The Christmas season seems to start earlier and earlier every year. The Christmas celebration of today is highly commercialized. Rocky Mount State Historic Site’s “A Candlelight Christmas” tours are a chance to look back at a simpler time and experience a simpler celebration – when people did not count down the shopping days until Christmas and when Christmas advertisements and reminders did not go up in October. Candlelight Christmas takes you to Christmas Eve of 1791. It is an evening with the Cobb family showing you their home and sharing their holiday traditions with you. You will take candle-lit walks through the buildings filled with handmade decorations of greenery as it would have been in 1791.

“A Candlelight Christmas” is a new way to come and see an old favorite. This tour is completely different from our daily tour and captures a different side of life in 1791. Come feel the warmth of the fire on your skin and the warmth of the season in your heart. Start a new tradition this year by attending our “A Candlelight Christmas” tour.

Tours begin at 4:30 p.m. each day (Nov. 30th and Dec. 1st & Dec. 7th and 8th) and leave the Massengill Museum every fifteen minutes with the last tour going out at 8:00 p.m. Guests will travel outside to get to the historic home and other buildings so make sure to dress for the weather. The tour lasts approximately an hour and a half and costs $12 for adults and $8 receive a fifty percent discount. Reservations are strongly encouraged, although walk-in visitors are welcome. Group rates are available for groups of twelve or more people. In order to receive group rates, reservations are required. Reservations are now being taken. To make a reservation or for more information, call (423) 538-7396 or 888-538-1791.

Join Josh Smith and City officials at 7 p.m. Friday, November 30, when the community Christmas tree is lit for the season at its new location, beneath the Johnson City landmark sign in King Commons. Musical entertainment will begin at 6 p.m. and will feature the Johnson City Senior Chorale, Science Hill Chamber Ensemble and Indian Trail Choir. The Johnson City Public Library will provide activities for children, and hot chocolate and cookies will be provided by Our Savior Lutheran Church.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, local officials will lead the crowd in a community singalong of the 12 Days of Christmas before everyone is invited to Main Street for the Hometown Holiday Street Fest. Then, on Saturday morning, the Johnson City Christmas Parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. at ETSU, traveling down West Walnut Street and through Downtown. The Pavilion at Founders Park will be transformed into Whoville Village following the parade, from noon-2 p.m., with tons of activities for kids.

For more information about the parade, visit https://www.jcchristmasparade.org/.