BIRDSBORO PA – In 18th Century America, “Christmas was a time for celebration, feasting, and frivolity,” historians say. Now members of a local non-profit organization, The Daniel Boone Homestead Associates, invite area residents to follow that 300-year-old tradition.
The Daniel Boone Homestead, 400 Daniel Boone Rd., is the 1734 birthplace of the famous frontiersman. Its annual Christmas holiday celebration, “A Homestead Holiday,” is open to the public and will be held there Dec. 8 (2024, Sunday) from noon to 4 p.m. Admission tickets for the event are available at the site’s welcome center.
Visitors can learn about English and Pennsylvania German holiday celebrations, and listen to the Homestead Carolers. They also can visit with Santa and the Belsnickel, and enjoy Christmas crafts and activities. Throughout the historic area visitors will tour festively decorated buildings, and discover different Christmas traditions of families who lived on the property.
Watch Meals Roasting at the Hearth
In the Boone House, volunteers will cook a Christmas meal in the hearth, and discuss English Christmas traditions. Visitors will see English and German parlors festively decorated for the season. At the Bertolet Log House, a Pennsylvania German log cabin, tours will be offered to help understand its unique architectural history.
The carolers are scheduled to sing while wandering across the historic area. Also strolling around during the afternoon is The Haycreek Valley Goldband. Its members are performing old holiday tunes on guitar, banjo, and violin. Children’s activities include a Christmas scavenger hunt through the homestead grounds. After completing the hunt, participants receive a holiday treat bag.
Complimentary hot chocolate and hot wassail will also be available throughout the afternoon.
Keep an eye out for the Belsnickel, who promises to stop by the homestead. The Belsnickel, a part of rural Pennsylvania German Christmas lore, is much different from today’s more well-known and jolly Santa Claus.
Tickets Available at the Welcome Center
Tickets cost $10 for adults, $8 for seniors age 65 and older, $5 for youths ages 6-17, and children younger than 5 are admitted free. Parking is free and available on the grounds. Sorry, but no pets are smoking are allowed.
The Boone House, constructed in three stages, is a 10-room stone structure fully furnished to the period and situated on 579 acres of rolling countryside. The homestead is located between Reading and Pottstown, one mile north of U.S. Route 422 near Baumstown.
The homestead is owned by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Its daily historic operations are handled by the associates. For more information, call the homestead at 610-582-4900.
Photos provided to Travels With The Post by The Daniel Boone Homestead Associates
At Schwenkfelder, Share Knoll Memories in History Project