Victorian Christmas

Wednesday
Today we drove for about 3 hours across to Cambridge in eastern Ohio, to see their “Dickens Victorian Christmas” event, a form of seasonal art installation, displaying mannequins, sculpted and painted by local artisans, dressed in authentic vintage clothing and placed on benches, next to lampposts and in windows of businesses along the Main Street. Figures from all walks of life are depicted, from carolers, ladies taking tea, the town crier, the lamp lighter, street sellers, etc. The project has been going since 2006, and was the brainchild of local businessman and artist Bob Ley, who envisioned the concept, created sketches of each scene, and organized the beginnings of the Dickens Victorian Village committee. We arrived early afternoon, and went to a local eatery for some lunch, before walking the length of town, looking at all the different groupings, of which my collage shows just a small selection, and reading the various captions that accompanied them. It was a sunny but slightly cool afternoon. Several people saw me taking photographs, and would stop and have a chat and welcome us to their town. The building at the bottom of my collage is the impressive Post Office! Late afternoon we went to check in at our hotel for the night, and had a cup of tea. As it was growing dark, we went out again, to see the amazing light display, set to music, set against the beautiful County courthouse, dating from 1888, and designed in the popular “Second Empire” style. It runs from 5.30 till 9.30, and each “show” runs for an hour. (See extra collage). On the weekends they have extra attractions such as trolley rides and other things, but we wanted to make the most of these last few days of mild sunny weather, before rain moves in on Friday, followed by colder temperatures. Also this coming week is Thanksgiving, which we will be spending down in Atlanta with Jen and Jason, and Laura will join us too. After that it will be time to get the house decorated and things start getting busy! So we thought we’d fit it in early!
Step count: 6,370