The historic Stark House in Orange offered visitors a look at the 1894-built residence of William Henry and Miriam Stark in all its holiday finery during a Stark Family Christmas Open House Saturday.
Despite the inclement weather, which canceled the Gum Drop Shop market and family event in nearby Stark Park, the open house stayed on schedule, with a steady stream of families and individuals joining in the festivities.
Cocoa and crafts for children, as well as a visit with Santa Claus, filled the carriage house museum entry, after which visitors were guided to the historic home for a tour of the holiday decorated first floor, including the summer and winter entry foyers, music room, library, formal dining room and breakfast room, where William H., Miriam and their sole surviving child Lutcher (daughter Frances Ann having passed early at the age of 2 in 1884) took most of their meals.
The homier eating space also served as Stark's office from which to answer personal letters, like one he received from President Calvin Coolidge, and the dessert room when the family entertained guests at their Orange home.
It was a residence renowned for its many luxuries - many ahead of their time - like full electricity, heating, and a basement that could be kept dry despite the region being below sea level using a sump pump running off the home's electricity.
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The house was built in the style of those occupying Millionaire's Row in Miriam's hometown of Williamsport, PA - hence her demand for a basement, a common northern home accoutrement.
Its exterior finery and interior architecture mirrored the stately homes of her youth, which William Henry Stark luckily could afford to accommodate, given his leadership in the Lutcher and Moore Lumber Company, which brought the Stark family considerable wealth.
It also enabled them to outfit the interior with the region's native long leaf yellow pine for the wall paneling seen throughout the first floor walls and stairways.
The intricate, unique patterns the wood produced, not to mention its strength, made it a jewel of the timber industry - one which was farmed to obscurity by timber barons like Stark and others back in the day.
All that remains of the ornate pine species are samples like that found within the stately home-turned museum by family members in the 1970s and other historic sites.
Those were details shared with guests touring the stately residence - many for the first time like Amy Heard and daughter Kinsley - by volunteer docents like Robert Webb, Mary Williams and Dottie Hoepner, positioned outside each of the main first floor rooms during Saturday's holiday tour.
They've had years to learn the history of the Stark family and the home that stood like a ghostly mystery in the heart of downtown Orange for nearly 40 years before finally being transformed into a museum by the third wife of Lutcher Stark in the 1970s.
Webb could speak to the items held in the butler's pantry, where his favorite piece of the family's daily dining china sits on a pantry shelf - a pink glass duck with silver head and beak.
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He revels in asking guests to make a guess at the piece's use before offering a hint - William Henry loved pancakes, the ornate duck being his daily dispensary of maple syrup.
On the other side of the wall was a cabinet filled with the Stark family's "good china." Its date of birth preceded the home by more than 100 years, going back to the 1700s and bearing the initials "MA," a la Marie Antoinette.
When the Stark's did their home, they did it in style, putting the full force of their financial status into the details.
The mahogany furnishings and stained glass found throughout the home all tell the story of their luxurious leanings and the impact they had spearheading modern details like gas heat, electricity and more into the future of their community.
They were a family ahead of their time, as Hoepner noted.
Those were details about Orange's illustrious elite that sat under wraps for years as the historic residence underwent extensive renovations that took years to complete.
When it did finally re-open as a museum and tribute to Orange history and the Stark family, it became what nearly 20-year volunteer docent Dottie Hoepner describes as "a jewel that we are so fortunate to have. I love this house, and I consider it a home."
Full tours of the home's three floors are offered weekly and can be booked in advance for Tuesday, Friday and select Saturdays by contacting them at 409-883-0871or https://whstarkhouse.org/guided-tours/