Annual Christmas Tea

The land behind the museum’s name

In the 19th century, the U.S. government removed Native nations from across the country to Indian Territory. A northern part of present-day Oklahoma had been granted by treaty to the Cherokee Nation as an outlet to the west. The federal government later relocated the Osage, Kaw, Ponca, Pawnee, Nez Perce, Otoe-Missouria and Tonkawa to the eastern part of the Outlet.

The region’s history also includes Cherokee cattle leases: after the Civil War, the Cherokee leased Outlet grasslands to the Cherokee Strip Livestock Association. Under pressure from settlers seeking land, the Cherokee sold the Outlet to the federal government for $8,505,736, about $1.40 per acre.

The land opened to homesteaders at noon on Sept. 16, 1893. The Oklahoma Historical Society describes it as the largest land run in history: more than 100,000 people raced for 40,000 homesteads, as well as town lots. The museum interprets early Oklahoma from the 1893 opening through the 1930s, placing the Tea at a site with a specific, contested local history—not making the gathering itself a history program.

Further reading: Cherokee Strip Museum and Rose Hill School | Oklahoma Historical Society ↗

Rose Hill School is a different program

The grounds include Rose Hill School, a one-room schoolhouse built northeast of Perry in 1895 and moved to the museum in 1971. It retains most of its original furnishings, including a cast-iron stove and wooden two-seater desks. Schools of this kind served students from first through eighth grade.

Since 1988, the schoolhouse has hosted A Day at Rose Hill School, a separate living-history program for third- and fourth-grade students about rural school life in 1910. Its classroom activities include cursive writing, slate-board arithmetic and reading from McGuffey’s readers, as well as chores and games. The Christmas Tea listing does not include a school session or classroom activities.

Further reading: A Day at Rose Hill School | Oklahoma Historical Society ↗ · Cherokee Strip Museum and Rose Hill School | Oklahoma Historical Society ↗ · Annual Christmas Tea | OHS Calendar ↗