Queen Anne Victorian, circa 1875.

Plans are underway for the 39th Annual Christmas House Tour. The Governor Wolf Historical Society will open six private historic homes and four early buildings on Saturday, Dec. 7. The homes will be open from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. This year’s theme is “Artistic Dates and Documents,” featuring dated frakturs, early birth certificates, old family bibles, dated quilts and more. The Home News will feature one of the homes each week until tour day.

The Erdo-Daugherty home is an early example of a Queen Anne Victorian home, built circa 1875. The house is constructed of wood clapboard siding, slate roof, and a hand laid stone foundation. The builder of the home, Moravian Reverend Eugene Leibert, was the principal at Nazareth Hall from 1867 to 1876. Erdo and Daugherty purchased the home in 2012 and performed major restoration projects to the roof, siding, and the foundation. Inside they removed wallpaper and restored plaster. They also researched the lives of the people who previously resided in the house and were able to gain copies of some old photographs from the late 1800s through 1910. Note the detail in the woodwork throughout the house. The 1876 Trent tile work in the fireplace surround in the formal dining room and the large sweeping staircase bespeak of opulence in its day. Since being on the tour in 2015 the energetic Erdo-Daughtery team has almost completely transformed the interior with dramatic new coloring. You won’t want to miss it.

On the same day, the Annual Historic Christmas Family Day will fill the GWHS campus from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Historic craftsmen will demonstrate, the 153 Civil War Coddington Reenactors will be encamped. Taste and watch hearth cooking, spinning and weaving, iron crafts, early powder horns and flintlocks, and more. Arts and crafts for children. Make this a yearly family destination. No parking or ad- mission fee. A free-will donation may be dropped into our Preservation Jars if you wish. There will also be quality crafters selling their wares and fresh greens for sale. The Daily Grind in The Schoolhouse Café will offer food to take with you on the tour, or to enjoy there.

Ticket books are available- $25 advance and $30 day of tour. Booklets will be sold at S Seem Antiques in Bath, Miller Ace Hardware on Rt. 329, Curt’s Cyclery in Nazareth, Snow Goose Gallery in Bethlehem and Bath Drugs on Rt. 512.

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