Fall family fun: Last weekend's 'Halloween at Gunston Hall'

Last weekend Gunston Hall held a fun Halloween event. If you haven't been to the museum and enjoy history or architecture, I highly recommend a visit. I'd visited the property a few times, however, what I didn't realize was the site also held various annual events throughout the year.

During one of my last visits to Gunston, the home of George Mason, I was told about its Halloween event, so I put a note on my calendar to attend this year. If you aren't familiar with Mason (not being a native Virginian, I wasn't!), he wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights and was one of the framers of the U.S. Constitution. Anyway, that is another story and another post. 

The event on Sat., Oct. 25 was a lot of fun. Set up to be fun with a splash of spooky, the event included face painting, pumpkin painting, storytelling, mask-making, burying ground tours by lantern and much more. 

Entrance to the mansion

A family fun event - while the kids were getting faces painted, some adults got tattoos.

Mask-making

Who is lurking in the basement - BOO!

Entrance to the Mason family cemetery. There was some unusual stuff going on in there on Oct. 25!

Additionally, regular house tours were available (which of course, I took again as the architecture and inside design is beautiful). The event was held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and a good time was had by all.

Look who was lurking in the pathway to the Mason family cemetery....

The next event will be held on Veterans' Day to honor the men and women who have served. Tours will also explain how George Mason helped create an army and a navy for Virginia. On Sat., Dec. 6 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., Gunston Hall will hold "Plantation Christmas". Visitors can ride in a horse-drawn carriage, sip warm cider by a fire and taste Colonial-era food prepared in the property's kitchen. Santa is also going to make an appearance.