A House Tour This Weekend

This past Sunday I took myself on the Perinton Historical Society's 35th annual house tour. My town was founded in 1793 by Glover Perrin. The town has a rich history as, I'm sure, most small towns do.

This year the homes on the tour were all on the same street so you could just park your car and walk the tour. All the houses on this year's tour were built in the early 20th century.

Our Historical Society and Historical Museum are both completely volunteer staffed. This tour is one of several fund raising events that keeps this treasure up and running. I am happy to support it.

Each house had a chair or chairs outdoors so visitors could put "booties" over their shoes to protect the homeowners floors and carpeting. When visitors were finished using their "booties", they were deposited into the colorful shopping bags you'll see next to the outdoor chairs.

This apple tree, loaded with big, shiny apples was in the garden of one of the houses.

 

 

The tour afforded the tour-goers a peek at the first floor of each home. A docent was present at each one. They gave a little capsule of the history of each house.

 

 

 

This little house was, by far, my favorite. It's the Cape Cod style. Note the clematis growing over the garage door and the wisteria over the front entrance. This inside had a very Key West vibe, clean, white, open, airy. The homeowners vacation there and their northern home is a lovely reminder of their relaxing times in Key West.

 

There was a secluded spa in the backyard.

 

 

This weathered lattice created the seclusion of this home's garden. I couldn't resist taking pictures everywhere I could at this house. I would move in tomorrow if they would let me.

 

 

                       A small Autumn gourd vignette on a side porch of the same favorite house.

I think this home owner so honored the unknown visitors to their home on this bright sunny house tour day. This is a window box on the side of the house, just brimming with cabbages, gourds, and everlastings. I found it so enchanting. I think I would love to know these folks.

There were 7 houses on the tour and as you can see I was charmed by one in particular. I just used my phone cam to take the pictures. Sorry they are the best quality.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the tour with me.

Landmark Society House Tour

This year the Landmark Society house tour was held in the Highland Heights section of the city of Rochester. This tract of land is the highest elevation in our city. Because of its hilly terrain, it wasn't settled until the early 20th century. It has an exceptional view and homeowners in the neighborhood have a binding covenant built into their property deeds stipulating that all changes to the design of the houses and yards have to be approved by the Board of Directors. Therefore, on the tour, we saw no fences or swimming pools but rather an attempt to maintain an open landscape. The result is an unique community whose appearance has been carefully shaped by its residents for over a century.

It was a walking tour. All the homes were close to each other. Much hill climbing was involved, however. So much so that one driveway offered a ride up to the house by golf cart.

golf cart hill

The homes in this neighborhood were built at the time of the advent of the automobile and as you can imagine, this historic change brought about a change in the way people lived their lives. In one home on the tour, the main entrance was on the driveway side of the house to accommodate entrance and departure by car! Another home featured a rear entrance much more elegant than the front entrance, featuring leaded glass side lights and decorative railing, reflective of the influence the auto had on home owners who assumed most visitors would arrive by a car driving up their driveways and enter the home from the rear!

Rolling lawns without any obstruction between properties

The day of the house tour was one of those perfect Summer days. I bought by ticket at a church in the neighborhood and when I reached out to purchase my ticket the hostess said "that will be $20.00 plus your bracelet".
Stacking Bracelet

 I was so happy I had business cards in my purse. I handed out 4 of them to the 4 ladies who were "manning" that reception table.