This year’s annual Woodrow Wilson Birthday Open House was a big success! More than 873 guests celebrated President Wilson’s birthday all day on Tuesday, December 28 with activities for the entire family, including making Victorian Christmas crackers and exploring the Museum and the Manse with costumed historical interpreters. There were children’s activities, period music, pizza, birthday cake, coffee, and other refreshments.
This year’s event was the first to include the World War I trench exhibit. As always, President Wilson’s Birthplace was decorated for the holidays in Victorian-era style, and the Woodrow Wilson Museum was open for visitors at no charge. Musician Bill Harouff sang “Christmas in the Trenches,” a song written by John McCutcheon about the Christmas, 1914, unofficial ceasefires on the World War I Western Front. Professional storyteller Susan Clark enchanted children with stories of Christmas past, and musicians Jim Harrington and Buddy Thomas played acoustic period music in the Manse. The Open House was sponsored in part by Shenandoah Pizza, Country Confections, and Mugshots.
Use the links below to see the coverage of the Open House in the press:
Click here for an article on the front page of the News Leader.
Click here for the 17 photos from the News Leader website's photo gallery. The fifth photo was also on the front page of the News Leader.
Click here for the front page story from the News Virginian.
Click here for the story from Channel 29.
Click here for the story from Channel 3.
Click here for the article from the News Leader before the event.





