and One Nights: The Story of Traditional Arab Sweets, (London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2013), 168: Sidney W. Mintz, “Color, Taste and Purity: Some Speculations on the Meanings of Marzipan”, Etnofoor, Jaarg. 4, Nr.1 (1991): 103-108.
[3] Thomas Dawson, The Good Huswifes Jewell (London: John Wolfe, 1587), 23; Thomas Dawson, The good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin. (London: Richard Jones, 1594), 37b.
[4] Eliza Smith, The Compleat Housewife or, Accomplished Gentlewoman’s Companion, (Williamsburg: William Parks, 1742), 73.
[5] Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy (London: A. Millar and R. Tonson, 1765), 288.
[6] Mazin B. Qumsiyeh, Mammals of the Holy Land (Texas: Texas Tech University Press, 1996), 63.
[7] Jacqueline Simpson and Stephen Roud, A Dictionary of English Folklore (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000); Tatjana Civjan and Dainius Razauskas, “Hedgehog in Cosmogonic and Etiological Legends of the Balto-Balcanic Area,” Tautosakos darbai, no. XXI (2004): 79-91.
[8] Mazin B. Qumsiyeh, Mammals of the Holy Land (Texas: Texas Tech University Press, 1996), 64; Vincent Nijman and Daniel Bergin, “Trade in Hedgehogs in Morocco,” Journal of Threatened Taxa, (2015): 7132-7136.
Visit Kenmore this holiday season for an exhibit of highly detailed, replica dollhouses – including the mansion – and miniatures in the Crowninshield Museum Building. Share memories of your dollhouse with your family as you explore life in miniature! Put your mind and eye to the test with our “I Spy Miniatures” challenge – fun for young and old alike!
Kenmore’s hours are Monday – Saturday from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Sunday from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Kenmore is closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Exhibit ends on December 30. Admission to Kenmore and exhibit is $10 adults, $5 students, under 6 free while admission to the dollhouse exhibit only is $5 adults, $2.50 students, under 6 free.
“Tattersall Hall” – Sabrina Hundley
Wreath on a window of Tattersall Hall
Tree through the window of Tattersall Hall
Inside Tattersall Hall
Dining Room in Tattersall Hall
“Castle” – Julie Silvester
“The Warrenton House” – James Opher
Inside the Warrenton House
“Monticello” – James Opher
“The Wedding Cake House” – James Opher
“Ichabod Washburn House” – Peggy Severson
Inside the Ichabod Washburn House
“My Teenage Bedroom Wall of the 1960s” – Peggy Severson
“Givens General Store & Bakery” – Paul Limerick
“Spring Time” – James Opher
“The Thronhill” – James Opher
“A&W Soda Shop” – James Opher
“Firehouse” – Julie Silvester
“Backyard Art Studio” – Joanna Borgman
Inside the backyard art studio
“Mary Poppins” – Katherine Opdycke
“1211 Prince Edward Street” – Allen Green III
“Library” – Julie Silvester
“Attic” – Joanna Borgman
“Flutterby Bakery” – Joanna Borgman
“Bamboo Nativity” from Taiwan – Anna Jennings
“Wooden Nativity” from Tanzania – Anna Jennings
“British Soldiers” – Anna Jennings
“Painted Metal Nativity” from Mexico – Anna Jennings
It’s the 30th year of a a long-standing holiday tradition: the Gingerbread Contest & Exhibit at George Washington’s Ferry Farm! This year’s theme is “Home for the Holidays.” Read about Thirty Years of Gingerbread.
Adults and children alike will enjoy the sights and smells of the festive creations displayed at Ferry Farm! Ferry Farm’s hours are Monday – Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Sunday from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Ferry Farm is closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The gingerbread exhibit ends on December 30. General admission to Ferry Farm and the exhibit is $8 adults, $4 students, under 6 free while admission to the exhibit only is $4 adults, $2 students, under 6 free.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, colonial Virginians decorated their homes for Christmas with all manner of evergreens. This greenery – holly, ivy, mistletoe, and more – were seen as symbols of everlasting life. Each year at Historic Kenmore, we also decorate the house with greenery in this tradition.
Greenery along the banister in the Passage at Kenmore.
A replica Westerwald jug containing holiday greenery inside Kenmore.
Mistletoe actually adorns Kenmore year round. The elaborate plaster ceiling in the drawing room depicts the four seasons and mistletoe is used to represent winter. The mistletoe depicted, however, is not American mistletoe; the craftsman based this part of the ceiling on European mistletoe instead. This makes sense given that the artist was probably European. Having never seen American mistletoe, he would not know how to sculpt it.
