An Old-Fashioned Christmas

Make Christmas past your Christmas present with a visit to the 25th annual Marietta Pilgrimage Christmas Home Tour, held Dec. 3 and 4.

More than 3,000 ornaments, thousands of magnolia leaves, 500-plus strands of lights and over 100 poinsettias are used in decorating the houses. A half a dozen or more hotel rooms are booked for homeowners for the event weekend to clear the way for the 5,000 or so visitors who will ooh and ah over vintage, traditional and highly artistic holiday schemes. Dozens of plastic mats are stashed in closets in case of inclement weather and scads of booties are stowed in attics to cover shoes for treading on floors that need extra TLC.

The tour features six private historic homes in the Whitlock Avenue Historic District filled with antique collections and decorated for the season. Homeowners invite you inside for a unique opportunity to discover how they incorporate these historic treasures into their everyday lives.

Special activities are planned for the weekend to ring in the Silver Anniversary, including the Silver Anniversary Gala, which will be held at former Governor and Mrs. Roy Barnes lovely Whitlock Avenue estate on Friday, Dec. 2.

The home tour features the Bistro, a charming stop on the tour to warm up and enjoy refreshments or a light lunch. The location for this year’s Bistro is the Anderson Mansion, c.1900, conveniently located along the tour route at 65 Whitlock Ave.

This year the tour spotlights the following historic homes:

• Mockingbird Hill, c. 1888;
• , c. 1867;
• The Bagwell-Koutouzis House, c. 1927;
• The Green-Hildreth House, c. 1934;
• the Brooks-Vanderbogart House, c. 1927; and
• the Dobbins-McDaniel House, c. 1940s.

The historic public buildings, which will be featured, are:

• William Root House, c. 1845;
• , c. 1887;
• , c.1851;
• Marietta’s historic churches and more.

The pilgrimage offers day tours and a candlelight tour. The day tours offer shuttle service staffed with informative step-on guides.

Day Tour Hours: Saturday, Dec. 3, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 4, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; $20 in advance and $25 at door.

The Candlelight Tour (Three Homes Open) Hours: Saturday, Dec. 3, 7 to 9:30 p.m.; $15 in advance and $20 at door.

This event has been named as a Top Twenty Event in the Southeast and as a Top 100 Event in North America.

The tour is sponsored by the Marietta Welcome Center & Visitors Bureau and .

For more information, call 770-429-1115 or 800-835-0445 or visit www.mariettapilgrimage.com.