MAGNOLIA MANOR SET TO OPEN FOR HOLIDAY TOURS AND BAZAAR; 45TH ANNUAL HOLIDAY HOUSE OPENS THURSDAY

CAIRO, Ill. -- Last year, Lynne Deweese took the tour of the Magnolia Manor's Holiday House and fell in love with the historic mansion.

This season, Deweese volunteered to help and has been driving the 30 miles from her home in Clinton, Ky., since July.

"I would think everyone wants to come here and help," she said. "I've fallen in love with the house."

The 45th annual Holiday House opens Thursday from 1 to 5 p.m. The manor is open for tours Nov. 27 through 30 and again Dec. 6 and 7. A $5 donation is requested. Throughout the week, holiday luncheons are served by reservation only.

Deweese is a retired florist. She prepared all the hand-crafted decorations that are for sale throughout the house.

Each year as the manor's main fund-raising effort, the house is decorated for Christmas. The decorations are sold and proceeds used to maintain the manor. Tours of Holiday House have become an annual event for many, along with the luncheons.

The holiday decoration theme is "Christmas With All the Trimmings."

"Every nook and cranny is decorated," Deweese said.

A decorated Christmas tree stands in nearly every room. Wreathes decorate all the windows.

The tree in the library includes a full nativity scene tucked into the branches.

"The master bedroom, we think, is breathtaking," she said. "It rings in the millennium with Calla Lilies and glittering silver and gold accents. It is dazzling and icy in the master bedroom."

Another upstairs bedroom, where U.S. Grant once slept, is decorated in a Charles Dickens theme.

The children's room is decorated with Raggedy Ann and Andy, who are celebrating their 80th birthday this year. The governess' room is done in reds and golds with family ornaments. The tree standing in the doorway that connects the two rooms is decorated on one side for the children and the other for the governess.

The curved stairway is draped with tobacco canvas and spirals hang from the high stairway onto the fabric. "Tobacco canvas is the fabric they cover tobacco fields with," Deweese said. "But it's not at all like it sounds. It is actually a sheer material."

Deweese started the decoration job in July when she went to market. "We put up the first tree Halloween day."

The finishing touches are being applied today.

"I'm absolutely loving it," Deweese said. "The house is loaded with history and with original furniture of the Galighers. We've tried to keep our decorations tasteful to the home."

The four-story, red brick Victorian mansion was built 128 years ago by Charles Galigher, owner of a successful flour mill in Cairo. He accumulated his fortune by selling flour for hardtack to the government during the Civil War. He also became friends with Gen. U.S. Grant.

Galigher designed much of the house himself, including unique round bricks used as decoration on the chimney and other places in the mansion.

From 1871 to 1952, the 14-room mansion was home to four private owners: Charles Galigher, H.H. Candee, P.T. Langan and Fain W. King.

In 1952, the Cairo Historical Association formed and decided to undertake preservation of the home as its first project. The Galigher home became Magnolia Manor.

Galigher's youngest son, C. Fred, donated many original family pieces to the museum and helped the historians place items like an umbrella stand, paintings and china in the places they held when he was a child.

While the historical society employs a full-time curator, much of the work for the Holiday House is done by volunteers.

"It's a real tradition here," Deweese said. "We are proud to say that we do not use anything over again. All the decorations are new every year."

In addition to the sale of the holiday decorations, a bazaar is held and home-baked items are sold.