Strawbery Banke Museum

A reminder that it pays to be a Strawbery Banke member year-round. Members receive first access to register for summer camps. Spots are going fast, with many camps already at capacity. Join (or renew) today before registration opens to the public to secure your child's spot and ensure summer memories. For more information on summer camps and membership, visit Strawberybanke.org/summer-camps

On this Strawbery Banke lifts a cup of hot cocoa to toast Dunkin’ for being the Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond Community Skate Partner! Through their generous donation, Dunkin’ has made it possible for people to skate for free on Saturday mornings, regardless of their ability to pay.

Interested in a Museum career? Strawbery Banke just posted Summer 2024 Internships today! Interns assist professional staff, interact with the public, conduct research, provide administrative support, and learn about how Strawbery Banke endeavors to bring history to life for the Museum's more than 100,000 annual visitors. To learn more and apply, visit StrawberyBanke.org/internships

Have you sent out any New Year’s Eve party invitations? For Congregationalists in the 18th and early 19th centuries, New Year’s was winter’s biggest celebration. Parties, dinners, and balls dominated social life for many during this time, alongside visits to relatives on New Year’s Day. These carefully recreated invitations give a taste of the excitement associated with New Year’s parties.

Tomorrow at 7 PM! Free and open to the public. Watch Ice Dance International in-person rinkside at Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond or online via livestream we**am.

Party on Ice!
Free shows!
-December 29 at 7pm at
-December 31 at 3:30 and 5:30 at
-watch the free live stream Friday the 29th at 7ET

During Candlelight Stroll this month, David J. Murray from ClearEyePhoto.com worked with museum staff to document allll the details, from drone footage of the lights and visitors, to interactions with role players, to the details of the decor created by the Landscape Horticulture department and volunteers. Here David is working with Marketing Director Veronica Lester to capture the decoration in the lovely formal parlor of the Chase House.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, streams of immigrants arrived in New England and in the Puddle Dock neighborhood. Coming from many different regions of Eastern, Western, Northern, and Southern Europe, each immigrant group brought with it cultural traditions, religious observances, and holiday traditions still popular today such as cookie-baking, decorating Christmas trees, many songs, parades, and various traditions of gift-giving came from Germany, Italy, Ireland, and other immigrant homelands.

No matter how you celebrate, Strawbery Banke wishes you and your family the very best on this Christmas Day!

Join Ice Dance International at Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond on Friday, December 29th for a FREE Performance: House Rave Dance Party on Ice from 7 to 7:25 PM!

Join us on FRIDAY DECEMBER 29 at 7pm at Strawbery Banke Museum's Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond for our FREE House Rave Dance Party on Ice with Fire Skater Themi Leftheris, 2 x US Champion Alissa Starr Czisny, Karina Manta,Joe Johnson, Liz Yoshiko Schmidt and Alex Johnson. Follow the show with public skating and join us at The Lodge at Spruce Peak Stowe, VT for New Year's Eve shows at 3:30 and 5:30.

What is your favorite winter pastime? In 18th-century homes like the Wheelwright House, the cold prevented agriculture and maritime labor, leaving more time for socializing and entertainment. Days ended early, providing long evenings to pass with storytelling, music, singing, eating, dancing, and other festive pastimes such as sleighing parties.

Since the company‘s founding, community involvement has been integral to D.F. Richard. Whether it‘s all in a day‘s work, or through one of their many financial sponsorships, D.F. Richard recognizes that it‘s all about being there for others. And Strawbery Banke is so very thankful to be one of those community partners that is supported by their generosity.

Exciting news in the ongoing work at Strawbery Banke Museum's ca. 1695 Sherburne House... today staff picked up a complete set of new reproduction windows made by Jim Nutting at Maine Art Glass Studio in Lisbon Falls, ME. It has been fantastic to work with Jim, who took great interest and care in this project.
The windows are a result of years of research, and the size, shape, color, and type of glass and window leads have been informed by archaeological evidence from the Sherburne House. All the windows made the trip safely from Maine back to the museum's carpenter shop, where they will be secured in their new frames and installed in the weeks ahead.

Thanks, Rink Services Group! See you at Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond on Thursday. ⛸️

Cheers to the crew from Rink Services Group who spent the night flooding the rink to restore the ice after Monday’s storm damage. Open Thursday for skating, see you then!

Still need to do holiday shopping? A reminder that Strawbery Banke members enjoy exclusive benefits year-round such as discounts to programs, special events, and ice-skating admission to Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond! For more information and to choose a membership level that's right for you or gifting, visit StrawberyBanke.org/membership

Get ready to have a blast — Strawbery Banke summer camps have been announced for 2024! Enjoy hands-on, interactive experiences, where investigating and exploring history, science, sports, art, theater, and cooking leads to fun-packed days at the Museum’s nearly 10-acre site. Mark your calendars! Member registration begins on January 8. Nonmember registration begins on January 15. Summer camps are extremely popular and fill early. Learn more via StrawberyBanke.org/summer-camps

What might you give as a holiday gift if you lived in the 1700s? Families living in the Puddle Dock neighborhood had more to choose from because goods from all over the world sailed into Portsmouth Harbor and into the tidal inlet that’s now Strawbery Banke Museum. Typical gifts for New Year’s Day in the late 1700s included accessories like gloves, sweets like barley sugar candy, and spices such as cinnamon and candied ginger.

