Despite being closed for the season, O’Keefe Ranch opened its gates for some festive fun last weekend.
Victorian Christmas celebrated the holidays, family, good cheer and merriment. People strolled through the old village with hot cocoa, warming around the crackle of the fire, visiting with farm animals, roasting chestnuts and enjoying a visit with Santa!
“Christmas at O’Keefe Ranch goes back a long ways,” said Carla-Jean Stokes, curator. “The O’Keefe family was Catholic and traditional religious observations of the season would have been very important to them. In 1886 when their new home was completed, they moved in just in time for Christmas. In 1892, the Vernon News reported that a Christmas Service was held in St. Anne’s Church with Mrs. Daniel Rabbitt playing the new pump organ. Community members are invited to come tour these historic buildings. The Mansion turns 131 this December, and the pump organ has never left the Church.”
To learn more about the tradition click here.
newsroom@vernonmorningstar.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
