It's 8 o'clock on a Friday night, and things are reasonably quiet in Mount Vernon. Early evening traffic has subsided, and the glow of streetlights casts a timeless quality to the historic rowhouses along St. Paul Street. Meanwhile, inside one of the 19th-century homes, a crowd of 50 homeowners compares notes on tax credits, renovation plans and everyday life. Hostess and longtime resident Eva Higgins smiles as she adorns the dining room table with various baked goods, simultaneously clearing empty dishes and remnants from the previous course.

The homeowners have gathered for the Mount Vernon Renovators' Potluck - an unlikely setting for a modern-day community meeting, in an era when neighbors in so many places seldom know one another's names, let alone open their doors to others. Here, however, the atmosphere is reminiscent of a family reunion. As some might say, it's very Mount Vernon.

Mount Vernon's diverse group of residents and businesses reflects a cultural mecca that dates back several hundred years. Here, traditional Baltimore Federal-style homes mix with Georgian, Edwardian, Tudor and Gothic rowhouses and carriage homes, among others, to create the neighborhood's eclectic mix of late-18th-century to early-20th-century residential and commercial sites. The homes sell for $25,000 to as much as $250,000.

"Come in," exclaims Larry Peterson, an exuberant resident and the first to greet arriving guests at the community's fifth potluck, which is held quarterly.

Mount Vernon homeowners Louis and Maureen Van Dyke introduced Peterson to the area. A Washington resident, he was taken aback by the friendliness and endless possibilities of Baltimore and Mount Vernon, and immediately began looking for a house. He and his partner, Tom Sabia, decided on a rowhome that had housed a doctor's office. Six years later, it is a sprawling, eight-bedroom, seven-bathroom estate in the center of town.

Today, Peterson serves as Mount Vernon's unofficial mayor, by all accounts.

"One day we're going to put a family tree together - Larry's going to be in the middle, and there will be branches of everybody else," says Patricia Francis, who relocated to Baltimore from Ashburton, Va.

Four years ago, Francis was searching for a place in the suburbs. After seeing Peterson's house and getting to know the community, she quickly changed her mind. These days, she is busy renovating her Biddle Street corner house, complete with 56 windows.

In fact, she was one of Midtown's first homeowners to take advantage of the historic tax credit, which gives owners of the city's historic homes a state income tax credit of 20 percent for eligible renovations. In addition, Francis applied for a city-sponsored 203(k) renovation loan, which helped pay for exterior work and a new hot water heater.

Like Francis, Ann and Rich Scanlan were easily persuaded by Peterson. Rich Scanlan had worked overseas for the federal government for 35 years. Upon retirement, the couple was ready to plant roots. "We really wanted a home," Ann Scanlan recalls. Peterson convinced them to visit Mount Vernon. "I went to his house, and it sold me immediately," she says.

Paul Warren has been Peterson's neighbor twice - previously in D.C., and now in Mount Vernon. "We wouldn't be here if it weren't for Larry. Everybody follows him. He's like the Pied Piper," says Warren.

Peterson recalls, "The block that we lived on [in Washington] was 80 percent boarded up."

Those D.C. houses turned into a good investment. Peterson paid about $65,000 for his less than two decades ago. Today, the same houses sell for nearly $900,000. Not surprisingly, when Peterson moved, many of his friends followed, trusting his judgment and sense for community life.

Housing stock is sparse and homes go for above asking price - signs that demand for housing in Mount Vernon and nearby areas remains strong, say local Realtors.

The neighborhood allure of Mount Vernon was enough to attract Sarah Wolf and her husband, Jet Lowe, who moved from the Washington area.

"We moved here just to an apartment," Sarah Wolf says. "We weren't even sure when we'd be able to get a house, but we loved the neighborhood so much and all that's going on here that we were wanted to be here."

Jeff Arnold moved from Ellicott City. "Howard County became too suburban," he explains. "I was looking to buy in Homeland and Mount Washington, but I saw [a] house on Eager. ... Finally, I went in it. I took Larry and Tom with me, went to see a couple of the neighbors' houses, and realized it was the right place."

About two years ago, Laura Giantris, a D.C. attorney, and Eric Lowe, an architect, moved from a 900-square-foot rowhouse in Federal Hill to a 5,000-square-foot home in Mount Vernon. "We wouldn't live anywhere else," she says. "We both love the architectural beauty, and the houses are so grand. ... The space is amazing. When we found out there were a lot of people creating this really tight community of historic renovators, it was impossible to turn down."

Before the potlucks, rehab efforts mainly were isolated ventures in which homeowners worked independently on similar projects, not realizing the common effort. Since the inception of the potluck exchange, neighbors share advice and assist one another.

Giantris says the potlucks serve a dual purpose. "It allows us to bring in people who aren't in the neighborhood yet, but who are interested," she says. "It allows us to meet each other and exchange information. You just can't beat the kind of information that you pick up there. ... Everybody's dealing with the exact same types of problems, and some of them are a little further along in working through those problems."

For an informal group, the Mount Vernon renovators are an organized crew of neighborhood activists. Last year, when possible budget cuts threatened homeowner tax credits, the group visited Annapolis and helped in the successful lobbying effort to save the tax credits. Community members say they are prepared to return to Annapolis if the state's impending budget deficit again threatens to cut tax credits.

On the home front, they serve as ambassadors. "The group welcomes people into their homes, so they can see the potential for one of the rowhomes in the Midtown area," says Michelle Pankow, director of community involvement for the Midtown Development Corp., which helps people buy and fix up houses in the area.

On Dec. 8, the Peterson-Sabia and Van Dyke homes will be two of several residences on display as part of the Holly Tour, held by the Friends of Mount Vernon Place.

The self-guided tour, which costs $15, will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will start at the Maryland Historic Society, 201 W. Monument St.