Williamstown resident Linda Mason plays an organ during the annual holiday open house at the Henry Fearing House Museum Saturday. The organ was made by the Stevens Organ and Piano Co., which was located at Gilman Avenue and Virginia Street. The factory closed after the flood of 1913. (Photo by Michele Newbanks)

MARIETTA — Visitors were able to step back in time this weekend to see holiday decorations from the Victorian era at the Henry Fearing House Museum in Harmar.

The museum hosted its annual holiday open house, where people could hear from docents about each room’s decorations. At the end of the tour, refreshments were served.

Volunteer Manager Mary Jo Hutchinson said the open houses have been held back into the 1990s and it was an annual event for fifth-grade students from Harmar Elementary. The students would make ornaments, then take a trip to the museum to place them on a special tree.

“This year, we don’t have Harmar School, so we didn’t know what we were going to do with the tree. We didn’t have anything on it, so we asked the members of the O’Neill Center if they would make ornaments for us,” Hutchinson said. “They had the daycare people make the reindeer. We’ll have to find someone every year to make ornaments for the tree.”

She said they enjoyed having the kids visit.

The ornament tree that normally showcases pieces from Harmar Elementary students, featured ornaments made by seniors from the O’Neill Center. Now that the elementary school is closed, other groups will get the chance to decorate ornaments for the tree. (Photo by Michele Newbanks)

“The fifth graders loved coming at Christmastime because after they got done decorating the tree, they got to go upstairs. They got to see the whole house and they were excited about that,” she said.

One of the decorations placed near the ornament tree is a nativity scene on a mantle. It’s small and plain, but special to the museum.

Volunteer Glen Wolfe said it was made by students many years ago in a one-room schoolhouse. The students molded the pieces and painted them, then a set was given to every family during the Christmas pageant.

“It’s been passed down by one of the students,” he said. “It’s nothing great, but made by the students and given to us. It’s part of the history of Washington County.”

The Henry Fearing House Museum has been a part of the history of Washington County since the 1800s.

Hutchinson said he was the son of Paul Fearing, the first attorney in town. He arrived in May 1788, just two months after the Ohio Company first landed.

Paul helped Fort Harmar, so when the fort was decommissioned, the commander gave his house in the fort to Paul, Hutchinson said.

Henry was born in 1798 and died in 1894. He was a businessman and owned a lot of property, she said.

“He was a partner in a store in Beverly and owned Merino sheep,” she added. “He was into almost everything. He had a lot of irons in the fire.”

He had five children with his first wife. One of his sons, Benjamin Dana Fearing, was a brigadier general in the Civil War.

Henry remarried after his first wife died and he built the house at 131 Gilman Ave. with his second wife.

The museum was purchased by the Washington County Historical Society in 1974, was remodeled, and reopened in 1982. It is open for tours from 1p.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays May through October.

Michele Newbanks can be reached at mnewbanks@mariettatimes.com.