2022 Summer Classes and Events listed soon
Country Christmas, December 11, 2021 10am-4pm
We’re getting ready to celebrate.
The only thing missing is you! Join us for A Country Christmas at Musée de Venoge and the Thiebaud Farmstead on Saturday December 11 from 10 am – 4 pm.
Raise your voice in song. There will be Christmas Carols and stories. Warm yourself around the hearth and raise a toast with a hot glass of Wassail! Be sure to fill your plate to sample our delicious treats!
As our Christmas gift to you; all this merriment doesn’t cost a dime! Country Christmas at Musée de Venoge and the Thiebaud Farmstead is FREE.
Past Events
Note: In 2020 and part of 2021 events were postponed.
Country Christmas, December 14, 2019
Musée de Venoge and the Thiebaud Farmstead join together to celebrate two different Country Christmas celebrations in Switzerland County. Have a simple Country Christmas at 1820’s Venoge then travel in time to the 1860’s Thiebaud Farmstead and enjoy the beginnings of our modern Christmas festivities.
Take a look at pictures from previous Christmas events.
Domestic Skills Frolic, May 4-5 2019
Spend a day and a half in this charming 1828 farmstead with period furnishings in the rural setting of Switzerland County, Indiana. It will be an immersive experience with hearth cooking, using the bake oven, decorative arts, a musical evening and an introduction to basic sewing and rural fashion in the early 19th century.
Using the museum’s hearth and bake oven, participants will team up with the cooks of Venoge to prepare lunch and supper on Saturday. Breakfast on Sunday is provided. Classes and discussions range from local French-Swiss history, early 19th c medicinal herbs to basic sewing techniques and rural fashion from 1800 to 1820. You will have the opportunity to make herbed vinegar with herbs from the Venoge garden and vinegar grain paint a paper mache box. All will learn the ins and outs of making the early 19th c bed… beginning with stringing the ropes! Spend your evening with period music and tavern games. Sessions will be in the main house and the newly built barn.
Modern facilities and electric are on site. You can sleep in the house (four beds in the house, 2 beds to a room, (one is a trundle bed) and one bed and three available cots in the barn (bring your own bedding), first come first served. A large marquee will be set up for additional sleeping (bring your own bedding). Motels are close by in Vevay or in nearby Madison.
Please keep in mind that historic receipts do not always follow modern-day dietary needs and restrictions, and plan accordingly.
Submit the form below to pre-register
You will be contacted for event payment to complete registration
Registration is $75.00
Payment must be received by April 30th
Registration is limited to 15
July 4th, 1815, June 29, 2019 10 am – 5 pm, free event
We celebrate Independence Day, 1815 style!
The War of 1812 has ended and Indiana is on the verge of statehood. The patriotic custom of celebrating The Fourth of July by the Swiss settlers began in Switzerland County in 1805. The daylong event includes the reading of the Declaration of Independence, orations given by citizens, thirteen toasts to the Republic, country dancing, music, hearth cooking and trades people selling their wares. At Venoge we recreate that festive celebration!
Partial schedule:
11:00 am. Musical performance by the Traveling Caudell’s in the Applecore Inn.
11:30 am. Forget-me-nots country dancing on the lawn.
1:00 pm. Firing of the National Salute. (One cannon shot for each state in the Union for 1815. Plus one for Indiana anticipated)
2:45 pm. Fife and drum music
3:00 pm. Patriotic orations and reading of the Declaration of Independence
Take a look at pictures from our last event and then join us at Venoge for great family fun.
Decorative Art Summer Classes
Classes will be back next year!
Planning is underway to select a few new decorative arts to learn about or bring back a few from past summers.
Take a look at pictures from previous classes.
Enjoy two sites in Switzerland County that reflect the rural nature of the area and its history. Musee de Venoge and the Thiebaud Farmstead celebrate the harvest season during the annual Rural Heritage Tour.
Take a look at pictures from the last Rural Heritage Tour.
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