by It was a short detour to Cambridge, Ohio to step back in time to see the Dickens Victorian Village, which I lured Doug into under the pretense of it being literary-related.
It’s the 19th year the town has displayed scenes of Victorian life primarily on one street over several blocks. More than 90 dioramas feature 180 “lifelike” figures, each one created by hand by a member of the Cambridge community, doing things like singing carols, sitting, shopping, singing carols, sitting, and shopping. There were some other vignettes, too, but the above scenes seemed to be the most popular.
The scenes had lovely attention to detail and were in remarkably good condition given that many were outdoors and must see a lot of weather and human interaction. It didn’t take long to walk the area and see them all, and only a few made me think “that’s kinda creepy.”
We visited on a Sunday evening, when everything was shut down already, so it was pretty quiet and we had it almost all to ourselves. However, it’s clear that can be quite a hectic scene, with busloads of tourist arriving.
There is also a light show on the 1881 courthouse, which can best be described as “something else.” With 36 animated light displays, 30,000 lights, and blaring music, it was a bit out of place with the Victorian Village vibe.
The cover photo to this post is Christmas Courting.
