A visit to see the holiday light exhibit at Longwood Gardens
Ever since we moved to our current home, people have been telling us to check out the Christmas light display at nearby Longwood Gardens, in Kennett Square, PA. But with the busy holiday seasons, it never made it onto our activity list. It's ironic that people come to see Longwood Gardens from all over the east coast of the United States, but I hadn't been there since the time that I was about ten years old - until last night.
As posted last week, the Chester County Choral Society performed there last night, so I finally had the opportunity to see their light display, and I managed to take a few photographs.
To get a more complete sense of the evening, you may wish to listen to the Chester County Choral Society singing the Halleluja Chorus from Handel's Messiah while you view the photos. This is one of the works that they performed last night, but it's from a different performance. (The video is not mine. It comes from the Choral Society's web page.)
Outside
The gardens have a long history, first as a farm and later as an arboretum, so the outside light display involves decorating some of the trees that have been preserved in open space on the 1,000+ acre property. These photos capture some parts of the outside display. If you're viewing these in @steempeak, you can expand the photos by clicking on them. Otherwise, you can view larger versions by opening them in a new tab.
Inside
The weather was chilly and damp, so it was convenient that much of the display was found inside of a greenhouse. This portion of the self-guided tour is fairly unique because of the floral displays that are mixed in with the holiday lights. Here are some photos of the indoor display.
You may enjoy some more Christmas music by the Chesco Choral Society while you view this section of photos.
And finally, here is a photo from inside the Conservatory where the performance took place. The photo includes the stage and the Longwood Organ, which is reportedly the "The largest residential Aeolian ever constructed", and "a stunning specimen of American Art Deco organ design and engineering."
My photography skills clearly can't do justice to the light display, and it is open until January 5, so if you're from the area you may want to visit and see it in person.
What attractions does your family enjoy during this season of the year?
This was closed this year due to COVID which sucked
Sorry for the delay replying. I just saw this now. I was wondering if they were open this year, but I didn't remember to look into it. That is so disappointing that they were closed. I really hope they're able to open again next year.
I did see this video on my facebook feed. It's a Christmas Carol Singalong with organ music by David Christopher playing the Longwood Gardens organ. Not the same, but it's something, anyway.
This has been on our to-do list for a while too, thanks for reminding me about it!
You're welcome. Not sure if you're familiar with them, but two other good ones are Shady Brook Farm in Bucks County and Christmas Village in Bernville.
Shady Brook has tractor-rides through the exhibit, or you can drive through in your own car (with heat!). They used to have horse-drawn hayrides, but they started attracting too many people for the horses to handle the load. Last year, they also had a bunch of fires burning and sold supplies for roasting marshmallows.
Christmas Village is a bit of a drive, but it's a really good attraction for anyone with young kids.
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