Old Courthouse

An 1864 Christmas

Yesterday, we went down to the Old Courthouse in St. Louis to see what an 1864 Christmas ball would have been like.

It was a lot of fun! The dresses were beautiful, the dancing was fun (Turkey and Bunny even participated in a reel!), and the music was very energetic. It’s enough to make you wish that Christmas dances like this were still a popular activity!

The Old Courthouse

If you haven’t been to the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis in a long time, or even at all, you should take some time to go explore the galleries. It’s a beautiful old building!

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The interior is just as lovely as the exterior:

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There are several different galleries that illustrate both the history of the courthouse and the city itself:

There are also many beautiful staircases that will take you up just about as far as you’d want to go (or, in my case, way farther…I really need to work on my fear of heights!):

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You can go in one of the old courtrooms (kind of):

And you don’t want to miss the Dred Scott statue on the east side of the building!

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Yet another St. Louis treasure that we were fortunate to have some time to explore!

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Christmas at the Old Courthouse

We went to the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis for the first time today. We had intended to go in December, because on the Saturdays last month, they had different activities highlighting what Christmases in St. Louis were like at different point in history. We didn’t make any of those events, but we did finally get there today, for the “1764 12th Afternoon Ball.”

There was music and dancing:

Examples of food from the time:

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The crowns for the King and Queen of Mardi Gras:

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And displays looking at different Christmas traditions:

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We also looked through the galleries, and climbed to the top of the courthouse, too, but I’ll save all of that for another time. For now, though, I’m glad we finally went, and am looking forward to going back!