Discover the Spirit of a Civil War Christmas at Fort Ward

Fort Ward Museum
December 14
12-4 p.m.
Free, suggested donation $2 per person, $5 for families

Get in the holiday spirit and learn how Christmas was observed during the Civil War at Fort Ward Museum’s annual Civil War Christmas in Camp program on Saturday, December 14, 2024, from 12-4 p.m.  This popular family-oriented event features a patriotic Civil War Santa Claus, reenactors in winter camp settings, and period decorations.  The suggested donation is $2 per person, and $5 for families.

The program features a Civil War-era Union Santa Claus, based on an 1863 cover of Harper’s Weekly by artist Thomas Nast, who will interact with the public, welcome children to the reconstructed Officers’ Hut, and visit soldiers in camp.  Reenactors will interpret army life in winter camps that are decorated for the season, and celebrate by opening Christmas boxes from home, singing carols of the period around the campfire, and preparing holiday meals.  The Museum will be decorated with festive greenery and a Victorian parlor tree.  Children can make a holiday card or ornament.  A variety of Civil War books and “stocking stuffers” are available in the Museum shop.

Fort Ward is the best preserved of the Union forts in the extensive system known as the Defenses of Washington.  The Museum offers exhibits and public programs throughout the year.  Fort Ward Museum & Historic Site is located at 4301 West Braddock Road in the City of Alexandria.  For more information about this program, please call 703.746.4848, or visit alexandria.gov/FortWard.

For reasonable disability accommodation, contact Nicole Quinn at historicalexandria@alexandriava.gov or call 703.746.4554, Virginia Relay 711. 

If you prefer communication in another language, free interpretation and translation services are available to you, please email LanguageAccess@alexandriava.gov or call 703-746-3960. 

For inquiries from the news media only, contact the Office of Communications & Community Engagement at newsroom@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.3969. 

About the Office of Historic Alexandria 

The Office of Historic Alexandria preserves and shares the history of the City of Alexandria with eight museums, historic sites, archives, archaeology, tours, exhibits and public programs. Through powerful storytelling and confronting the City’s past, Historic Alexandria enriches the present and inspires the future. We enhance the quality of life for residents and visitors and serve as a partner in the City’s equity and inclusion initiatives. For more information, visit alexandriava.gov/Historic.