11/27/2025
Join us at Hamilton Hall on Sunday, December 7th for historic holiday lectures with historians Ken Turino and Jim McAllister! Admission is included with your Christmas in Salem ticket. 💌
Ken Turino, “Deck the Halls: the Making of an American Christmas”
12:00 pm and 1:00 pm 🎄
→ Join a festive journey into the history of Christmas in America, specially tailored for Salem’s "Boughs and Blooms". This illustrated presentation will trace the holiday’s evolution from its sparse, outlawed beginnings in 17th-century New England to the establishment of our most cherished traditions. With a special focus on the decorative use of greenery, we will explore how the Christmas tree—both real and artificial, along with holly, wreaths, and the poinsettia, became central to our celebrations. The lecture will also highlight the surprising role of local female abolitionists, whose Christmas fairs helped popularize these very customs of decking the halls, transforming Christmas into the season of beauty and generosity we know today.
Jim McAllister, "From Roast Meat Hill to Buffum’s Corner"
2:00 pm and 3:00 pm 🏛
→ Drawing heavily on information found in a little-known, privately-printed memoir (1906), Jim paints a picture of our tour neighborhood as it was in the mid-19th century. Former residents - some famous, some colorful - are brought back to life, as are no longer extant public and private schools, businesses (including a slaughterhouse) , and notable homes. Jim also revives long-forgotten neighborhood nicknames and street names, including Vinegar Hill, Circus Lane, Mullet Court and Piggy Neal, and recalls popular recreational pastimes of the era.
Hope to see you there! 🌟🕯️❤️
