Port Townsend

Victorian Festival

LADIES IN FINERY

Once again, Port Townsend, Washington will be bustling in bustles at the 11th Annual Victorian Festival, running March 16-18, 2007. The three day festival has events for the entire family, ranging from a tour of grand Victorian homes to a 19th Century Federal Troop Encampment and Parade. 

The Victorian Festival offers a great opportunity to learn more about the Victorian era. This year's schedule includes a lecture on Port Townsend's rich and colorful maritime past.  Visitors interested in vintage building restoration will see how it's done in a lecture about the city's architectural revival.  Also included is a talk about the history and development of home hardware in America. 

LADY WASHINGTON TALL SHIP

Events include:

• Candlelight Homes Tour: An escorted candlelight tour of three of Port Townsend's Victorian gems. Light supper is included.

• Port Townsend Historic Cemetery Tour: A Living History Experience - Historical re-enactors meet visitors at their cemetery gravesites and tell about their lives and what early Port Townsend was like.

• 19th Century Federal Troop Encampment and Parade:  Federal Troops march to their encampment in the heart of Port Townsend. The encampment has a hospital tent, blacksmith, cook’s tent and chow line, stockade, mail call, trading post.

• Victorian Fashion Show: Includes the modeling of costumes and dresses from private vintage and reproduction collections as well as featuring a unique display of authentic Victorian clothing from the Jefferson County Historical Society Museum collection.  Donations to the Fashion Show fund the JCHS scholarship for Jefferson County high school graduates.

VICTORIAN FASHION SHOW

• History and Development of Home Hardware in America: An educational event presented by Ken Kelly of Vintage Hardware.

• History of Port Townsend's Seaport: Learn why this small, historic, seaside town has an "uptown" and a "downtown" and what life was like during the Victorian era.

• Grand Ball: Beginning and experienced dancers are transported back to the mid-19th century for an evening of romantic music and elegant social dancing.

• Port Townsend "When and Now":  A visual journey showing Port Townsend's architectural renaissance. Includes original photos of the city's landmark buildings, contemporary photographs, and materials from the times between.

• Victorian Auction: Items include pictures, lamps, china, crystal, silver, furniture and more.

For more information go to www.victorianfestival.org or email inform@victorianfestival.org.  Additional information on the Historic Victorian Seaport of Port Townsend and the beautiful Olympic Peninsula can be found at: www.enjoypt.com.

The Victorian Festival is sponsored by the Jefferson County Historical Society.  Proceeds support JCHS programs.    

Jefferson County Historical Society
210 Polk Street, #11
Port Townsend, WA  98368
360-385-1003
www.jchsmuseum.org