BUSINESS BUZZ
Christmases past by Michael J. DeCicco
December will be the time to enjoy the sights holiday season and learn about the New Bedford’s past traditions.
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n Thursday, December 14, the Rotch-Jones-Duff House & Garden Museum will open for its Christmas on County program. Visitors will be able to tour the halls of the mansion decked out for the holiday season and hear from docents about some of the unique holiday customs held by residents of the house in years past. Lauren Prescott, Manager of Collections and Interpretation, said there will be a Christmas tree elaborately decorated in modern fashion in the first floor parlor where Beatrice Duff regularly placed her Christmas Tree in the late 1970s (for years, her mother, also named Beatrice, had placed it in the front hall on the second floor until daughter Beatrice wanted its regular location moved). The downstairs dining room will be designed for a holiday dinner party. The table settings and furniture will be a 19th-century design against wallpaper that is in the 1930s style installed by the Duffs. Upstairs,
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visitors will find a stunningly large nativity scene designed by Peruvian artist Luis Duffy-Baraybar. But it's the stories of past Christmas celebrations at the Rotch-Jones-Duff House that will let visitors imagine what past Chrristmases were like in the stately mansion. The house's first owner, William Rotch, Jr., wouldn’t have had much of a Christmas celebration or displayed any decorations, Prescott said. That’s the first surprise of the house’s Christmas history. Rotch was a Quaker who didn’t make much of a fuss about Christmas, which wasn't celebrated in a large way until the 1850s. He acquired the property as part of land owned by his father, William Rotch Sr., who passed the parcel to his children after his death in 1828. The property was deeded to William Jr. on July 5, 1831.
Generations
“The most information we have is about the Jones family,” Prescott said. “They were the second owners
December 2023 | The South Coast Insider
of the home, and they lived here from 1851 until 1935. Edward Coffin Jones purchased the home and lived here with his daughters Emma, Amelia, and Sarah, until he died in 1880. Amelia continued living here until her death in 1935.” She said the Jones Family celebrated Christmas as early as the 1850s, when the Jones daughters were young children. “We have numerous books in our library with inscriptions to various Jones family members for Christmas, ranging from 1854 through to the 20th century,” she noted. Rotch House historians know from Emma Jones’ papers found at the Whaling Museum that the Jones Family held one of the largest Christmas parties in the house in 1871. The guest list, Prescott said, included 28 people, probably friends who lived in the area. According to Emma, each guest purchased a gift of no more than $1 (about $25 today) – a limit set by Amelia. The gifts were placed on the branches of the Christmas tree along with a verse or note written
