Christmas in Schoharie on December 3

Enjoy baking all day at the Old Stone Fort Museum on December 3rd and see the bake oven in action from 10am – 3pm

Who’s ready for Christmas?? This event will help you get into the holiday spirit and maybe you’ll even get some Christmas shopping done! There will be a visit from Sinterklaas along with plenty baking and cooking demos.

The Old Stone Fort was built as a High Dutch (German) Reformed church in 1772. 

It was the third building erected by the congregation of the Palatine German settlement of Fuchs Dorf (Fox Town).  Builders chiseled parishioners’ names into the stones. They include many of the early families of the valley.

Through the Civil War and until 1873 it was used as a militia/National Guard armory.  Then the state turned it over to Schoharie County for preservation. In 1889, the Schoharie County Historical Society was chartered to operate a museum at the old fort and by 1899 a catalog of 2,500 items was published.

For the past 125 years, visitors have learned about the first Dutch and German settlers in the Schoharie Valley and their Indian neighbors, viewing artifacts that date back to the early 1700s — including a fire engine built before George Washington was born!  Stories of the Revolutionary War on the frontier are illustrated with muskets, swords, powder horns, and even the British cannonball that was recovered from a roof beam during renovations in the 1830s.  A double-barreled rifle attributed to legendary marksman Timothy Murphy who served here and remained after the war is a highlight.  A Civil War Sesquicentennial Exhibit was installed in 2011 recognizing the soldiers from Schoharie County that served from Fort Sumter (literally!) to Appomattox.