PINNACLE — Imagine a holiday season without crowded malls, never-ending television commercials and gaudy light displays. Such a Christmas likely would resemble a special event under way this week at Horne Creek Living Historical Farm.

A trip back in time — officially known as Christmas By Lamplight — began a two-day run Tuesday at the state historic site in Pinnacle, providing appreciative area residents a taste of what Christmas was like in the early 1900s.

The rooms of the former Hauser family farmhouse highlighted a variety of old-time Christmas traditions.

In the parlor downstairs, Lisa Turney, site manager at the farm, sat at an antique organ and performed such classics as “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and “O Come All Ye Faithful,” while others gathered around to sing. Outside in a nearby barn, a cow mooed its approval at one point, drawing a chuckle from people waiting on the front porch.

In an upstairs bedroom filled with about 25 visitors, Rick Jessup, a veteran interpreter at the farm, described how Christmas traditions of the early days of the U.S. had migrated from the old country. Jessup pointed out the holiday actually originated with the Romans in 340 AD.

Meanwhile, another volunteer with the farm read “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” and the Christmas story elsewhere in the old house, with holiday crafts of yesteryear highlighted in another.

Blazing fireplaces enhanced the atmosphere at virtually every stop, while adding a rustic warmth to the occasion.

During the program that ran from 4 to 8 p.m., visitors were shuttled to the farmhouse in four one-hour segments. They experienced the various activities that were presented by about 25 people, including farm staff members and volunteers dressed in vintage clothing.

Each of the four tours culminated with the serving of chicken stew cooked in a side yard in a huge pot over open flames, with visitors eating meals underneath enclosed tents nearby.

“It was wonderful,” said Debra Brintle of Mount Airy after the group she was part of finished its visit. She came to the farm Tuesday night with her four sisters, Brenda Hall and Donnies Johnson, also of the Mount Airy area, and Norma Atkins of Winston-Salem.

“We were kind of brought up like that on a farm,” Atkins said. The four sisters were among 11 children of a Surry County tobacco-farming family, and said they could identify with the old-time ways highlighted by the various activities at the farm.

For example, Hall said she remembers sleeping on a feather tick bed and experiencing other ways of a simpler time — including outhouses, she added with a chuckle.

Tuesday night was the first time the sisters had participated in the Christmas By Lamplight event, which has been held since 1993.

Brintle said the highlight for her was the story-telling and hearing about Christmases of the past.

“We loved the chicken stew,” Hall added.

Dot Moore, who has been part of the Christmas By Lamplight program for years, said nostalgia is one of its main attractions. “It’s amazing how many people come through and say, ‘Oh, that resembles my grandma’s fireplace,’” Moore said while gathered with volunteers in the kitchen of the historic farmhouse.

However, Moore said the holiday event draws people of all ages to the farm, which throughout the year illustrates the agricultural roots of rural North Carolina to some 30,000 visitors.

The Christmas program will be held again Thursday, with one-hour sessions planned at 4, 5, 6 and 7 p.m. Reservations are required due to limited availability, at a cost of $8 for adults and $5 for children ages 6 through 12. Admission is free for those 5 and younger. Reservations can be made at 325-2298.

Horne Creek Living Historical Farm is accessible from U.S. 52 via Exit 129 at Pinnacle, by taking Perch Road to Hauser Road. The farm is about six miles from U.S. 52, with brown state historic signs leading the way.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.