Museums offer nostalgic holiday fun

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Updated: January 9, 2012 8:51AM

The traditions and nostalgia of times gone by add magic to this time of year. This weekend you can take a step back in time and have some unique holiday fun at the same time. 

† A ride on the Candy Cane Express is a delightful winter experience that supports a good cause. 

Different sizes of painstakingly — and lovingly volunteer-restored — vintage steam and diesel trains are decked out for the holidays and dubbed the Candy Cane Express at the Hesston Steam Museum.    

From the big, beautiful narrow gauge steam locomotive to the little sit-on-top 1/8 scale trains, rides through the hilly woods and fields of the museum’s grounds in rural LaPorte County are fun for all ages. 

Get a free train ride ticket with each donation of a new, unwrapped toy for the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots toy drive. Tickets can also be purchased for $5 for adults and $3 for children. The Candy Cane Express will operate from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, and Sunday, Dec. 11.   

Visitors can warm up in the 1900s vintage red caboose, where Santa will sit by a potbelly stove and greet visitors. Come at noon and see Santa’s arrival via Model T Ford.    

The Hesston Steam Museum is northeast of LaPorte, at 1201 E. County Road 1000N. Take Interstate 94 to Michigan exit 1, go south to County Road 1000N then follow signs east to the museum. The Depot store will be open with snacks available for purchase along with unique railroad related holiday gifts.   

† The Victorian parlor at the LaPorte County Historical Society Museum is the elegant setting where St. Nicholas will greet visitors from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10. Punch and cookies will also be served.   

This local gem of a museum boasts having 100,000 items on display, including antique dolls and toys, medical and surveying equipment, fossils, cameras, glassware and an extensive collection of antique automobiles. 

Many pieces of the museum’s collection are displayed in 14 period room settings, including a dental office, a 1950’s living room, and the Victorian parlor, each of which will have period holiday decorations. Each year the rooms are decorated to a different theme, which this year is “songs of the holiday season.”      

On Saturday the museum will also be filled with the songs of carolers.

The LaPorte County Historical Society Museum is at 2405 Indiana Ave., on the southern outskirts of town along Highway 35, phone 324-6767. Admission is $6 for out-of-county adults, $3 for children ages 12 to 17 and LaPorte County adult residents, and free for children under age 12. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.   

† Copshaholm, the opulent 1895 Oliver Mansion at the Center for History in South Bend, will offer unique performance tours on Sunday afternoon, beginning at 11:30 a.m. (CST).

This is a special time to tour the 38 room, 12,000 square foot mansion. It is lavishly decorated for Christmas, plus the tours will take visitors through the mansion and back to 1920 as costumed actors portray the Oliver family and friends preparing their own version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” 

The Center for History is at 808 W. Washington St. near downtown South Bend, with the entrance on Thomas Street. 

Tickets for the tours are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $6 for youth ages 6 to 17. Tickets are limited; advance reservations are recommended by calling (574) 235-9664. Admission also includes the main museum with its Knute Rockne and women’s hardball collections, the current special exhibit “Women & Faith”, and the Kidsfirst Children’s Museum.