Join Strawbery Banke Museum and Ice Dance International TONIGHT at 6 PM for a Holiday Dance Party on Ice! Watch FREE in person at Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond or via livestream we**am via the link below, which is courtesy of PortsmouthWebcam.com.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C50G2g0TA-w

Among the 41,300 artifacts recovered from the Penhallow House archaeological excavations, there are various personal belongings dating to the early 20th century, when the Cousins family lived in the apartment at 91 Washington Street. Some of these include items that may have been found on Eleanor Cousins' dresser: a perfume bottle, a hairbrush, a vanity set handle, a comb, and a jar of Vaseline!

Although Portsmouth was not legally segregated in the early 20th century, according to oral histories, Black men and women had difficulty finding barber shops and beauty parlors who would accept them as clients. Eleanor may have been able to visit Rosary Cooper's beauty parlor, located in her home down the street at 171 Washington. These belongings, along with the establishment of Black beauty parlors and barber shops, represent the importance of Black women reclaiming Black beauty culture.

The first FREE pop-up performance by Ice Dance International is this Thursday from 6-6:25 PM at Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond. Watch Ryan Bradley, US Champion; Alissa Czisny, two-time US Champion; Kseniya Ponomaryova, US Open Champion; Collin Brubaker, US Open Champion; Lexis Verhuist, and Angela Wang perform a "Holiday Dance Party on Ice!" Thanks, Seacoastonline.com!

Ice Dance International offering free shows at Strawbery Banke Museum rink in Portsmouth Ice Dance International is planning multiple performances in December at the skating rink on the grounds of Strawbery Banke Museum.

In the summer of 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a bill that declared Christmas a federal holiday. While the bill technically just granted an official unpaid holiday to federal workers in Washington D.C., it signified a cultural attempt to build a sense of unity through shared Christmas traditions. Traditions like sending Christmas cards and decorating Christmas trees became popular during this time. You can see the Goodwin family’s 1870 Christmas decorations at Candlelight Stroll! Tickets are still available for tonight, December 8, and December 10, 15, and 17!

Click the link below to buy online (tickets are available at the door until the event is at full capacity). StrawberyBanke.org/candlelight-stroll

Proulx Oil and Propane has not only been a longstanding supporter of the Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond, but they have touched so many lives by supporting communities and non-profit organizations throughout the greater seacoast area and beyond. It is with great appreciation that Strawbery Banke dedicates this to Proulx Oil and Propane!

Take home or gift a piece of Candlelight Stroll and vintage holiday magic! These lovely posey ornaments are made with love by Landscape Horticulture Department staff and volunteers and are pre-wired and ready to hang. Stop by the admission desk when visiting for Candlelight Stroll or skating at Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond to purchase while supplies last!

Two more weekends to catch performances of Ice Dance International's Currier & Ives Vintage Christmas Skaters at Candlelight Stroll (weather permitting)! StrawberyBanke.org/candlelight-stroll

𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑮𝒊𝒇𝒕 𝑰𝒅𝒆𝒂! Join Strawbery Banke for a Heart Basket Making Workshop on Saturday, February 10, 2024, from 1-4:30 PM. Learn the traditional craft of basket-making from knowledgeable instructors. In this beginner-friendly class, participants learn about tools and materials, work with instructors to acquire skills and make a heart-shaped basket to take home. The Heart Basket-Weaving class costs $65 per person. Members save $10 on registration fees! For more information and to register, visit StrawberyBanke.org/adult-education.

Join Ice Dance International for Community Skating Classes at Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond on December 6, 13, & 20!

Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond Strawbery Banke Museum Candlelight Stroll IDI Community Classes

A little rain will not damper the magic of Candlelight Stroll! Get rain gear and umbrellas ready to time travel through the Puddle Dock neighborhood, receive warm welcomes from its residents, sip hot apple cider in the Cider Shed, and enjoy the glow of the punched tin lanterns and hundreds of window candles and lanterns throughout the Museum. See you soon! StrawberyBanke.org/candlelight-stroll

Looking for the perfect holiday gift? Give the gift of membership to Strawbery Banke, where history comes to life! Members enjoy:

• 𝐔𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 to tour the historic houses and landscapes from May 1 through October 31
• Access to 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬-𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
• 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 such as Candlelight Stroll, Baby Animals: Heritage Breeds at the Banke, and Ghosts on the Banke, special programs, and admission tickets to Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond
• Invitations to 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

Learn more and join via StrawberyBanke.org/membership