. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. b er O krishmases Cy asi In the 18th century, Christmas was a time of socials and merriment among landowners in coastal North Carolina. The doors of homes were thrown open to welcome revelers, and the air filled with laughter as people shunned work for pleasure. Christmas then was a season not only of religious observance, but also of celebrations oriented around food and dancing, a season of joy often sealed with marriage vows, says Linda Jordan Eure, manager of Historic Edenton, a state historic site. &q
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. b er O krishmases Cy asi In the 18th century, Christmas was a time of socials and merriment among landowners in coastal North Carolina. The doors of homes were thrown open to welcome revelers, and the air filled with laughter as people shunned work for pleasure. Christmas then was a season not only of religious observance, but also of celebrations oriented around food and dancing, a season of joy often sealed with marriage vows, says Linda Jordan Eure, manager of Historic Edenton, a state historic site. "We think today of June brides, but in the 18th century, a lot of people married in that holiday season follow- ing Christmas because it was a time when people were more socially oriented," she says. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were married around the Christmas season, a time when plantation owners and farmers finally could relax and the first frost had hardened the ground enough for travel, says Mary Ann Coffey, a columnist for the Chowan Herald and an Edenton tour guide. "The crops had been brought in, the work in the fields was over and people were facing winter," she says. "They did use this as an occasion to visit, entertain. It was a celebration over several weeks rather than focusing on Christmas Day. And it was a socializing sort of holiday, rather than an exchang- ing of ; Today, from Edenton to Beaufort to Wilmington, the tradition of Southern hospitality continues at Christmas. And those who want to get a glimpse or taste of Christmases past need only step into the historic homes of coastal towns, where traditions that washed ashore By Odile Fredericks many centuries ago live on. "When you walk in these old houses and you think of the people who have continued to make a home here and all the generations that have used these houses, that time kind of just disappears," Coffey says. In Edenton, the Wessingto
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
