Decking the Halls at the Sikes Adobe

A holiday decorating event titled "Festive Farmhouse" will take place at the Sikes Adobe Historic Farmstead on Saturday from 1-3 p.m. This will be the first Christmas celebration held at the farmstead since it was destroyed during the 2007 Witch Creek fire. The structure, located at 12655 Sunset Dr. in Escondido, reopened in June following a total restoration.

"We will be decorating a tree and portions of the house with a Victorian sensibility, using materials from those days," said Anne Cooper, museum manager. "We'll make stringed popcorn and paper chains."

The original Sikes Adobe was built by Zenas and Eliza Sikes around 1869 when they and their six children settled on 2,400 acres that were previously part of Rancho San Bernardo. Zenas Sikes became the first postmaster of the new town named Bernardo.

Cooper explained that the goal is to replicate a scene from an old photograph thought to have been taken inside the farmstead at Christmas around 1890. It pictures a tabletop tree decorated with what appears to be stringed popcorn and a Christmas card. Wrapped presents are placed underneath the tree.

"The Christmas tree will be displayed in the parlor because that was the center of family activities," Cooper said. "I bought a special table for it."

Museum docents will bring additional greenery to decorate the rest of house. Docent Lucy Berk will contribute a Victorian village scene made of china which will be placed beneath the tree.

Visitors also are asked to bring old Christmas cards which will be recycled into decorations.

The Sikes family supported itself by growing wheat, which was considered a cash crop in the 1880s and 1890s. As the family grew more prosperous, it expanded the rustic adobe into a seven-room Victorian farmhouse.

Following destruction during the 2007 Witch Creek fire, the farmstead was restored to its original beauty by I.S. Architecture of La Jolla and Mark Sauer Construction of Corona.

Cooper and the docents are continuing to furnish the rooms to interpret the family's daily life as it was during that period using community enhancement funding appropriated by the Board of Supervisors.

The Sikes Adobe is owned by the San Dieguito River Park. It is open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and on Sundays from 1-5 p.m. during the Sikes Adobe Farmstead Market. Guests also are invited to visit by appointment.

"We really encourage groups to come out for the day," Cooper said. "We've had Cub Scouts visit and do their laundry using a washboard and basin, then hanging their wash on a clothesline. We want the community to come out and do chores and other activities like those done by the Sikes family."

Admission to the Sikes Adobe is $3 per person, with no charge for chaperones.

The Sikes Adobe Historic Farmstead is located at 12655 Sunset Dr., Escondido, on the south side of Via Rancho Parkway across from Westfield North County Mall. For more information, call 760-432-8318.