Piatt Castle Mac-A-Cheek, 10051 Township Road 47, one mile east of West Liberty, hosts special activities celebrating springtime on Saturday, April 8, with a free intergenerational program that starts at 4 p.m.
Participants can enjoy hands-on games and activities from The American Girls and Boys Handy Books, published in the 1880s. Activities are planned for both indoors and outside on the lawns.
In case of an extreme rain storm, outdoor games will be adapted for inside play.
Inside the historic house museum, children will be invited to make an Easter card pictured in the 19th century Handy Books and to color another from the Piatt family collection.
An exhibit of 19th and 20th century Easter cards will be on view. Families can share their own spring holiday customs and learn about spring-time stories in Piatt family celebrations. Indoors and outdoors, children can play historical egg games from other countries including the German basket toss and an Irish game with rhyme.
Outside, all can enjoy an Easter egg roll like the one first played at the White House lawn when Ohioan Rutherford B. Hayes was president. The festivities conclude with an Easter egg hunt, where teams search for eggs hidden by others. No one leaves without an egg of treats.
This program is free with support to the Mac-A-Cheek Foundation for the Humanities (MFH), a nonprofit organization, from the Mary Eleanor Morris Fund of the Columbus Foundation and Historical Holiday Series Sponsor, Thomas Murphy, AV Technical Design and All Phase Electric.
Historical Easter Customs on April 8 is the first of nine free events at Piatt Castle Mac-A-Cheek in 2023.
Visit www.piattcastle.org for details including the April 29 Arbor Day Program, Trees: Past, Present, and Future. Registration on the website is encouraged for both Historical Easter Customs and Arbor Day.
Starting April 15, Piatt Castle Mac-A-Cheek opens for public tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the weekends. Weekdays are reserved for group tours until Memorial Day weekend when the site is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week through Labor Day weekend, after which it returns to the weekend schedule.
Admissions from tours support the Mac-A-Cheek Foundation for the Humanities, a 501c3 nonprofit organization that produces educational experiences at the historic house museum.