Dec. 3 - Candlelight Tour of Homes, Murfreesboro

We started the evening with 10, plus Sara Pollard's granddaughter. As soon as the little one spotted docent ladies in long hoop skirts entering the Oaklands Mansion she took her mother and grandmother away from the group to follow the pretty ladies. The remaining eight were given the option of splitting into two groups of four but opted to remain together. Due to the perfect weather that encouraged an even larger than usual crowd it proved impossible to keep together and we split into about four groups, not by plan but by necessity. All the houses and one church were along Maney Avenue this year so the walking was easy. After Oaklands our first stop was the FABULOUS historic home known as Big Holly, owned by the Gordon Bell family. It is one of the most impressive historic homes and is so faithfully restored it would be difficult to believe real people lived in it today had we not met and talked with them ourselves or seen the master clothes closet artfully tucked away. (Actually we walked through it and down a spiral metal staircase, a back entrance to the kitchen). All the houses, including some belonging to the Carriage Inn B & B, were well worth the tour but Big Holly with its extensive collections was so awe inspiring that Julie Walski (Nashville TTA) and myself went through it a second time toward the end of the evening when the crowd had pretty much dispersed. The classical Christmas music at Central Christian Church was a nice note on which to end the evening.