December 12, 2007

From the sugar coated front stoop to the icing laced Christmas wreath, Ashlawn-Highland is decked for the holidays.

"So they come into the house and all of a sudden there is the house that's made out of sugar. Just to think that you could eat it if you wanted too!" explained pastry chef, Jenny Peterson.

Peterson calls this her labor of love, and rightfully so. Some 30 hours went into making this sugared structure.

"I had to come out and take pictures and you get graph paper out and you scale it and I like the intricacies of that," said Peterson.

While gingerbread houses probably weren't on the menu when Presidet Monroe once lived here, it's a sweet allure that helps even the youngest historians learn anout the era.

"They can understand that the smells they love seeing how people go in the pots and pans on the hearth is interesting to them and different," said Martha Bar, a kitchen interpreter at Ashlawn-Highland.

So to keep visitation up during the Christmas season, this 25 pound gingerbread house stands proudly in the center of this historic home for all to see and smell.

"I'll just have a shudder. Thank you! Just a wreath," joked Peterson.

Tasting it however, is off limits.

Wednesday, December 12 happens to be Gingerbread House Day.