Celebrate the season with a variety of traditions

From antique decorations to cookies, Christmas experiences and visits with the man in a big red suit, Jackson County's Museums host a variety of holiday-themed events and opportunities to get in the spirit of the season. Click the poster below to display a full size poster image, or scroll below for more details on each event.

Museum Holiday Events 2023

 

Coe House Museum
371 W Michigan Ave.
Grass Lake, MI 49240
(517) 748-1078

• Dec. 2 (10 am-2 pm) Grass Lake Festival of Lights Cookie Tour (Passport Pick-Up & Drop-Off Location)

 

 

Ella Sharp Museum
3225 Fourth St.
Jackson, MI 49203
(517) 787-2320

 

• Dec. 1-3 (10 am-5 pm) Holiday Market (Shop Jackson Artists & Vendors for Unique One-of-a-Kind Gifts)
• Dec. 2 (Noon-3 pm) Cookies with Santa - Mrs. Claus, Cookies, Photos, & Holiday Market (Ticketed)
• Dec. 13 (5:30 & 7 pm) Ella Sharp Farmhouse Candlelight Tours (Ticketed)
• Dec. 18-23 & 26-30 (11:30 am, 2:30 & 4 pm) Holiday House Tours & Light Show in Hurst Planetarium (on site)

 

Hanover-Horton Area Historical Society
105 Fairview St.
Hanover, MI 49241
(517) 563-8927

• Dec. 3 & 10 (1-5 pm) Vintage Christmas (Entertainment with Santa Visit on Dec. 10 (1:30 pm)
• Dec. 5 (5-8 pm) Night Light Tours

 

Lost Railway Museum
142 W. Michigan Ave.
Grass Lake, MI 49240
(517) 522-9500

• Dec. 2 ( 10 am-2 pm) Grass Lake Festival of Lights Cookie Tour (Passport Pick-Up & Drop-Off Location)

 

Mann House (Michigan History Center)
205 Hanover St.
Concord, MI 49237
(517) 260-1946

• Home for the Holidays Decorated House Event
  Dec. 1-3 & 8-10 (Fri. 6-8 pm, Sat. 2-4 pm, & 6-8 pm, Sun. 2-6 pm)

The museum will be decorated throughout its main floor with handmade Victorian ornaments including a 9-foot Christmas Tree.  The home was built in 1883 for local Concord resident Daniel Mann, his wife Ellen and daughters Mary Ida and Jessie Ellen.  A single-family home for more than 85 years, the house and all its contents were donated to the State of Michigan in 1970, by the Mann sisters.

 

Michigan’s Military Heritage Museum
311 N. Wisner St.
Jackson, MI 49202
(517) 926-6696

• (Throughout Season) Military-themed Christmas displays during open hours.

 

First Universalist Church of Concord
200 Hanover St.
Concord, MI 49237
(517) 745-0167

• Dec. 3 (2 pm) Music, Humor and Scripture at First Universalist Church of Concord

  Following: Open House, Music, & Refreshments until 5 pm (Reception at Paddock Hubbard House, Riceville Schoolhouse)

Music, humor, and Christmas scripture readings held at the Museum’s property at 200 Hanover Street (formerly Concord Universalist Church). Open house with music and refreshments follows the program until 5pm at the museum’s main location at 317 Hanover Street) with Paddock Hubbard House and the Riceville Schoolhouse open.

 

 

 

Tompkins Center Historical Society
10138 Tompkins Rd.
Rives Junction, MI 49277
(517) 962-3398

• Dec 3 (4-7 pm) Holiday Open House (Stewart Farm Museum)

• Dec 3 (6 pm) Veterans Christmas Tree Lighting (Corner of M-50 and Woodard Road)

Holiday Open House

Stewart Farm 4:00pm to 7:00pm.

Hot chocolate and cookies in the school house.

Take a tour of the Stewart Farm with our curator.

10138 Tompkins Road, Rives Junction, MI 49277

Veteran's Christmas Tree Lighting

6:00pm at the corner of M-50 and Woodard Road

Sing Christmas carols, and the festivities of the Veteran's Christmas Tree Lighting to celebrate the beginning of the Holiday SeasonThe tree is decorated with the names of Veterans from our area, or any Veterans whose names we are able to get.

Please email Tompkinshistorical@gmail.com a any names that you would like to have on the tree. Veterans are either from current service or from any military situation.

 

Waterloo Farm Museum and Dewey School
13493 Waterloo Munith Rd.
Grass Lake, MI 49240
(804) 596-2254

• Dec. 2 & 3 (10 am-4 pm) - Christmas on the Farm, Tours, Baked Goods, & Gift Items (Admission Fee)

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2023
10 AM – 4 PM

This re-creation of the holiday's traditions will include tours of the farmhouse, the authentic log house, and eight outbuildings. Hand-decorated greens, home-made baked goods, and gift items will be available for purchase. Live music will be among the offerings for this homespun weekend. Full concessions will also be available.

Grounds admission is $5 for adults

$4 for seniors (62+)

$2 for children age 5 to 12.

Children under 5 and WAHS members are free.

At the farmstead, natural decorations set the scene in the 14-room farmhouse, where costumed guides recount the activities that might have taken place in each room at Christmas time. Long ago days on a Michigan farm will be brought to life once again as singers and musicians perform traditional holiday melodies. The savory scents of the season will fill the air as dinner is prepared in the warm farm kitchen, reviving memories of the folks who once occupied this historic farmstead.

Visitors will also be welcomed into the log house by a family preparing Christmas Dinner. The Gift Shop will offer items for sale to fill stockings and remind us of former lifestyles. Baked goods, jams, jellies, and other tempting treats will also be available. Wreaths, swags, and table centerpieces made of fresh greenery will be available for purchase in the Ice House. Be sure to visit the blacksmith working at the forge.

There's something for everyone at this re-creation of "Christmas Past."

For additional information on Christmas on the Farm and Dewey School as well as directions to the event, call 517-596-2254 or visit http://www.waterloofarmmuseum.org.

 

 

Jackson County Michigan Historical Society Event at 209 East Washington Avenue, Jackson, MI 49201

Dec. 7 (6-8:30 pm) Holiday Banquet, Dinner, Awards, Presentation, & Raffle (Ticketed)

The Jackson County Michigan Historical Society invites you to attend our 2023 Holiday Party in the first-floor ballroom, Commonwealth Commerce Center, 209 E. Washington Ave., on Thursday, Dec. 7, from 6-8:30 p.m. This fun, educational evening will include a dinner and presentation by a featured speaker.

Get your ticket TODAY for 2023 Holiday Party on Thurs., Dec. 7 from 6:00-8:30PM, held at the Commonwealth Commerce Center. We have exciting plans for another educational and fun-filled evening of celebrations, refreshments, awards and a special presentation by Dr. Gregory Sumner, Professor and Co- Chair of History at the University of Detroit Mercy. Dr. Sumner will be speaking about WWII Prisoner of War Camps in Michigan—an especially pertinent topic since Dec. 7 is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day and since Jackson County had POW camps in 1944 and 1945.

Dr. Sumner teaches courses on twentieth-century American politics and culture and is the author of Michigan POW Camps in WWII (2018), among books. A fellow of the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, he also was selected as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Rome (2001, 2010). 

Tickets are $25/person

 

 

More Information

Learn more about Jackson County Museums here.

Plan your visit with our Jackson County Museum Map.

Find additional holiday events in Jackson County.

Reserve a Jackson County Hotel and make it a holiday overnight stay.