For its second year, the Greenbelt Museum hosted a sneak peek of their Holiday Open House at the Museum's Historic House Friday night.  

The museum, which is usually only open during the daytime hours, is decorated for the holiday season with a multitude of historical artifacts, antique fixtures and vintage furniture and decor. Visitors were able to get an idea of what the modern homes for the first Greenbelters looked like in the late 1930s and early 1940s through the items in their collection which are only showcased once every year.

The early community of Greenbelt, although segregated, was heavily integrated by many religious affiliations; all of which gathered at the Center School.  The town was racially segregated, but it was integrated religiously. 63 percent were protestant, 30 percent Roman Catholic and 7 percent Jewish.

The Center School was known as the meeting place for the many different communities, until the residents began to self-organize and the community would later build their own churches for worship. The Museum Curator, Megan Searing Young, passed down an oral history lesson to those who stopped by.

Museum tour guide, Stephen Oetken was proud to be a part of the exhibit and to teach visitors on the history of Greenbelt, which from the beginning of its construction and establishment was envisioned to be a community "living together and living cooperatively."

Friday night's event was a kick-off to the free Holiday Open House taking place on Dec. 4 from 10 a.m. to 5  p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 5 from 11am to 4pm.  Visitors can also purchase unique holiday gifts and museum souvenirs at the Museum's booth at the Festival of Lights Juried Art and Craft Fair on Saturday, Dec 4.  Those who cannot attend the events this weekend are invited to visit the museum for tours and shopping on Wednesday, Dec. 8 and 15 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.