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Decked halls, closed doors

Pandemic surge shutters decorated Baker Mansion

By Patt Keith 4 min read

For more than six decades, Blair Garden Club members have used their talents to create a unique visual delight inside Baker Mansion during the Christmas holidays.

This year, members decked the halls to the theme "It's a Victorian Christmas," but few people had the chance to see all the work put into the displays.

Because of rising COVID-19 cases, the Blair County Historical Society decided Tuesday to close for the season "out of an abundance of caution," historical society board President Michael Farrow stated in an email. He expressed disappointment Wednesday but wants to "keep everyone safe."

Visitor numbers to the mansion are down by 90%, according to Julia Plummer Schokker, the board's first vice chair, and the tours would have raised some much-needed funds to help care for the home built by ironmaster Elias Baker in the 19th century.

The Christmas event would have opened to the public this weekend, so only those who created the show have been able to see the finished display.

In an interview prior to the cancellation of tours, Schokker praised the efforts of the Blair Garden Club.

"The garden club members do such a wonderful job for us inside for the holidays and outside all summer long in the gardens on the grounds. They do such a beautiful job and each year features a different theme and decorations," Schokker said.

Blair Garden Club President Mary Creamer said the decorating is "truly a group effort," but this year COVID-19 changed up the way the group created the displays.

The pandemic forced members to make decorations at their individual homes instead of working in groups as they usually do, she said.

Creamer, 83, of Duncansville, has been a club member for about 60 years and has been coordinating the club's holiday decorating for about 35 years.

For the Christmas display, the club plans the theme during the summer so the appropriate flowers can be selected, dried and painted in the fall. In an effort to protect the historic structure, club members decorate artificial Christmas trees. There are no live or fresh-cut flowers, as those might bring in insects.

In recent years, the Baker home has been restored by Altoona artist Michael Allison, so the club members said the holiday decorations are designed to show off the downstairs of the mansion -- largely furnished and restored to how it appeared during the Baker family's early years in residence.

For instance, Creamer said she used greenery accented by hand-tied red bows along the stairwell and in decorative pots on the exterior of the entrance.

"I like to keep it simple," Creamer said.

"The mansion looks different every year," said club member Linda Conrad. "Anybody who visited two years ago may recognize an ornament or two, but we really try to make it different."

Joanie Sweeda, a newer member of the garden club, said Baker Mansion "strikes a chord with me because it's a piece of Altoona history that has survived. It is my fondest wish that more Altoonans embrace their rich past and step forward, young and old, to preserve it."

As of Wednesday, the historical society had made no decision on what to do about the Christmas display. Typically, the mansion is closed January through April, but is now closed through May.

Gift donations to help support Baker Mansion through the pandemic are welcome, Farrow said, noting checks made out to BCHS (Blair County Historical Society) can be sent to BCHS, 3419 Oak Lane, Altoona, PA 16602.

For more Baker Mansion and Blair County Historical Society information, visit blairhistory.org.

Mirror Staff Writer Patt Keith is at 814-949-7030.

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