Eighteen of Chestertown’s most historic and significant buildings will be on display in their holiday finery Saturday, December 10, from 1 to 4 p.m. during the community’s 27th Annual Holiday House Tour. Docents at each location will be available to guide guests and
answer questions about the building and its decoration. Light refreshments will be available at the church for all ticketholders.
One of the most beautiful and well preserved Colonial towns in America, Chestertown was founded in 1705 at the head of the Chester River and flourished in the early and mid 18th century as a Royal Port of Entry. In 2007, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the town one of America’s top-twelve “Distinctive Destinations.”
The tour will visit private homes, public buildings and interesting shops. Included are the Hynson-Ringgold House, the circa 1743 brick home where the president of Washington College and his family live, a home on Queen Street first built for the servants who worked in the grand houses a block over on Water Street, and the newly renovated Garfield Center for the Arts at the Prince Center, where area woodworkers and decorative painters have completed a beautiful lobby area.
The tour begins at yet another historic building, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 101 N. Cross Street, the site where a 1780 vote first renamed the former Church of England as the Protestant Episcopal Church.
Tour organizers invite guests to come to Chestertown for the whole day and get into the holiday spirit Colonial style. All homes on the tour are within easy walking distance of the historic district’s shopping and dining options. The award-winning Chestertown farmer’s market, located in the Village Green across from Emmanuel Episcopal Church, will be open Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to noon, offering handcrafts and holiday greens along with the baked goods, produce.
Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door, and all proceeds will benefit the students of Kent County’s public schools. Advance tickets can be purchased online at www.holidayhousetour.org or by mail from the Kent County Middle School PTSA, 402 East Campus Avenue, Chestertown, MD 21620-1698. (Please make checks payable to Kent County Middle School PTSA and mail by December 2.) Tickets will be held in your name at the “Will Call” table.
For more information, contact this year’s coordinator, Kiki Jones, at 410-778-4179, or visit www.holidayhousetour.org.
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