For many, the holidays are about nostalgia: the decorations we bring out year after year, the classic Christmas songs that take over the airways, the side dishes we serve because Grandma did.
Piney Point Lighthouse Museum is capitalizing on our love of holiday throwbacks with a special exhibit. “A Very Retro Christmas” inside the museum and lighthouse keepers’ quarters shows visitors retro exhibits of the holidays through the years.
The lighthouse is an appropriate backdrop: Piney Point is the oldest lighthouse on the Potomac River.
Here’s how the museum sums up the exhibit:
“Whether you recall the bubble lights on your parent’s Christmas tree, the neighbor’s huge blown-mold lawn displays, or the vintage dishes that came out for holiday dinners, we have your cup of nostalgia!”
It runs through January 5th, with the exception of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The museum is open 12 to 4 p.m. and tickets are $7 for adults, $3.50 for seniors, students and military, and free for children five and under.
While you’re reminiscing in St. Mary’s County, the St. Clement’s Island Museum, just north of Piney Point, shows off the toys of Christmas past. the museum’s Christmas Doll & Train Exhibit includes classic trains, antique and collectible dolls, and other retro toys.
The museum says the Christmas Doll & Train Exhibit focuses on Christmas in St. Mary’s County and how it has been celebrated by locals in the past. Visitors can serve as conductor for some of the model trains, play with dolls, help decorate the Charlotte Hall Schoolhouse using old-school crafts, and write Santa a letter.
O scale and G scale Lionel train sets will be running, and the Black-eyed Susan Doll Club of Southern Maryland will have special dolls on display.
The exhibit follows the same schedule as Piney Point’s retro Christmas exhibit above; open daily 12 to 4 p.m. until January 5th.
For more details on both exhibits, click here.
-Meg Walburn Viviano
