Danville garden club prepares for annual Green Tea tradition

Published 10:00 am Tuesday, December 2, 2025

By Special to the Advocate-Messenger

Danville garden club prepares for annual Green Tea tradition

Special to the Advocate-Messenger

Much has changed in Danville over the past 61 years, but some old local traditions remain. The Garden Club of Danville still welcomes every Christmas season with a holiday tea at the McDowell House Museum, across the street from Constitution Square in downtown Danville. Aside from two cancellations because of snow and a Covid hiatus, the tea has been held every year since 1964. This year it will be on Sunday, December 7, from 2:00-4:00.

That first tea over half a century ago was for members of the club and guests only, but it wasn’t long before the public was invited. There is no charge, but donations are accepted for the Salvation Army, just as they have been since the tea’s beginning. The club later added donations for Family Services Association of Boyle County and, more recently, Central Kentucky Wildlife Refuge.

Long ago members chose the name “Green Tea” not for the greenery used to decorate the house, but for the color of dollar bills collected for local charities. Thousands of Green Tea dollars have been collected over the years for those in need of assistance in the community.

Garden Club members make fresh evergreen wreaths to hang in the windows and double front doors of the house. Individual gardeners pick a spot in one of the rooms of the historic house to decorate with natural greenery, flowers, fruit, and dried materials. No modern, artificial decorations are permitted. They will bring materials from home gardens and spend a busy day making the house look as it might have when Dr. and Mrs. Ephraim McDowell and their six children lived there.

The McDowells were known for warmly welcoming friends and travelers alike to their elegant home. In that same tradition, the Garden Club provides homemade cookies, cakes, tea sandwiches, and candies. The formal dining table will be set with linens, china, silver, and candles. The “tea” is actually hotspiced cider served by past presidents of the club.

Music will again be provided by the Danville Dulcimers of Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, who have generously donated their time and talents in recent years. Guests are welcome to sing along with the dulcimers when Christmas carols are played.

Visitors will be able to tour the home, where rooms are furnished with early 19th century antiques and paintings. The house was built in stages between 1792 and 1804, with a small office added in 1820. In this house on Christmas morning in 1809, Dr. McDowell performed the world’s first successful abdominal surgery, removing a large tumor from Jane Todd Crawford without anesthesia or antiseptics. She recovered and lived another 32 years.

Dr. McDowell and his family lived there from 1802 until his death in 1830, when the house was sold. Eventually, the house was absorbed into the lively African American commercial district on Second Street. Dr. McDowell’s office became a shoeshine parlor, and the second floor “operating room” was used as a dump for ashes from upstairs fireplaces.

Concerned about the deteriorating condition of a significant site of medical history, the Kentucky Medical Association bought the house in 1935 and had it restored. In the 1950s, the Kentucky Pharmaceutical Society restored the apothecary shop on the premises. The home was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Visitors are also welcome to tour the home’s two gardens. The Apothecary Garden features herbs Dr. McDowell may have used in his practice. It was designed and is cared for by the Garden Club. The formal walled garden is beautiful even in winter.

For those who have never toured this Danville landmark, the Green Tea would be a perfect opportunity. Those who haveattended past teas already know what a treat awaits on December 7.