Holidays at Mount Vernon Mount Vernon, Va. , through Jan. 6 Christmas 1783 is re-created at George Washington's estate, the year he returned home on Christmas Eve after helping to win American independence in the Revolutionary War. Interpreters in historic garb take visitors through that Christmas and many others that were celebrated at the president's estate. Highlights include natural decorations gathered from the estate, a table setting featuring a fruit and nut course, and a traditional Christmas spiced fowl and meat pie that was the centerpiece of the Washington family holiday meal. Highlights include seven restored exhibit buildings filled with aromas of meals prepared from old recipes. Homes are decorated with natural wreaths, gardens and small trees.
Visitors can take part in such Moravian Christmas customs as decorating candles and making paper.
On Dec. 16, visitors experience a backcountry Christmas while Moravian brass bands roam the streets playing traditional Moravian hymns and carols.