Wainscott Christmas
Wainscott Christmas in the late 1800’s – from the diaries on Ruth Hedges Osborn
Christmas Shopping was done in one place – Sag Harbor. On Dec 14, 1889, Ruth and a friend headed out in a horse and wagon with her 6 year old son “to Sag Harbor to buy Christmas presents. It began to snow, snowed hard all the way home.” They would head back to Sag Harbor on the 19th “to finish getting our things for Christmas.”
Christmas was celebrated community style on Christmas Eve December 24th, with an event called The Christmas Tree, hosted by the Sunday School at the Wainscott School house. There were no artificial greens in the late 19th century, women went and collected the real thing in the woods. On the Dec 21, 1889, the decorating began, “went in the woods, found a holly tree, plums all on it, lovely.” On December 22, 1898, Ruth and Lucia Conklin went to gather holiday decorations. Ruth writes, “Lucia and I took Sam’s horse and carriage and went to Amagansett after greens to dress the school house for Christmas. Such good luck as we had, we got lovely things, beautiful holly with plums on, lovely running pine, Jupiter moss, sumac berries, beautiful ferns, bittersweet berries, and cedar with berries on. The traveling was awful muddy, did not get home till after dark. Lucia is queen of the woods, how she loves everything pretty that grows.” After collecting the greens, the ladies would gather to trim the school house for the Christmas Tree.
On December 23, 1890, Ruth writes, “I went and helped Mrs. Talmage get the candy and things ready for the Christmas tree.” The Wainscott Correspondence column in the East Hampton Star of December 28, 1894 reported on events at the Wainscott schoolhouse, “Our Sabbath School gave an entertainment on Christmas Eve, consisting of music, recitations and then the distribution of gifts from the well loaded Christmas Tree. The house was filled and everything passed off pleasantly.”
Neighbors, who were all related for the most part, met together at the School house, and exchanged gifts with each other. Ruth writes in 1889, “We all went to the School house, had a lovely time. Ollie [Ruth’s husband] got a nice pocket knife, a pair of mittens from me, from Elisha a handkerchief. Elisha got a Buffalo Bill gun from Ollie, a book from Fannie, a napkin ring from Louisa, I got him a silk handkerchief, but Ollie and I decided to give it to someone else that had not been so well remembered. I got a lovely bible from my Hubbie, a beautiful cup and saucer from Fannie, from Elisha a very nice handkerchief.” They also opened gifts that had been sent to them. Ruth writes, their long time summer boarders, The Robertson’s, of New York City, sent a “lovely rug”, their daughter Lucy, age 5, sent Ruth’s son a book. Ruth’s lifelong best friend, who lived in Iowa, sent a book and a picture with her husband; her son Elisha received a box of paints. After the Christmas Tree in 1890, Ruth wrote, we all went to the School house last night and had a very nice time. Everyone seemed to be happy, I for one would have been very ungrateful if I had not, for I faired so well. In 1897, the Christmas Tree event was canceled due to deep snow. In 1901, Ruth lamented that she was not able to give as much as she wanted, but she wrote, “thank God we had as much to give and hope we may always be able to give something at Christmas, when everybody is so good to us. “ Ruth Osborn wrote of the Christmas Tree event at the school house till 1911 when she stopped journaling.
Christmas Day was spent at Church and then dinner with family. Dinner one year was roast turkeys, chicken pie, turnips, potatoes, onions, cranberry sauce, mince pie, coconut pie and apples. Ruth described it as “a grand dinner”. Another year, Christmas dinner consisted of roast ducks, chicken pie, mince and pumpkin pie, vegetables, and pickles.