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Get to Know Us!
Family Events at Hillwood Museum &
Gardens
Washington, DC – In October Hillwood Museum
& Gardens will host its first Family Day for the fall season.
Every day Hillwood offers a variety of activities for families that
highlight Marjorie Merriweather Post's collections, and Family Days
feature events and programs for all ages focusing on the cultures
and histories represented in these collections. Youth and their families
can take part in tours of the Mansion and gardens, hands-on activities,
and other family-oriented events. Hillwood also has programs especially
designed for school groups and Girl Scout troops. The Museum Shop
stocks children's books and toys, and the Café features a children's
menu.
Get to Know Us Family Day, October 19, 2003, from 2:00 to 5:00
p.m., will introduce families to the many cultures represented in
Hillwood's collections and gardens. Along with Hillwood's daily offerings,
this Family Day will include the Meet the Romanovs children's
audio tour and new interactive self-guided family tours of the Mansion,
the French parterre, and the Japanese-style garden. The day will also
feature a number of hands-on activities. These activities are creating
your own French 18th century gold box and miniature Japanese style
garden, and listing to Russian fairytales. The Café will feature a
kid's menu, and the Museum Shop will be open.
A Romanov Christmas Family Day, December 14, 2003, from 2:00
to 5:00 p.m., concludes the year's family programs. Families will
experience and learn about the Christmas season, or Sivitki,
in Old Russia. Participants can have their picture taken with Father
Frost, Russia's version of Santa Claus, and listen to him tell folktales
and talk about Russian Christmas traditions. Families will make Russian
Christmas ornaments and decorate a fir tree. The event also includes
the Russian New Year's Eve tradition of a reading of “The Mummer's
Holiday,” from Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. The Café will feature
a kid's menu, and the Museum Shop will be open for purchasing gifts.
Reservations are required for all family events. Fees are $5 per child
and includes two free adult tickets. The charge for each additional
adult is $12. For information or reservations, call 1/877-HILLWOOD
or 202/686-5807. Free on-site parking.
Hillwood Museum & Gardens was the Washington residence of cereal
heiress and art collector Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887–1973) from
1955 to 1973. Her collection includes the most comprehensive assemblage
of Russian imperial art outside of Russia and a world-renowned collection
of eighteenth-century French decorative arts crafted by some of Europe's
most illustrious artists, cabinetmakers, and goldsmiths. Objects of
note are porcelain commissioned by Catherine the Great, Easter eggs
by Carl Fabergé, and bejeweled chalices and icons from imperial Russia.
Mrs. Post's majestic eighteenth-century French collection includes
furniture commissioned by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Beauvais
tapestries, and Sèvres porcelain. Hillwood sits on twenty-five acres,
twelve of which are enchanting formal gardens, including a Japanese-style
garden and a French parterre. Hillwood opened to the public in 1977.
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