The Holiday Open House: West Point on the Eno’s Longest Running Event

By: Cassandra Bennett and Caitlin Avinger

This has been a year, hasn’t it? COVID-19 has changed how we are doing everything, it seems. That is the case for West Point on the Eno’s longest running event, the Holiday Open House.

Back in 1979, the Friends of West Point organized the first Holiday Open House, then named “Old Fashion Christmas.” That December, the park was only two and a half years old but staff didn’t hold back in planning an exciting and festive event. Various community groups, musicians, artists, demonstrators, and members of the City Council were all invited to help kickoff the first annual Old Fashion Christmas. Through the years, the event grew and changed, but some things remained constant: mulled cider (see below for recipe), cookies, crafts, milling demonstrations, and at some point, we started frying Hazel’s Hush Puppies (see below for recipe).

With all of this festive fun, one thing was still lacking from the Old Fashion Christmas…attractive, old timey decorations. That’s where the Pinetum Garden Club and its members stepped up. In the early 1980s, they were already maintaining a butterfly and bird garden behind the McCown-Mangum House. So when asked if they’d help with the 1983 holiday event, the ladies of Pinetum Garden Club said yes! As the Pinetum Garden Club membership aged, another club, the Homestead Heights Garden Club, began assisting with, and eventually took over, the tradition in 1992. The ladies of the Homestead Heights Garden Club decorated the house through the 2015 event and then passed the torch to the Croasdaile Garden Club, who received special recognition for their work in 2017. That year they took home the “Pat Olejar Holiday Decoration Award” from the Garden Club of North Carolina for their decorations.

Over the decades there have been many iterations of holiday decorations incorporated into the event. One decoration in particular stands out in Garden Club memory: a gumdrop tree made by putting gumdrops on the thorns of a trifoliate orange, which grows near the McCown Mangum House. In 2018, Mina Hampton, then in her 90s, recalled that the grandparents of several fellow club members decorated their homes for Christmas like this.

For this year’s modified Holiday Open House, we must skip the hands-on crafts, live music, milling demonstrations, fresh-made mulled cider, and hush puppies made with cornmeal from the West Point Mill. But, we are not skipping the old fashioned and beautiful decorations put together by the Croasdaile Garden Club.

Stop by West Point on the Eno during the park’s open hours (8 a.m. to dusk) on December 11, 12, and 13 to see the Croasdaile Garden Club’s holiday decorations. They will have decorated the exteriors of the McCown-Mangum House, West Point Mill, and the Photography Museum. Our hope is to create a space you can enjoy on your own, with members of your household.

Also, take advantage of the final weekend of park tours, December 12 and 13. Tours meet at the Mill and go out from 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. Preregistration is required. Join us for a tour of the park and then take in the festive decorations for a relaxing and socially distanced holiday excursion the whole family is sure to enjoy!

Here are a couple of pro-tips, to ensue you get the most of your time in the park:

• The decorations would serve as a wonderful backdrop for family photographs. When you come out, other families may be doing the same, so know your Ws (wear, wait, wash)!
• We can guarantee the decorations will be up until December 13, after that they will remain up as long as they keep looking nice. If you can’t make it by that weekend, try the following week!
• Make our mulled cider and bring it with you, while you enjoy the decorations!
• This mulled cider recipe is one that has been served at the annual Holiday Open House since, at least, 1982. Beth Highley, the former Park Manager of West Point on the Eno, recalled being given this recipe when she started working for Durham Parks and Recreation. She retired in 2014 after 31 years of service to the City of Durham.
• Try making our Hazel’s Hush Puppies at home!
• Hazel Cash provided this hush puppy recipe to West Point on the Eno over 20 years ago. She headed up the Hospitality Tent at the Festival for the Eno for many, many years.
• Create Victorian-era inspired holiday crafts! These holiday ornaments have been a popular activity at our Holiday Open Houses in years passed. After taking in the decorations at West Point, try your hand at some Victorian-era inspired ornaments!
• Victorian Holiday Cones