Holiday tours spotlight area homes

Area homeowners have been decking their halls for two holiday home tours this weekend.

Fifteen homes will be open to the public on Sunday, six in Diamond Hill and nine in Appomattox:

Christmas on Diamond Hill

For the people of Lynchburg’s Diamond Hill, the home tour, scheduled from 1 to 5 p.m., is truly a team effort.

“Everybody helps each other get ready,” says Julie Neighbors, the tour’s chairwoman. “If you can’t do it by yourself, everybody’s willing to get in there.”

The tour features six homes this year, including the William House, a Beaux Arts-style designed by Ernest R. Williams, a prominent businessman and civic leader. The 98-year-old home at 517 Washington St. boasts 26 rooms, parquet floors and a pair of columns out front.

Like many of the homes in Diamond Hill, it’s been restored.

“When we started out (here), it was like we were the pioneers,” says Neighbors, who moved to the neighborhood in 1974, around the same time the Christmas tours began.

“Everybody talks about, in the 1800s, going out west. This is the new frontier: coming into the inner cities and restoring (these buildings).”

She says it takes a unique person to own an historic home.

“If you’re going to buy an old house like this, you have to have a strong personality and be willing to stick with it,” she says. “You get into one project, and you just open a can of worms.”

Other homes on the tour include the N.C. Manson House at 600 Pearl St.; the Walter G. Jones House, 601 Pearl St.; the John M. Moore House, 1420 Madison St.; the Powell House, 307 Washington St.; and the A.R. Long House, 401 Washington St.

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased on site the day of the tour or in advance at Lynchburg Florist & Antiques, Givens Books, Hardwick’s Gifts and the Lynchburg Visitors Information Center. For more information, call (434) 847-8409 or visit www.diamondhill.org.

Appomattox Woman’s Club Home Tour

The buildings on the tour, also set from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, include everything from a 1,020-square-foot cabin to large homes with wraparound porches and columns to New Hope Baptist Church in the small community of Vera.

The Appomattox Woman’s Club started the tour five years ago, and it’s now its biggest annual fundraiser. The proceeds go toward the club’s scholarship program.

“We have no criteria, as far as (the houses) being old,” says Wanda Simpson, chairwoman of the club’s Ways and Means Committee.

“We’re spotlighting different locations in the county.”

The tour includes stops at New Hope Baptist Church, situated at 6227 Old Courthouse Road in Vera; the Abbitt Home, 8043 Old Courthouse Road, also in Vera; the Richardson Home, 221 Richardson Ridge Lane in Pamplin; the Richardson cabin, 115 Richardson Ridge Lane in Pamplin; the Adams Home, 273 Turkey Road in Appomattox; the Clairborne Home, 262 Turkey Road in Appomattox; the Ramsey Home, 1961 Country Club Road in Appomattox; the Sloan Home, 522 Woodland Road in Appomattox; and the Johannes Home, 1872 Gala Lake Road in Spout Spring.

Light refreshments and door prizes will be served at the Falling River Country Club in Appomattox.

Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. They can be purchased at the door of each home or at Curves, Myrick Framery and Re/Max Realty, all in Appomattox. For more information, call (434) 352-7731.