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Lippitt Labs | Spotlight on Victorian Women
What was life like for women and children in 19th century Providence? Bring your daughters (and your sons!) to Lippitt Labs at Lippitt House Museum for an engaging glimpse into life in the Victorian age. Learn about the role of women, both at home and in the community, through different stations and activities planned throughout the museum. Providence Comics Consortium’s Walker Mettling and Julia Gualtieri will provide guidance for children to investigate social norms of the era by creating (with cartoons and comics) their own 21st century “etiquette manual.” Along with other activities, techniques of needlepoint will be taught, and kids will learn how Lippitt daughter Mary Lippitt Steedman helped found the local chapter of the American Red Cross in 1916, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year with a traveling exhibit!
Admission: $10 for adults, $5 for students, and free for children under 12 and active military personnel with ID.
About Lippitt Labs: Put your hands on history! The Museum is transformed into a laboratory for exploring the past through activities, demonstrations, discussions, and first-person interpretation. Each month, the activities will revolve around a different them such as education, social rituals, medicine, etiquette or childhood and play. Great for visitors of all ages!
When Harry met Percy: Kids Trivia!
Let your kids put their wizardry skills to the test! Mythology meets magic when you join the fun at our Harry Potter and Percy Jackson kids “pub quiz.” Friend of the Providence Athenaeum, Sally Ryan, has come up with a vast scroll of questions to challenge the most avid Harry and Percy fans. So grab your friends, make up a team and join the fun! Butter Beer and “Nectar of the Gods” will be served.
Please register so the Providence Athenaeum can provide ample refreshments. Contact Lindsay at 401-421-6970 or lshaw@provath.org
Puppetry showcase at the Museum of Work & Culture
From now through December 31st, the Museum of Work & Culture is showcasing an exciting and imaginative exhibit, “The Puppetry of Dan Butterworth” in the changing gallery spaces. The exhibit is a visual landscape of giant puppets, marionettes, shadow puppets, and a puppet theater. For kids and adults who are interested in imaginative creativity, the exhibit also offers a peek into Butterworth’s process and the creation of his puppets. This is a fantastic opportunity to help younger kids understand how creativity comes to life and can lend insight into their own methods and experimentations. Catch this rare showcase of such an inspiring artist!
Open Tuesday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Sunday: 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. Closed on Mondays.
Admission: Adults, $8; students & seniors, $6; Children under 10, free with an adult; RIHS members, free; Groups of 10 or more, $6 per person.
Go behind the scenes of a museum!
- Nov. 30: Find out what wintertime was like during colonial times, and how the museum shuts down for the season.
- Dec. 7 & Dec. 14: Yet to be determined! Check back or visit RIHS’s website.
Evening Lantern Tours
Feel transported through time on a lantern-lit tour of the exquisitely preserved neighborhoods of Newport’s Historic Hill. Hear the history of early American holiday traditions on this evening-time stroll and learn how colonial Newporters celebrated the holidays. These family-friendly tours work for those with little ones in strollers as well as older kids.
Admission: $15 per person. A $25 ticket includes a historic-style hurricane lantern with a flameless candle to use during the tour. Space is limited; call 401-841-8770 for reservations.
Behind the scenes of wintertime
On November 30th, see what it takes to close John Brown’s House each night—and for the wintertime! Learn what winter was like in 18th century New England, and how John Brown and his family would have spent the colder months. Free admission to John Brown House and the Museum of Work & Culture (with pop-up programming, too). In addition, you’ll be able to learn more about the Museum of Work & Culture’s fascinating Mill Project in Woonsocket.
Coming Up: Each week “What Cheer Wednesdays” features a new theme, and these tours are sure to cue curiosity in kids and adults alike!
- Dec. 7 & Dec. 14: Yet to be determined! Check back or visit RIHS’s website.
Turn your Christmas-tree buying exercise into a holiday experience!
Santa Visits Newport on Sundays!
Santa Claus himself will visit each of the extravagantly decorated Newport Mansions, The Breakers, The Elms and Marble House, on Sunday afternoons in December. He’s ready to listen to your children’s wish lists and pose with your child for the memory! Bring the kids and your camera for a great photo op! December 4 – The Breakers; December 11 – Marble House; December 18 – The Elms. Santa’s visit is from 12 p.m. – 3 p.m. on each day. Included in tour admission. Find out more about Christmas at the Newport Mansions, and to purchase tickets visit NewportMansions.org.
Christmas at Newport Mansions
You are invited to make holiday memories in Newport with your family during the Christmas season! Bring children of all ages to The Breakers, The Elms, and Marble House, to see holiday decorations galore, model trains, and thousands of poinsettias, fresh flowers, evergreens, and wreaths. A total of 28 decorated Christmas trees will dot the interiors of the houses, with dining tables set with period silver and china, and windows lit with individual white candles, in keeping with the colonial tradition. The Breakers will feature the iconic 15 foot tall poinsettia tree in the Great Hall. Model trains, recalling the Vanderbilt family’s New York Central Railroad, will be on display in the second floor. On weekends, the trains will be operated by volunteers from the Little Rhody Division of the National Model Railroad Association. At The Elms, the ballroom will be transformed into a Gilded Age streetscape, complete with sleighs, a topiary horse, trees and mannequins dressed in period costumes. At Marble House, for the second year, fireplaces mantels on the second floor have been decorated by regional garden clubs in a friendly competition.
Open daily for tours until January 2, 2017. The Breakers and The Elms open daily at 9 a.m., Marble House opens at 10 a.m. The last tour admission at all three houses is at 4 p.m., and the houses & grounds close at 5 p.m. To purchase tickets, click here. On Sundays, in December, you can catch Santa at one of the mansions!
Christmas at Blithewold Mansion
Looking for some indoor activities for your young ones? The winter season exhibition, “Touring the Americas: 50 Years of Van Wickle Family Excursions,” at Blithewold Mansion will take you and your family on a journey with the Van Wickle Family, the former owners who occupied the house in the 1900s. Through an extensive amount of photographs and artifacts from the family’s travels, you can explore the mansion this holiday to experience some of the Van Wickle’s favorite destinations, while also ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the holiday wonderland of the decorated house itself.
Blithewold will be open through January 1st. The mansion is open for touring Tuesday through Sunday 11 am – 5 pm, closing later on Thursday and Friday at 8 pm. Family (2 adults + 2 kids), $26; Adult, $12; Senior, $11; Full-time student, $10; Military, $10; Youth 6 – 17, $4
Enhance your visit to the mansion by attending the Music in the Living Room Series (Dec. 15 & Dec. 29) with new performances each week. On Friday nights, join for Sparkle! a marshmallow-roasting-Christmas-carol-singing-cocoa-sipping-strolling-through-the-twinkling-garden-paths and fun-for-the-whole-family event, with a new performance around the bonfire each week.