We had such a wonderful time with our visitors on Holly Nights this year!!  The rain gave us a 5-hour window to enjoy our Friday night, and we were so excited to see so many visitors come out.  This has been a long-standing tradition at Pennsbury Manor for at least 30 years, and both evenings turned out to be beautiful and full of holiday spirit.

We wanted to share some awesome photos of this year’s event:

  Putting up the decorations!

 Volunteers help offer demonstrations every year, including this fan-favorite – Pomander Balls are made by sticking oranges
with cloves and rolling them in a mixture of cinnamin, nutmeg, and other spices

 Cooking over the open-hearth for visitors – looks delicious!

 Candlelight makes the 17th-century manor house come alive.

William Penn defeats the notorious pirate Captain Kidd in our classic 17th-century Mummer’s Play!

Our awesome blacksmiths working in the warmest spot on site – lucky guys, but try doing this on a hot August afternoon!

Thank you so much to everyone who came out for Holly Nights!  We had between 80 and 120 volunteers participating each night
(not including all our amazing performers!), so we owe all our success to their dedication and joyful holiday spirit.

Have a wonderful holiday season and we look forward to blogging with you in the New Year!

By Hannah Howard

Photographs courtesy of Tabitha Dardes, PR, and Joseph Long, volunteer