The Stickley Museum hosts Twilight Tours

This winter, the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms invites visitors to experience the historical site in a whole new light.

In addition to the standard tours that run from Thursday through Sunday, the museum’s Fresh Eyes Tours series is offered on a rotating annual schedule to provide both returning and first-time visitors with new opportunities to experience Craftsman Farms, the former home of noted designer Gustav Stickley.

In January and February, the Fresh Eyes Tour series will offer Evenings at Craftsman Farms: The Twilight Tour. The after-hours tour offers visitors a rare opportunity to experience the property at night.

“We first developed the Twilight Tour because we wanted to give visitors the opportunity to see Gustav Stickley’s Log House in the evening. It’s especially beautiful at that time, and for so long, only museum staff ever got to see it,” said Kristen McCauley, education manager for The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms. The Twilight Tours will be offered at 5 p.m. on three Saturdays: Jan. 31, Feb. 7, and Feb. 14. Tickets are $5 for museum members, and $12 for non-members. Advance reservations are required.

The tour begins at twilight in the North Cottage before visitors head to Gustav Stickley’s Log House in the evening. “The North Cottage was one of the first buildings Stickley constructed at Craftsman Farms, and was briefly home to his daughter Mildred and her family,” McCauley said. One of the first structures built at Craftsman Farms, the North Cottage is only open on special occasions, and offers visitors the opportunity to sit in and touch original Stickley furnishings.

“The interiors of the Stickley home are especially peaceful in the evening, and the original copper and glass Craftsman Workshops lanterns give off a lovely, warm amber glow — it’s unlike anywhere else,” she said.

Through the history of Gustav Stickley and his family, the tour will explore the development of electricity in New Jersey, and the part it played in daily life at Craftsman Farms.

“The Twilight Tour gave us the opportunity to further explore the history of the development of electricity,” McCauley said. “As a working farm with electricity, the Stickleys’ home was decades ahead of 90 percent of rural farms in the United States.”

The tour ends with a visit to the museum shop, where participants can enjoy period music and light refreshments. “On one of the fireplace hoods in the Log House, there’s a motto that reads: ‘A world of strife shut out, and a world of love shut in,’ ” she said. “Our daily lives can be so hectic and filled with stress. After a long day, I think visitors will enjoy this leisurely tour that relishes in the calm and tranquility of evenings at Craftsman Farms.”

TWILIGHT TOURS

WHEN: 5 p.m. Jan. 31, Feb. 7 and Feb. 14

WHERE The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms, 2352 Rt. 10 West, Morris Plains

COST: $12 per person, or $5 for museum members

INFORMATION: Advance registration can be made at stickleymuseum.org, by calling 973-540-0311, or e-mailing education@stickleymuseum.org.