This year’s ‘Somewhere in Time Historic Home Tour? should be renamed ‘Somewhere on Park Street.?
Four of the homes featured on the sixth annual historic tour ? set for Saturday, Aug. 6 during Celebrate Oxford ? are located on the beautiful village street between Pontiac and Hovey streets.
Featured Park Street homes include:
? 43 Park Street ? A Sears Kit Home circa 1890s. Owners Jim and Jan Courtwright
? 45 Park Street ? An American Foursquare circa 1890s. Owners Ken and Diane Fairley
? 22 Park Street ? A farmhouse circa 1878. Owner Kathy Hummel
? 39 Park Street ? A Craftsman Style circa 1921. Owners Pat and Rose O’Meara.
But not all the fun is on Park Street. Stop by 42 Glaspie Street and visit the glorious Queen Anne Victorian home of Scott and Michelle Gulian, built in the 1880s.
While these distinctive homes are diverse in their styles and their eras, they all reflect the charms of village life, past and present.
This year’s featured building from Oxford’s historic downtown district is 8 N. Washington Street, the current home of Johnston Photography.
Built in 1885, this downtown building housed a funeral home between the late 1890s and 1950.
Following the great cyclone of 1896, the funeral home C.O. Whitcomb & Sons (founded in the 1860s) moved from Oakwood Road to 8 N. Washington Street. The building also simultaneously served as Whitcomb’s furniture store. The funeral home later became Whitcomb-Mabley and finally Mabley-Bossardet when it moved to W. Burdick Street in 1950.
During the historic tour, some casket-making tools from the Whitcomb days ? on loan from the Bossardet Chapel Lynch & Sons Funeral Directors ? will be on display.
Decades later, local photographer Mel Pawl operated his studio from 8 N. Washington Street for 14 years, capturing special moments for thousands of area residents.
Adding a nice bit of ambience to the tour of the dowtown building will be Lake Orion resident Tom Blue. He will play the piano there from 2 to 4 p.m.
Tickets for the Somewhere in Time Historic Home Tour are now on sale at Curves for Women Oxford, the Northeast Oakland Historical Museum, the Oxford Antique Mall and Patterson’s Pharmacy. Tickets are $12 pre-sale and $15 on the day of the tour.
The homes will be open for touring on Saturday, August 6 between 1-5 p.m.
There will be a covered shuttle stop located in front of the village offices on Burdick St. Golf carts will be available for transportation between the shuttle stop and all of the home tour sites.
We would like to thank our Historic Home Tour Shuttle sponsors-Soil & Materials Engineers, Inc., The Detroit Edison Company, Curtis Insurance Agency and Jim Waldron Pontiac Buick GMC Truck.