Tramping under transoms and learning about lincrusta, more than 200 merrymakers mobbed Greenport’s Victorian Holiday House Tour on Saturday.
Ten historic stops offered the entertainment of a simpler time: carols, cookies and coveting your neighbor’s Christmas tree decorations.
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Sofia Antoniadis at the wreathed front door of her 857 Main Street home. (Credit: CA Miller photo)Sofia Antoniadis shows off the festive dining room of her historic Greenport home at 857 Main St. (Credit: CA Miller)Santa at 857 Main Streetrest near “lincrusta” wall covering, which has been painted many times. (Credit: CA Miller photo)One of many beautiful chandeliers collected by Sofia Antoniadis for her historic Greenport home. (Credit: CA Miller photo)The sunroom of 857 Main St., which has a steeply gabled roof and smaller gabled wings on the north and south sides. (Credit: CA Miller photo)Built in 1688, this is one of Greenport’s first structures, crafted with hand-hewn timber framing and oak beams 18 inches thick. It was relocated to its current address, 220 Champlin Place, in the early 1900s. (Credit: CA Miller photo)Meghan McDermott (left) and her mom, Linda, show off the Christmas tree Meghan won at this year’s CAST auction.Cheerful wreathed windows at 220 Champlin place, a historic 1688 residence which has preserved many historic details and updated others. (Credit: CA Miller photo)309 South St., a now-restored 1890’s structure, reflects the craftsmanship of Greenport’s turn-of-the-century Victorian architecture.Christmas presents are stacked up at 309 South St.Greenport’s Valerie Lotardo said she started decorating for the holiday homes tour in October and it shows in the many thoughtful details throughout her 309 South St. home.The original wood floors are an elegant backdrop to the dining room holiday decor at 309 South St.This room at 309 South St. was dubbed the Nutcracker Room.Two queen beds are ready for holiday occupation in the half-story of the stand-up attic of Eddie and Valerie Lotardo’s family-centered home.Jennifer Pressler, vice president of the Stirling Historical Society, hangs a wreath on 509 First St., a Federal-style residence built in 1845.Santa red is the theme of this room at 509 First St., a Federal-style residence with double brick walls, Greek revival door trim and 6-over-6 windows.Leaning into both antiques and the holidays, Federal festive is the theme of this stop.Snowman detail on bench, 509 First St., Stop 5 on Greenport’s Victorian Holiday Homes Tour. Notice the finely preserved floors, mantles and interior trim.The festive front gates of The Olde Church. Originally St. Peter’s German Lutheran Church, built in 1879, it is now a private residence.When it was St. Peter’s German Lutheran Church, the structure was said to seat 65 people in the pews and 20 more when seats were added to the aisles, a testament to its popularity in its heyday.Holiday tree and stained glass window of The Olde Church. It was constructed in Gothic style in 1879 but the windows, imported from Germany, were not added until 1916,Skates and a toboggan are part of the festive decor at The Olde Church in Greenport.Fireplace detail at The Olde Church.Kathy Lofrese, owner of The Olde Church, poses with her nativity display, which she bought from Greenport’s Opportunity Shop thrift store.The festive wreathed doors of the Special Effects Salon, Spa and Tea Room, also known as the H.E. Wells House at 455 Main St. Wells was credited with developing the bunker process for extracting fish oil and he built this large Queen Anne house in front of an earlier 19th-century home. Flanked by soldiers, this wreathed door belongs to 857 Main St., an elegant 21/2 story home built around the turn of the century.The Beach House was one name given the 418 Front St. home of Linda Mugford, for its combination of seaside and holiday decor. Notice the fish scale shingles!Water bird detail is one of many beach-themed decorations in this 21/2 story gable-front home at 4187 Front St.Taxidermy detail, a buck shot by a relative of Linda Mugford and on display in her holiday home.The Ireland House, built in 1831, was one of 10 stops Saturday on the 2025 Greenport Victorian Holiday House Tour.Christmas tree and mantel of the Ireland Museum, where visitors picked up their maps for the 2025 Greenport Victorian Holiday House Tour.Holiday decor joins the whaling artifacts at the Ireland Museum, including a whale oil lamp and (below in glass case) scrimshawed whalebone.A holly-jolly corn-husker, a new artifact at the Ireland Museum.The Little Red Schoolhouse, an 1818 structure moved to its current location at First and Front Streets in Greenport and reopened in 2011 as a historic interpretive center and meeting house.Carole Monsell, President of the Stirling Historical Society, poses with the holiday decor at Greenport’s Little Red Schoolhouse. Stirling was one of Greenport’s previous names.
Some in costume and all convivial, seven local homeowners threw open their doors for the annual fundraiser benefitting the Stirling Historical Society (Stirling being an early name from Greenport’s Christmas past).
“I started decorating in October,” Valerie Lotardo told a handful of visitors. Her husband, Eddie, chimed in, “And I wondered if she was ever going to stop.”
Three additional buildings decorated by the historical society included the Ireland House, Little Red Schoolhouse and the Blacksmith Shop.
As for the lincrusta, this decorative material was on display in Sofia Antoniadis’s elegant home dating to around 1900 and looked like embossed wallpaper.
Invented in Victorian England to mimic expensive engraved plaster, lincrusta is a highly durable mixture of wood glue, linseed oil and heavy paper or fabric.
Serving as backdrop to a festive Santa display, the restored lincrusta was impressively preserved, like many of the antiques, wide-plank floors and architectural details on view during the tour.
