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Eisenhower house open for holidays
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The Eisenhower house, decorated as the president and first lady did for the holidays, will be open during December.
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If you've ever wanted to check out how former President Dwight Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie, decorated their home and farm at Christmas, the National Park Service is giving you a chance this month.
The home, formally called the Eisenhower National Historic Site, will be decorated for Christmas for December, looking the way it did when Mrs. Eisenhower did the decorations herself in the mid-1950s. The house and farm, just outside Gettysburg, are where the president and Mrs. Eisenhower went to escape the pressures of Washington from 1953-60 when he was in the White House.
Their house will be open daily through Dec. 31, except Christmas Day, with a holiday reception to be held on Saturday. The house is reachable by catching a shuttle bus from the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center on Baltimore Pike.
Buses will leave the visitors center at 10 and 11:30 a.m., 2 and 3:30 p.m. Admission is $7.50 for adults and $5 for youths 6 to 12. Children under 5 are free. Reservations, especially for groups, are urged by calling 1-877-874-2478.
For the Dec. 8 reception, shuttle buses will leave the visitors center on the hour between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
In a news release, the Park Service said Mrs. Eisenhower "loved to decorate their home for Christmas, complete with mistletoe, wreaths and poinsettias." There will also be a Christmas tree with lights and candy canes and a life-sized Santa Claus on the porch. There will also be gift prints of President Eisenhower's paintings, along with specially designed White House Christmas cards. Park officials will be on hand to give information about the Eisenhower family.
For details: 1-717-338-9114 or go to www.nps.gov/eise
First Published December 2, 2012 12:00 am