Mistletoe depicted in the ornate plaster ceiling of Kenmore’s drawing room.
Regardless of whether American or European, how did mistletoe come to symbolize winter and hang in homes during the holiday season? How did these green branches with white berries become associated with the hope of a little fun and (possible) future romances? What is it about mistletoe that brings so much joy to the seasons’ festivities?
Mistletoe (Phoradendron leucarpum) grows in the southern United States and is native to much of North America. It has more berries and shorter, broader leaves than English mistletoe (Viscum album). Like English mistletoe, the American plant is a semi-parasite; it digs its “roots” in the host tree and sucks sap and water from the tree, but it manufactures its own chlorophyll. Mistletoe often grows in the tallest branches of the tree, making it very hard to harvest.
American Mistletoe (Phoradendron leucarpum) by Mary E. Eaton in “Our State Flowers: The Floral Emblems Chosen by the Commonwealths”, The National Geographic Magazine, XXXI (June 1917), p. 514. Credit: Wikipedia.
Mistletoe in a tree. Credit: Feťour/Wikipedia.
The word “mistletoe” likely came from one of two sources. Its origins may be from the Anglo-Saxon “misteltan;” “mistl” meaning different and “tan” meaning twig. Mistletoe is a very “different twig” indeed because of how and where it grows – something that would not have escaped the notice of the Anglo-Saxons. The word’s other possible origin also translates “tan” as twig, but renders “mistel” as dung; making “mistletoe” “dung twig.” This may have been because bird droppings contained the seeds that helped spread the plants to other trees.
Imaginative illustration of ‘An Arch Druid in His Judicial Habit’ from The Costume of the Original Inhabitants of the British Islands by S.R. Meyrick and C.H. Smith (1815) Credit: Wikipedia.
Druids, who served as priests and the learned class for the ancient Celts, valued mistletoe almost as much as they valued oak trees. These men (there is little evidence that there were women druids) climbed to the top of mistletoe-laden trees and harvested the sacred plant with a golden sickle. Those on the ground were careful to catch the plant as it fell because they believed the mistletoe would lose all of its power if it hit the ground. Druids then used it to cure disease and promote fertility in humans and animals. It may be that the custom of hanging mistletoe stems from a Druidic tradition. Enemies who met under the mistletoe would lay down their arms and greet each other as if friends.
Mistletoe also played a role in Norse mythology and some think that our modern views on mistletoe came from one particular Norse myth. Balder, a god of peace, was the son of Odin, chief of the gods, and the goddess Frigg. Balder began to dream of his own demise and his father traveled to the underworld to learn of his son’s fate.
Baldr’s Death (1817) by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg. Credit: Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts/Wikipedia.
Odin returned and shared the bad news with Balder and the other gods and goddesses. Frigg went to everything in the cosmos and asked it to swear it would not hurt her son. Everything swore loyalty but mistletoe. Loki, the god of mischief, made some mistletoe into an arrow that killed Balder. In the version of the story with a happy ending, Balder was brought back to life and Frigg makes mistletoe a symbol of love and kisses to those who pass under it.
The English origins of kissing under the mistletoe aren’t well known. Historical records indicate that this merriment became popular in England sometime in the 16th century, but we don’t know if it was commonplace before that. English mistletoe etiquette had some hard-and-fast rules: women under the mistletoe were not to refuse kisses; men could only kiss women (or girls) on the cheek; after the kissing transaction, the man removed a berry from the mistletoe ball; after the last berry was plucked, the kissing ended.
The Mistletoe Bough (c. 1790) by Francis Wheatley. Credit: Yale Center for British Art/Wikipedia
Harvesting mistletoe is a challenge, but 18th century Virginians came up with an ingenious way to quickly and easily gather the plant. Instead of climbing up into the tree’s canopy, Virginian men shot the mistletoe out of the tree. They then took the good sprigs home, fashioned them into mistletoe balls, and enjoyed the merriment of the season. This tradition harvesting mistletoe through gunfire still continues today all over the American south.
Ancient Druids. Mythical Norse gods. 18th century Virginians. Over the centuries, these people, whether real or imagined, contributed to the myths and traditions that have made mistletoe a symbol of winter, friendship, and love. When you share a kiss with someone special under the mistletoe this season, you might want to take a moment to share mistletoe’s long history with that someone too.
Kelly Brennan Arehart
Manager of Interpretation and Visitor Services
