Area residents open their holiday homes to share the Christmas joy with the Mid-Ohio Valley with the Holly Trail and GFWC members strive to make the MOV a caring and encouraging neighborhood. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG — The GFWC Parkersburg Woman’s Club will be holding their annual Holly Trail Tour fundraiser for the 2023 Christmas season Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.

Area residents will open their homes to share the Christmas joy with the Mid-Ohio Valley.

“The GFWC Parkersburg Woman’s Club strives yearly to bring joy, happiness and magic to the community by sponsoring the annual Holly Trail,” said past president Judy Parrish. “PWC has sponsored the Holly Trail for over 50 years and continues to bring the Christmas magic.”

Special hospitality refreshments and holiday entertainment will be offered at the GFWC Parkersburg Woman’s Clubhouse at 323 Ninth St., Parkersburg. The 2023 refreshments are provided by volunteers who will be serving homemade cookies, coffee, tea and punch to visitors in appreciation of their support of the trail. Traditionally, past Woman’s Club presidents would serve as hostesses pouring the coffee and tea to guests while extending holiday wishes. This year’s president is Kathy Roedersheimer, with past presidents Linda Walker, Parrish, Carmen Hathaway, Patty Miser and Jody Stewart.

Tickets are $15 for adults, and children under 6 years of age receive free admission. Tickets for the Holly Trail will be available by contacting any of the Woman’s Club members or at Crown Decor and Gifts and Mulberry Lane.

1121 Ann St., Parkersburg, is Paul and Candance Burdette’s home, an Italianate/Victorian Gothic which has had many owners during its time, making its official name the McCandlish-Sammel-Burdette House. (Photo Provided)

The five homes on the Holly Trail this year will include:

1314 Market St.,

Parkersburg

Erik and Alethea Bateman’s Victorian-style home was built in 1914 and includes a pronounced four-windowed gabled dormer with highlights of burgundy and a mini stone garden, which is home to a stone cherub fountain. Inside the three-story home are well-preserved hardwood floors, built-ins, pocket doors, chandeliers, fireplaces and coffered ceilings.

Alethea purchased the home two years ago because of her love for the more mature disposition in regard to architecture and history.

127 13th Street is Tom Hoffman and Charlie Smith’s Spanish style home that was designed and constructed by the HW Schneider architecture firm in 1918 and is called the Gerwig House. (Photo Provided)

“Erik and I love the holidays and all that follows,” Alethea Bateman said. “We love the food, decor, time spent with family and all the emotions centered around what it all means to the core.”

The Batemans decided to focus on a “Santa and poinsettia” theme for Christmas because they say their home is so cozy and full of energy with all of the kids running around. While touring the home visitors will see red everywhere, signifying a season full of life, health and love.

1121 Ann St.,

Parkersburg

Paul and Candance Burdette’s home is an Italianate/Victorian Gothic which has had many owners during its time, with the official name being the McCandlish-Sammel-Burdette House. The Sammels added a Colonial revival porch, tile walkway, large back patio, kitchen and modern bathrooms. The Burdettes restored the “Eldorado Gold” mural wallpaper in the dining room, dating back to 1849. The house features 19 rooms, eight fireplaces, original mantles, four full bathrooms with marble flooring, original sinks and a large restored clawfoot tub, circa 1886.

111 11th Street is Timothy Mazza and Kevin Swearigen’s home that was built as a small town home circa 1808 by the Neil Family, with renovation by the Richardson and Solley families that expanded the home’s size. (Photo Provided)

127 13th St., Parkersburg

Tom Hoffman and Charlie Smith’s Spanish style home was designed and constructed by the HW Schneider architecture firm in 1918 and is called the Gerwig House. Walter Gerwig commissioned the home for his wife Ann Camden Gerwig. The home originally featured two pergolas and several French doors, which were removed in the 1960s. The home was sold to the Nedeff family by Mrs. Gerwig two years after Mr. Gerwig passed. The Nedeffs raised 13 children in the home, with Mrs. Nedeff having had an oven installed in the basement to bake Syrian bread. Hoffman and Smith have had the original floors repaired as well as updating the kitchen with modern amenities. The home also boasts nine working fireplaces.

111 11th St., Parkersburg

Timothy Mazza and Kevin Swearigen’s home was built as a small town home circa 1808 by the Neil Family. Renovation by the Richardson and Solley families expanded the home’s size. The Carriage House, called the “Lion’s Gate,” was built as a stable house and inn around 1865 by Hunter H. Moss and his wife Hattie Moss, the first president of the PWC. The most recent 2022 renovation was to the downstairs entertainment space and features an Italian mahogany bar that was once used at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.

2401 Camden Ave.,

Parkersburg

The Phelps-Tavenner House is the oldest occupied home in Wood County and was built in 1800 by Col. Hugh Phelps. Following Phelps’ death in the sickly season of 1822-23, the home and hundreds of surrounding acres were purchased by Thomas Tavenner, whose descendants owned the property until the 1950s. The home was purchased by the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society in 2015 and has become a much-used history and genealogy center. The tour will include the house, research center, summer kitchen and carriage house/blacksmith shop.

The General Federation Woman’s Club West Virginia Parkersburg Woman’s Club are women that are willing to volunteer to the community to learn, serve and create a better living environment and community due to their willingness to serve. The club has approximately 110 members that organized as the “Woman’s Literary Club” in 1901 and was federated GFWC and GFWC WV in 1904. Current PWC members are active at the national, state and regional level — serving for the betterment of the future of West Virginia citizens.