Postville Courthouse State Historic Site announces Dec. 5 open house

[November 11, 2009]  This year's Christmas open house at Postville Courthouse State Historic Site, 914 Fifth St., is scheduled for Dec. 5 from noon to 4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Featured speaker will be Ron Keller, assistant professor at Lincoln College and curator of the Lincoln Heritage Museum. His presentation, "The Changing Image of the 16th President," will be at 1 and 2 p.m. in the historic upstairs courtroom. He will use images of historic prints from the last two centuries.

The courthouse will be decorated in the simple but beautiful style of the mid-1800s, and its Christmas tree will feature prairie dolls, wooden decorations and grapevines. Tour guides will explain the ornaments on the tree and how they were crafted in the 1840s.

The site will also have 300 feet of decorations along the rail fence this year.

Period music by the Postville Express, featuring Manny Gaston, John Sutton and others, will fill the historic building. Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln interpreters will greet visitors as they arrive. Cake and punch will be served.

Postville Courthouse is open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. for free public tours, although donations are accepted. Please call 217-737-0979 or 217-735-4977 with any questions.

[Text from file received from Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County]