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  • Performers from Theatre West Virginia, dressed in period clothes, sing Christmas carols on the front porch of Wildwood House Museum in Beckley Sunday afternoon. Chris Tilley

    121011 Wildwood House.jpg
December 10, 2012

Wildwood House hosts old-fashioned Christmas

By Wendy Holdren Register-Herald Reporter

BECKLEY — Beckley’s Wildwood House Museum was visited by hundreds Sunday for the second annual old-fashioned Christmas.

Carolers from Theatre West Virginia sang a variety of Christmas tunes as visitors toured the historic home of Gen. Alfred Beckley, founder of Beckley and Raleigh County.

“It never ceases to amaze us how many people who live here in Beckley haven’t been through our founder’s house,” said Cindy Worley, a Raleigh County Historical Society volunteer.

Worley said the Historical Society, along with the Wildwood House Advisory Council, opens Wildwood throughout the year on special occasions to offer tours, but this is only the second year they have decorated the house for Christmas tours.

One visitor, who was raised just two doors down from the Wildwood House, left the tour with a huge smile.

“It’s gorgeous,” Virginia Smiley said. “It’s the first time I’ve taken the tour at Christmas, and everything was great.”

The museum was open from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday and many people were already lined up waiting to tour the house at 12:30 p.m.

Worley said by 2:30 p.m. more than 200 people had already taken a stroll through the historic house.

Visitors could see classic decorations, miniature quilts, and furniture from the 1800s.

The Wildwood House Museum is on South Kanawha Street, across from Memorial Baptist Church.

Tours are available by appointment at 304-252-3730.

— E-mail: wholdren@register-herald.com

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