It’s been 30 years – 30 gingerbread constructions – that Jon Wilhelmsen and his wife Ann Sobelewski have been replicating houses of note in Plympton to be unveiled, as it were, at their holiday Christmas party.
Ann says, “We started with our own house and then branched out to our neighbors and then to friends or people in the community who volunteer to do things for the town.
“One year we did the library – which was a lot of fun and a special gift for all they do for the community.” In 2020, COVID brought its own set of challenges and the couple wanted to give heartfelt thanks to the First Responders and built both the fire station and the police station. Jon delivered them to their respective destinations to give them a bit of gingerbread fun for the holidays.
The houses are entirely edible, though most people don’t end up eating them, Ann says. It is always a surprise; the recipient never knows that their house is the one being done. This requires subterfuge, which becomes more difficult as more people have ring doorbell cameras, because Jon needs to take photographs of the house that he can use to draw the plans.
“All in all, it’s just something nice to do at the holiday season and it’s even more special if the recipient has children or grandchildern,” Ann continued.
Jon adds that it takes between 12 to 18 hours, depending on the house, to draw the plans, make and bake the gingerbread and the windows, assemble and decorate.
A few other notable antique houses they have done include the double Cape at the corner of Ring and Main, the white Victorian in the center of town, the Mayflower Mercantile in the center on Mayflower, the Black Walnut Tree House on Ring Road, Just Wright Farm on Palmer Road and the Craftsman bungalow on Center Street. Not only are these architectural treasures in town, but as Ann notes, it is our thanks for all these folks do to make Plympton the town that it is. And we always deliver the building(s) to the owner the day after the reveal for them to enjoy – and for some to desperately figure out how to keep it indefinitely (it has not been figured out yet).