Holiday Home Tour Draws Nearly 1,400

What can you say about a tour that draws approximately 1,400 people on the first weekend in December? A tour with 11 homes from the late 19th and early 20th centuries? A tour that has been going on for 14 continuous years? How about, "Wow!"

The 14th Annual Victorian Holiday Home Tour in Old North Knoxville had all these things and more. There was a candlelight tour on Saturday night, a caroling group that went from home to home singing traditional Christmas carols, free shuttle service taking visitors from home to home, a rest stop, and complimentary calendars featuring all the homes on the tour, including pictures and bits of history. Plus there were t-shirts and sweatshirts for sale that celebrated life in one of Knoxville's premier historic neighborhoods. 

The homes featured ranged from Queen Anne Cottage to Neoclassical style, from one story to two story. But each of the homes had a story of its own to tell and the homes were decorated for the holidays. There were homes with traditionally decorated trees and homes with more modern style trees, such as a Barbie Christmas tree. There were homes with lights and decorations festooned inside and out, and homes that offered tours of their recently installed gardens. In creating one of the gardens, the owners found a cistern in which they uncovered examples of antique glass bottles. In another home, the recently installed water garden was decorated with lights and a glowing inflated snowman. 

A couple of the homes on tour had pictures of how their homes looked in the past, and most homes had their dining room tables decked out with the good china in anticipation of company coming. The sights and scents of flickering candles echoed back to a earlier time and fireplaces were decked out with mantle decorations of evergreen and ribbon, fruit and stockings, all hung with care in the hopes that Saint Nicholas would soon arrive. At one home on Grainger Ave. he was there, smiling and talking to girls and boys of all sizes and ages. Sitting in a wingback chair next to a Christmas tree, he had candy canes and holiday greetings to offer all those who stopped by.

So, what can you say about a home tour that combines history and the holidays? A home tour that is Knoxville's oldest continuous historic neighborhood home tour? A home tour that attracts people from as close by as your next door neighbor to as far away as Ohio? How about: I can't wait until the 15th Annual Victorian Holiday Home Tour! See you this December 6th and 7th.

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