  
Celebrate the Holidays with a Visit to the Charming New Dollhouse Display at the Brandywine River Museum
A Brandywine Christmas features a large dollhouse once owned by Ann Wyeth McCoy
with furnishings crafted by hand by members of the Wyeth family
Chadds Ford, PA October 3, 2011 The Brandywine River Museum is all dolled up for the holidays with a "step-in" dollhouse whose rooms are filled with exquisite hand-crafted furnishings, a large display of rare antique dolls, its popular O-gauge model traindisplay covering 2,000 feet of track, and thousands of whimsical "critter" ornaments made from natural materials, all on view from November 25 through January 8.
This year is the debut of Ann Wyeth McCoy's dollhouse, measuring 8 x 10 feet and standing 9 ½ feet high. While the dollhouse is large enough for two adults to step inside, the rooms and furnishings are sized for dolls measuring only 16 to 24 inches. Because of space limitations, visitors will see the dollhouse, surrounded by re-creations of its rooms, filled with Mrs. McCoy's antique dolls and hundreds of miniature furnishings.
A life-long doll collector, Mrs. McCoy received her first dollhouse in 1966 from her husband, artist John McCoy. He renovated an outdoor shed, dividing the interior into two floors and six main rooms, adding a bow window, a chimney and a front porch.
Mrs. McCoy decorated the rooms and furnished them with doll-sized furniture, rugs and other accessories. Most of the furniture was hand-crafted by John McCoy and by Nathaniel Wyeth, Ann's older brother, although many members of the extended Wyeth family contributed special pieces to the house. Rugs and curtains and other items were made for the house, and still other pieces were purchased from antiques shops.
Mrs. McCoy re-arranged the dolls and furnishings each year. Her special delight was decorating the house for Christmas, recalling her own childhood when her father, the renowned artist N.C. Wyeth, created marvelous Christmas celebrations for his family. From a Christmas tree to the scaled reproduction of N.C. Wyeth's Old Kris that hangs above the mantelpiece in the living room, the McCoy dollhouse is a delightful miniature world.
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