Four hours. Eight stops. More than 150 smiling faces under a glittering sunshine bathed in the rich aroma of the Advent season, with Christmas Day waiting in the parlor and the pantry. That was the tale of the tape during Saturday's Holiday House Tour, sponsored by the Laurel Historical Society. While not all of the stops fell in the category of official residences, they clung to a common thread: Each of the structures abounded in history, each housing busy human beings performing a broad array of tasks in comfortable, familiar surroundings.
"It helps to tell the history of the community," affirmed Bobbi McCeney, who coordinated this year's event. "And there are things that you learn that are very surprising and enjoyable. If you live in the historic part of town, it's nice to see other homes. You can get ideas and an opportunity to meet people," she added.
Jon Dick said his soul was refreshed by the web of curious visitors who darkened the front door of his vintage 1920 bungalow on Carroll Avenue.
"We got well over 50 people," Dick reported of the house that once belonged to the second dentist to practice in Laurel. "It felt good. You know why it felt good? Because they wanted to know the history of the house and our story."
Dick explained the house he shares with his son, Jamie, holds a goodly amount of original artwork. Then there's the other tasty conversation pieces, like the copper trim on the inside doors, a sycamore window seat. Not forgotten is the fireplace, hewn from Indiana stone, that graces the living room.
It doesn't end there.
"I'm painting a huge mural on our deck," he said, the excitement in his voice climbing to an infectious level. "It's totally cool. People loved it."
The event kicked off at the Laurel Museum. Participants were encouraged to wear comfortable shoes, and high heels were a resounding no-no, as they are no friend to delicate hardwood floors. Ditto for strollers. The tour included handicap parking, refreshments and restrooms at the First United Methodist Church at Fifth and Main streets. The church, organized in 1842, served as more than a staging area; it, too, was a stop. Visitors saw a sanctuary that was enlarged — most recently in 2000 — that also featured a larger narthex, fellowship hall and pipe organ.
"(The tour) was very, very eclectic," said Ruth Walls, whose Prince George Street home was one of the stops on an earlier tour. "Everything was so different. We got a chance to see them in a new light."
"The homes were really beautiful," Wrenn Walls, Ruth's daughter, said. "Each had a fun little feature."
The list of treats in these treasures hung like an overstuffed Christmas stocking. On Laurel Avenue, the Ostovitz family showed off their refashioned upstairs and kitchen with newly installed cork floor.
In Reinhard and Anna Borchardt's abode, the couple saw potential in a forgotten, unfinished attic by rechristening it as living space, stairs included.
A drive to Rocky Gorge Dam resulted in Dave and Lisa Everett swooning over a Victorian house they spied from the windshield. The dwelling was built in the late 1880s for Edward Phelps, a businessman and seven-time Laurel mayor. The Everetts savor the original woodwork, fireplace mantles and carved rosewood stair rail. But the couple doesn't feel right about only occasionally pulling back the curtain for a quick peek. Their master plan: infusing it with new life by introducing it as Laurel's first bed and breakfast.
Farther east along Montgomery Street, next door to the spanking new Double Dipper ice cream shop, tour members were dazzled by a transformed Harrison-Beard building, at the corner of Ninth and Montgomery. More than 100 years ago, the building was the Phelps and Shaffer department store. Later, it functioned as a firehouse and the town's city hall and police station, with the jail in the cellar. More recently, it was occupied by the Laurel Art Guild and Laurel Regional Hospital Auxiliary's thrift shop. Then, in 2001, a tornado blew through town, taking with it the building's roof. Now, the CT Group, whose business is helping provide affordable housing, has the front door key, thoughtfully integrating its historic exterior with 21st-century touches.
A building that went up in 1891 now has a roof brimming with solar cells that supply the lion's share of electricity to the offices.