The Historic Silas Wright House At Christmastime

I paid another visit to the Silas Wright House in Canton to see the Christmas decorations. Silas Wright, you may recall from previous posts (Part 1, Part 2), was a U.S. Senator and New York Governor in the 1800s. He declined the Democratic nomination for U.S. Vice President in 1844:

I entered the kitchen first and saw what was to become a decorating theme of evergreen boughs and apples:

Even the kitchen's china cabinet was ornamented with apples:

I walked from the kitchen to the dining room, where the table had been covered with a white tablecloth and a centerpiece of evergreens:

The Wrights' Empire style sideboard was decorated with red candles in brass candlesticks, with more evergreen boughs and apples. The lacquered trays, I soon learned, were also part of the recurring theme:

The mantle atop the dining room's fireplace and dutch oven were decorated for Christmas, with the usual painting removed to make room for the lacquered trays:

The study held a large basket of evergreens, with red and white flowers:

The decorations on the mantle above the other fireplace continued the theme:

The rear parlor had an old fashioned Christmas tree with ornaments such as might have been used in the 1800s:

The red and pink roses on the piano in the rear parlor were not Christmas decorations, but they sure seemed appropriate:

I passed by the old fashioned Christmas tree again as I made my way back out:

I'm not sure what kind of decorations I expected to find, but was surprised by them when I arrived. They were more simple and understated than what we are used to today, yet altogether appropriate for the era and sufficiently tasteful for the dignified and wealthy Wright family: