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HES invites public to Christmas tour
11.29 echoes
The Seckinger-Bridgers House is decorated for the holidays. The Historic Effingham Society will have its third annual Christmas tour Saturday from 4-8 p.m. - photo by Photo submitted

Historic Effingham Society is cordially inviting you to attend its Effingham Museum and Living History Site Christmas Tour on Saturday from 4-8 p.m. This is being done in conjunction with Christmas in Effingham. The Effingham Museum is at 1002 N. Pine St. in Springfield just north of the courthouses.  

This is the third annual Christmas Tour. You can see the Seckinger-Bridgers House decorated in the typical farmhouse style of the 1900s. In addition, the Living History Site will be open where you can see the meat in the smokehouse and hear about “back in the day” and all the farm activities that went on for the holidays. The Camp Davis Sons of the Confederate Veterans chapter will have an encampment. They will be in uniform sitting around the fire sharing Civil War tales.  

Our carpenter who restored the buildings, Eddie Browning, and his wife Judy are preparing homemade vegetable soup.  Our kitchen assistants will be frying cornbread to serve with the soup. We will also have hot drinks and cookies to share.  This is a rich experience and we hope that you will bring your family to visit and taste our food during the evening.

While on site, our HES Gift Shop has much to offer you for your shopping for the holidays. We are featuring a 20 percent off sale on all of our books (except Tasty Traditions, our cookbook) until Dec. 31. The books that will make excellent gifts include: “River to River, the History of Effingham County”; our cemetery book; “Images of America”; “Those Gallant Georgians”; “John Adam Treutlen”; and “War Stories for Children” by B. M. Zettler.  

Our newest book, “Tasty Traditions,” our cookbook, features old recipes with a heritage section including a photo, brief biography and hand written recipe of 51 of Effingham’s older cooks. There are lots of new and interesting recipes along with old remedies and recipes that will be great to look at and recall the past.

Each year we add an ornament to our Barlow series of ornaments. This year the Seckinger-Bridgers House joins our Courthouse, Old Jail, Jerusalem Lutheran Church, R. B. Mallory’s Store and Mingledorff and Bird Store. We offer maps, note cards and art prints of Phillip Saraf. You will find T-shirts and something for almost everyone. The Gift Shop is also open during regular hours Monday through Friday from 9 a.m-1 p.m. and Sunday from 2-5 pm.

Historic Effingham Society has worked hard to preserve the old way of life of our county’s settlers. In this fast growing county, please take time to see where we came from and share a little bit of yesterday during the Christmas in Effingham event at the courthouse by touring our site on Dec. 1. You will be glad you came.

This article was written by Susan Exley of Historic Effingham Society. If you have photos, comments or information to share contact her at 754-6681 or email: susanexley@historiceffinghamsociety.org