Old Christmas at Fort Watauga

Name: Old Christmas at Fort Watauga
Start: 2026-01-03T10:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-01-03T16:00:00-05:00
Location: 1651 W Elk Ave, Elizabethton, TN, United States, Tennessee 37643

Schedule

Sat Jan 03 2026 at 10:00 am to 04:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

1651 W Elk Ave, Elizabethton, TN, United States, Tennessee 37643 | Elizabethton, TN

Does The Twelve Days of Christmas sound familiar? In Colonial America, Christmas was celebrated as a twelve-day holiday with many traditions and customs. These twelve days of feasting, and merrymaking known as “Christmastide” began on December 25th and ended on January 5th, or “Twelfth Night”, with a grand celebration.
As you walk through the gates of Fort Watauga you will travel back in time to an 18th century Old Christmas “Jollification”. Each cabin in the fort will be the setting of Christmas, New Year, and 12th Night traditions as celebrated by the settlers of different cultures on the colonial frontier. Many of our modern Christmas customs are taken from centuries old practices such as English Christmas Guns, the Irish Holly Wreath, the German Tannenbaum, Scottish First Footing, and the Dutch Sinterklaas. See how our Christmas practices of today are steeped in these old-world traditions.
Free Admission
Event is subject to cancellation in the event of significant winter weather conditions.