Hernando officials anticipate about 15,000 people will visit the city’s annual Dickens of a Christmas event, which begins Friday, Nov. 8, with ice skating and a Christmas tree lighting. 

Throughout two days, guides adorned in top hats, morning coats and hoop skirts will wander the city’s historic Town Square as the area is transformed into 1830s England, a world captured in Charles Dickens’ classics like “A Christmas Carol.”

“We started Dickens of a Christmas because it focuses on the Victorian era, which is the time that our city was incorporated,” said Gia Matheny, community development director for the City of Hernando. 

Hernando steps back in time this weekend with Dickens of a Christmas festival

Hernando, the DeSoto County seat, was first incorporated in 1836. Originally known as the town of Jefferson, the city later took the name of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, the first documented European to cross the Mississippi River.

“We try to bring people back to that time when we were founded,” Matheny said. “And although Charles Dickens’ characters are based in England, it still pulls in the holidays and brings the Christmas spirit to our visitors.”