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DRIFTON — It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Sophia Coxe Memorial Foundation and Education Center.
The historic building was recently decorated by the Greater Hazleton Gardening Club for the holiday season with trees, wreaths, lights and other colorful items.
Advisor for the gardening club, Christine Gresh, said this was only the second year the group volunteered to spruce up the old home.
“We were invited to come and see the house and see how we possibly could enhance the quality,” she said. “We decorated it last year and it turned out so well, there were over 400 people here touring the house at Christmastime. The club is totally no cost to the Coxe house; we take care of all the decorations, put everything together, come in and try to do it all within one or two days.”
The Greater Hazleton Gardening Club has over 60 members involved, but Gresh said there were a little over 20 members on hand to help decorate the house, saying it all depended on who was available.
Gresh said the club picked up the Christmas trees and greens just last week to make sure they were still fresh, but the rest of the decorations are all homemade.
“Most of the things we make ourselves,” she said. “The wreaths are all handmade, the swags are all handmade and a lot of our trim we do by ourselves. We have fresh greens that we get a truck and cut them down with chainsaws that we took care of last weekend, and our Christmas trees we get from Kashupski’s Tree Farm down in Drums.”
Rich in history
The Sophia Coxe Foundation and Education Center was built in 1869 as local coal baron Eckley B. Coxe’s present to his wife Sophia when she was 28-years-old and he was 30.
Sophia, unlike other coal barons’ wives, took a vital and active interest in the welfare of the miner’s workers and their families, according to foundation literature.
Affectionately known as the “Angel of the Anthracite” for her humanitarian efforts on behalf of miners and their families, Sophia was said to love Christmas and, in addition to decorating for the season, delivered Christmas presents to the children of the area’s coal miners.
Eckley Coxe founded the Mining and Mechanical Institute, which later became MMI Preparatory School, in 1879 to provide a basic education to the miners and their children who otherwise could not afford one.
Even after her husband’s death in 1895, Sophia assumed responsibility for the school and continued to help fund its development until her death in 1926.
According to Brian Dunnigan, president of the Sophia Coxe Memorial Foundation and Education Center, the house was used as a respite for women who were recovering from illness until 1987, over 60 years after Sophia passed away in 1926.
With the house being over 140 years old, Dunnigan said it retains its rich history.
“The house pretty much remains itself and a lot of the original artifacts are still in the house (from) during her time frame,” Dunnigan said. “A lot of things that were very personal to her are still here.”
Dunnigan said the house is used primarily today for educational purposes and special events.
“We do a lot of Victorian teas here and we’re available for weddings, breakfasts and small group functions for up to 35 people,” he said. “The classes that we hold throughout the year include blacksmithing, art classes, fine hand engraving, spinning, weaving and looming in the spring and the Greater Hazleton Garden Club holds a variety of seminars.”
Holiday tea
While decorating the house is becoming a tradition of its own for the gardening club, another tradition will continue on Sunday, Dec. 6 in the form of the house’s annual tea party that will also include soups, salads, desserts and finger sandwiches.
Karen Esak, administrator for the Sophia Coxe Memorial Foundation and Education Center, said the event begins at 2 p.m. and goes until people decide they want to leave.
“We have some people that sit for hours and talk to their friends while we clean, and that’s okay,” she said. “Sophia was like that, she never pushed anybody out and we just want to make sure we follow through with it.”
With the house spruced up festive, Esak gives all of her praise to the gardening club for getting the house ready for the holidays.
“The gardening club actually make this house look like Christmas,” she said. “They come in, bring all of their stuff and they’re just like elves; they run around and make all these wreaths and they make it Christmas. I can’t say enough about them.”
