A Pioneer Christmas at the Gibbs Museum

Celebrate a 1800s Minnesota Christmas of Pioneer and Dakotah Life at the Gibbs Museum on Sat., Dec. 7, 10am-2pm! Reservations are required – please call the Gibbs Museum at 651-646-8629.

Visitors will have the opportunity to travel back in time and experience a real Pioneer Christmas, including a bonfire, making corn husk angels, and visiting with the animals in the White Barn. Actors will be portraying friends of the Gibbs family in costumes of the era, and the buildings will be decorated in an authentic manner. Create your own very special Pioneer Christmas memories with your family, memories that will last for decades to come.

Activities include:

• The 2-hour program includes both indoor and outdoor activities, visitors are urged to dress warmly and appropriately for the weather.

• Sod House in 1849. Visit the original “soddy” house that Jane and Heman Gibbs first lived in, and discover how Christmas was celebrated during their first winters on the Minnesota prairie.

• Main House, Original Room in 1859. Celebrate Christmas in the one original room that the whole Gibbs family lived in.

• Parlor, Main House in 1869. As the family grew, so did the house. See how the Gibbs created Christmas in their new Victorian-era parlor with a re-enactor portraying Mary Lake, a teacher who lived with the family.

• Main House Kitchen in 1879. Actors in period costumes will be preparing authentic holiday foods of the times, portraying carefully researched real-life characters, friends of the Gibbs family.

• White Barn. Visit the animals, and see a sleigh from the era, that families used to get around in the snow.

• One Room Schoolhouse. Make a corn husk angel like the one on the Gibbs family tree to take home and decorate your own tree.

• Dakota Village. Enjoy a roaring bonfire and hot chocolate with marshmallows in the Dakota Village, a reproduction of how Jane’s Dakota friends lived during the time.

• Gift Shop. The Gift Shop will be open with great gifts, old-time style toys and games, and ornaments.

Tickets are $10 adults, $9 for seniors, and $7 for children. Ramsey County Historical Society members receive a 10% discount off of ticket prices. Reservations are timed so that small groups can experience the intimate family atmosphere, please reserve for a specific time

The Gibbs Museum of Pioneer & Dakotah Life is located on the corner of Larpenteur and Cleveland Aves in Falcon Heights. Our free parking lot for museum guests is located on Cleveland Avenue just north of the intersection of Larpenteur and Cleveland Avenues.