Historical center a winter wonderland

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Wood County Historical Center member Juanita Place works on a display in a second floor room.
(Photos: Enoch Wu/Sentinel-Tribune)

Bob Place is the
first one to admit it – Juanita Place, his wife of 42 years, is a mastermind.This fact is made clear around
Christmastime at the Wood County Historical Center and Museum’s Old Home.There, the Places have adopted and
decorated a room for the past ten years."It’s all her," Bob Place said. "She’s in charge. She
does a great job. And I help out – got to make the wife happy."Bob Place and his mastermind of a wife
aren’t alone.This year, friends and members of the Historical Center and community groups decorated 30 rooms
in the Old Home for the holiday season.Each room has a specific theme ranging from the 1980s to Christmas
City and The Polar Express."People like coming out and decorating the rooms," said education
coordinator Michael McMaster. "People have been doing this for many, many years, even before the
building had heat."Back in the 1950s and 1960s, community groups would visit patients when part of the
Historical Center functioned as an infirmary."They visited people who may not have had other family and
wanted them to feel part of the community," said Kelli Kling, marketing coordinator. "Christmas
decorating is our way of carrying out that traditional mission of giving back to the community."From
Nov. 9 to Nov. 23, the Old Home’s doors were open to the decorators to come in and make their room their
own."We chose a ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland’ theme," Juanita Place said. "We’ve got
Parson Brown in the corner and we’ve got a couple conspiring by the fire."

A miniature display is seen in the East wing of the
Wood County Historical Center.

The couple also put up
blue lights and fake snow to complete the Winter Wonderland look."It’s just kind of a happy, fun
room," she said. "And some of the decorations are old and some are new."Other decorators
included members of the Historical Center and community groups like the Black Swamp Spinners Guild and the
Tuesday Night Crawlers Car Club.After all the decorators’ hard work, the Historical Center is open for tours
starting Dec. 7 to Dec. 20 as part of its 2013 Old Home Holiday Tour."The tour is a nice way to spend
the holidays," Kling said. "With the hustle and bustle of shopping and having some much to do,
it’s a nice, peaceful, tranquil environment to tour at your leisure."Admission is $5 and $1 for
children."If you’re having people over for the holidays and don’t want to spend a lot of money, this is
a great place to come," Kling said.People can either partake in a guided tour, or just check out the
rooms by themselves.Each room has a little white stand that has the history of the room and who decorated
it.The tours have also been known to give visitors some inspiration."Our decorations give them ideas
for their own home," Kling said. "They like to see what we do."While she does like seeing her
visitors’ reactions to the decorated rooms, Kling especially enjoys getting to know mastermind Juanita
Place, her husband and the other decorators themselves."The majority of our decorators were repeats, so
that says a lot," Kling said. "It’s also neat when you get new people on board and build great
relationships – not only for the society, but personally as well."The Wood County Historical Center and
Museum’s holiday programming starts Dec. 7 and continues through Dec. 20 with the Old Home Holiday Tours,
Wreath Workshops, Christmas Teas, Living Christmas Cards and visits from Santa.For more information, call
(419) 352-0967 or visit woodcountyhistory.org.

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