l—xcited laughter echoes through the 

 main hall of Poplar Grove. The stately Greek 

 Revival plantation house on the fringe of 

 Wilmington is dressed for the holidays and filled 

 with the aroma of mulled cider and sweet cakes. 



It's how the Foy sisters — Mary Frances, 

 Abbey and Theresa — remember the holidays 

 in their historic homeplace. 



"We were bom and raised on the 

 plantation, and we all marned from this house," 

 recalls Mary Frances Foy Sanders, the youngest 

 of the trio of octogenarians. 



"At Christmas, the house was filled with 

 laughter, and there were lots of parties," Abbey 

 Foy Anger adds. "We square danced in the front 

 and back parlors." 



The sisters remember simple holidays — 

 a cedar tree cut from their land and decorated 

 with handmade ornaments, wreaths on doors, 

 greenery with red bows on the black walnut 

 banister lining the steep stairway, and scores 

 ofvisitors. 



"We never would get many toys. Perhaps 

 a baby doll. We treasured the apples and nuts 

 in our stockings," recalls Theresa Foy Hall. 



Memories flow as the sisters greet visitors 

 at the annual holiday open house, sponsored 

 by the Historic Poplar Grove Foundation. 



Scheduled this year for Sunday, Dec. 5 

 from noon until 5 p.m., the event is free and 

 open to the public. The nonprofit foundation, 

 which now owns and manages the homestead, 

 draws from the plantation's historic records 



— and especially from the sisters' vivid memories 



— to recreate the festive holiday atmosphere. 



The dining room table is set with the family 

 china and crystal. A typical holiday meal might 

 have been cured ham and oysters smoked in a 

 pit of burning marsh grass, the sisters say. 



12 HOLIDAY 2004 



