The Nichols House Museum will offer guests a look behind the scenes, including a glimpse into the domestic work that went into keeping the house operational during the Victorian era, as well as how staff today manages its preservation, during the upcoming “Hidden Spaces of the Nichols House Museum” tours.
Scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 26, at 6 p.m.; Friday, Aug. 27, at 11 a.m.; Sunday, Aug. 29, at 11 a.m. and noon; Thursday, Sept. 23, at 6 p.m.; Friday, Sept. 24, at 11 a.m.; and Sunday, Sept. 26 at 11 a.m. and noon, the tours will each last around one hour and include visits to room and spaces in the museum not ordinarily open to the public. (Tour-goers will have to walk up three flights of stairs, and masks are required.)
“We were looking at trying to create an experience where if you had already come in for our regular tour, you could come in for this and have a different experience,” said Barbra Callahan, the museum’s public engagement manager, who is organizing the new tour programming. “There are a lot of stories to tell here, and we saw the opportunity to share things not normally shared, that would include going up the back stairs and going to the fourth floor, which is never on view.”
The fourth floor holds the archives, where tour-goers, will get to look at “some interesting artifacts,” said Callahan, that aren’t included on the museum’s traditional tours of its first three floors.
Guests will also visit the Nichols House’s backyard to take a peek inside a historic shed, as well as to see the building from the back.
Callahan said they are training additional staff, and depending on the turnout of the initial “Hidden Spaces” tours, they could add more dates, possibly holding one each week in the future.
The Nichols House Museum has also already expanded its tour hours, she said, and is continuing to do so in conjunction with the upcoming “Hidden Spaces” tours.
Admission to the Hidden Spaces of the Nichols House Museum” is $12 for museum members and $17 for non-members. Registration, which is by a first come, first served basis, is available online ta www.nicholshousemuseum.org.