2nd Annual Play Day at The Hermitage Museum

Children’s Play Day at The Hermitage takes place
rain or shine on Sunday, July 27, 2014, from 1-5 P.M., at the Hermitage Museum,
335 North Franklin Tpke,  in Ho-Ho-Kus,
New Jersey.

Admission is $3 per person for children 12 and
under and $7 per person 13 and up and includes a guided tour of the historic
house and entrance to the museum’s current exhibition, “Footprints: 350 Years
at The Hermitage”.

Play Day is designed for children and families
to take a break from electronic devices by playing games of the past,
socializing with other children, and having fun learning about children’s
pastimes in the 19th century.  

All activities are supervised by the museum’s education staff, all of
whom are experienced with bringing the past to life for museum visitors,
especially children.

“This year Play Day will also feature live music
on the Hermitage veranda from 2 to 4 pm by Mountain Laurel,” said Diane
Knispel, Education Director and Play Day chair. “The Master Gardeners of Bergen
County will also introduce a Children’s Garden where children are encouraged to
learn how the herbs were used during the Victorian era.  They will also have the opportunity to create
a bird house made from corn husks.”

Games and
activities will take place inside the education center and outdoors on the
museum’s five acres of park land, weather permitting. Croquet, badminton,
hopscotch, marbles, jacks, sack races, and scavenger hunts as well as  arts and crafts activities that children can
create and take home, are just a few of the planned activities. A variety of
classic summertime edibles will be available for sale, including watermelon,
ice cream, pretzels, and lemonade.

Contact: Diane Knispel, Education Coordinator,
at 201-445-8311 ext. 103 or visit thehermitage.org for details and directions.

The Hermitage, a National Historic
Landmark, is one of the nation’s outstanding examples of domestic Gothic
Revival architecture. The historic house incorporates a stone structure that
was visited during the Revolutionary War by George Washington and was the site

where Aaron Burr met and married Theodosia Prevost. The house’s architectural
appearance dates to the 1847 remodeling and enlargement designed by the
architect William H. Ranlett. Today, the historic house’s furnishings reflect
the late Victorian lifestyle of the Rosencrantz family. The museum collection
is notable for its historic clothing as well as for personal items and papers
related to the Rosencrantz family who owned and lived in the home from 1807 to
1970.

The Friends of the Hermitage, Inc., a
nonprofit membership organization, manages The Hermitage, a New Jersey State
Park. The Hermitage received an
operating support grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division
of the Department of State.