CURRENT HOURS: Programs by reservation November-April

History of ‘Jingle Bells’

This beloved Christmas carol was originally titled “One Horse Open Sleigh.” James Lord Pierpont published it as a Thanksgiving song in 1857, although he might have written it earlier. The song became associated with Christmas in the 1860s and 1870s. You can still hear a recording of the song made on an Edison cylinder in 1898: