Christmas at the Taft

Tuesday
Jen and Jason left first thing to head up to Cleveland area to spend a couple of days with Jason’s family. After a very confusing time trying to work out whether or not it was open, Laura, Roger and I went down to the Taft museum in Cincinnati - Google, their website and their phone recording did not agree! The Baum-Longworth-Sinton-Taft House, a National Historic Landmark built about 1820 for Martin Baum, is the oldest domestic wooden structure in situ locally and is considered one of the finest examples of Federal architecture in the Palladian style in the country.
Other residents of this important villa included Nicholas Longworth, who extensively redecorated the interiors and hired African American painter Robert S. Duncanson to paint landscape murals in the foyer, now considered as one of the finest suites of domestic murals dating from before the Civil War. After Longworth’s residency, the villa was purchased by David Sinton. His daughter, Anna Taft, lived in the mansion with her husband Charles Phelps Taft from 1873 until their respective deaths in 1931 and 1929. In 1908, Charles Phelps Taft’s half-brother, William Howard Taft accepted the nomination for U. S. president underneath the house’s portico.
The museum had a couple of special exhibitions on. “Elegant Geometry” was an exhibition of British and American Mosaic Patchwork Quilts. The earliest quilts in the exhibition originated in 18th-century England. British colonists brought the technique to the New World, where it was embraced by American women. American quilts in the exhibition dated through the 19th century and were made by women from Eastern and Midwestern states including Kentucky and Ohio. “Antique Christmas” is the Taft’s annual display of antique ornaments, decorations and toys from times gone by, on loan from institutions and private collections. These items are displayed around the museum. My Blip shows the dining room with the table set up for the holidays. After we had seen these displays we enjoyed a very nice lunch in the cafe.
In the evening, we drove up to see the impressive Christmas light display at Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park in Hamilton. Fortunately this is a drive-through display, as the temperatures were frigid!
One Year ago: Boxing Day in Sheffield