233 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield, NJ, 08033

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CHRISTMAS 2000 AT THE INDIAN KING
Music Festival Closes 250th Anniversary Year

	HADDONFIELD, N.J. (Dec. 9, 2000) -- Arrivals at the Indian King Tavern Museum's sixth annual Music of Christmas program were greeted on the front steps by docent Ann Kram (above, left) playing carols on an eighteenth-century recorder. Inside, docent Jeannie O'Pella of the Haddonfield Middle School (above, right), explained the settings and customs of the colonial tavern's private dining room. The day-long public music festival was the closing event of the museum's year-long 250th-anniversary celebration.

	Tradtional musicians such as the Sugar Sand Ramblers (above, left) and Irish harpist Bridget Highet (above, right) played Christmas songs in the tavern's various rooms throughout the day. Event organizer Brad Mattson noted that this year's crowds were heavy with first-time visitors; many were surprised at the tavern museum's authentically-furnished interior and cast of costumed docents. "This is like a tiny bit of Colonial Williamsburg set down in Camden County," said one newcomer as she appauded the Tapestry Dulcimer Troupe in the main dining room.

	The colonial tavern's ornate wrought iron gate (above, left), as well as the building's two stories of exhibit rooms, were festooned with traditional decorations designed and created by members of the 94-year-old Haddonfield Garden Club.

	Museum displays included extensive new spreads of 'faux' foodstuffs of the kind that would have been used and sold in the 1777 heyday of the tavern. A young scullery maid docent (above, left) attends a serving table in the tavern's 'Keep' or food preparation room. In sync with the spirit of the pretend feast, tavern 'innkeeper' and museum manager William Mason (above, right) pretends to eat authentic-looking fare in the public dining room of the facility that is New Jersey's oldest state historic site.

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