Victorian Christmas at Hardman Farm

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Hardman Farm State Historic Site

Horse-drawn wagon rides, traditional Christmas decorations and homemade sorghum Christmas cookies beckon visitors to a Victorian Christmas at Hardman Farm State Historic Site. 0n Friday and Saturday nights, Dec. 6th and 7th, 13th and 14th and 20th and 21st from 4 to 7pm, Hardman Farm’s Victorian Christmas is a step back in time to Christmas in 1877.

Visitors will feel as though they have been transported into the midst of a Christmas party hosted by the home’s first owners, the Nichols family, at “West-End”, as Hardman Farm was first named due to its location at the west end of the Nacoochee Valley. Reenactors in period style clothing portray Captain Nichols and his wife Kate, daughter Anna Ruby (namesake of Anna Ruby Falls just north of Helen), mother-in-law Augusta Latimer and a host of friends who have come to the party. Guests walk through the mansion and interact with reenactors who explain various Victorian Christmas traditions. Local guest musicians fill the mansion with the sounds of Christmas each evening. This year’s musical line-up features everything from a harpist to a children's string duo to pianists who play the 1830’s square baby grand piano.

The smell of fresh-baked cookies lures visitors from the mansion to the historic kitchen located just off the back of the house. Bakers prepare batches of homemade sorghum ginger cookies each night, made with sorghum grown, pressed and bottled at Hardman Farm. They are a true Christmas treat!

Santa awaits guests in the farm’s carriage house just a few yards from the kitchen and visitors can also take a horse-drawn wagon ride down the historic Unicoi turnpike, once part of a Native American trading route. Outside the visitors center, guests can gather around the fire-pit for smore’s or meander inside the visitors center to shop for holiday gifts from local artists and crafters.