Friday Holyoke Fix: Wistariahurst Museum + Cans for Comments!

**For every comment left on Holyoke Home from December 7th-December 31st, we will donate one canned good or non-perishable item to local hero Kate's Kitchen*.  Don't hold back! Leave a comment!**

***ALSO? All photographs in this post - though taken by me -appear courtesy of Wistariahurst Museum, Holyoke, Massachusetts. Please don't reproduce them.***

This week's Friday Holyoke Fix features a local museum. I've written about Wistariahurst Museum before. Wistariahurst (no, I'm not spelling it wrong) was originally the home of a prominent mill owner in Holyoke, William Skinner.  The house includes a conservatory/breakfast room with a window that might have been designed by Tiffany.

The buildings and grounds were owned continually by the Skinner family from 1874 to 1959, when Skinner heirs gave Wistariahurst to the City of Holyoke. With no endowment. Or furniture. Or endowment. And through a lot of love and volunteer hours, the dining room ceiling still looks like this.

Wistariahurst makes our little row house look like a silly tin shack.

I took buckets of photos yesterday and skipped to my car with designs on giving you a virtual tour, but when I opened up the images today, most of them were complete crap (I edit because I care.) So - instead - a few interesting details, like the BATHROOM DOOR above.

Or this AWESOME stuffed bird display. What says 'Victorian' more than twenty stuffed birds under glass?

Third floor 'textile storage' area. Wistariahurst is lovingly referred to as 'Wisty' by those in the know.

This is the staircase to the ATTIC. That's right. The attic. And despite what these images might lead you to believe, Wisty is NOT a dull echo-y place with housekeeping ghosts banging around. Wistariahurst Museum offers amazing programs and events. This month alone, there are Nutcracker shows, Victorian Christmas craft workshops, The Boston String Quartet, a garden talk, and more.

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