Lowering Macculloch Hall's Famous Skinny Sister Chandelier

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum’s                             Skinny Sister Chandelier is having her spring cleaning!

Please join us for a special experience.  Macculloch Hall’s beautiful signature chandelier, the Skinny Sister, will be winched down on her steel cable for careful cleaning.  The Skinny Sister was purchased from the country estate of Hamilton and Florence Vanderbilt Twombly which is now home to the College at Florham.

In 1955 Macculloch Hall’s museum founder W. Parsons Todd attended the estate auction and purchased chandeliers, porcelains, furniture and oriental carpets to furnish the new museum.

Curator of Collections Ryan Hyman will share how the Skinny Sister got her name and other facts about this special piece, then spend about twenty minutes lowering the chandelier by a hand winch to just above the floor.  The first few turns of the winch often cause the 500-plus crystals to jingle and send prisms of colored light around the room. 

Last cleaned in 2005, this magnificent fixture hangs in the grand stairwell in the museum’s Center Hall.

Tours of Macculloch Hall will take place from 1pm onwards and at 2:30pm the Skinny Sister will be carefully lowered from its thirty-foot-high mooring on the Center Hall ceiling.  Following the presentation tours will continue, with the last tour of the day leaving at 3pm.

Visitors will have the opportunity to see the chandelier’s progress from dusty to sparkling during the museum’s open hours the following week. Wednesday March 16th, Thursday 17^th & Sunday 20^th from 1pm – 4pm.