Clermont Bluffs, Choctaw Hall debut holiday tours
Published 12:04 am Thursday, November 23, 2017
- BeN HILLYER | The Natchez Democrat Clermont Bluffs owners Douglas Adams and Troy Bickford will open their house as part of a holiday tour. They are partnering with the owners of Choctaw Hall, David Gardner and Lee Glover. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)
NATCHEZ — Beginning Saturday night, Clermont Bluffs and Choctaw Hall will sparkle and shine with the spirit of Christmas.
The two houses — one on Wall Street in downtown Natchez and the other on Cemetery Road — will be decorated for the season and glow with candlelight and shine with trees filled with twinkling lights.
This year’s event will be the first holiday tour for the two houses this year. Earlier this year the houses offered a heritage tour for Fall Pilgrimage.
The holiday tours are from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and will be also offered on Dec. 1, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 20 and Jan. 5 and 6.
Tickets are $30 per person, which includes an armband that allows guests to visit the houses in whatever order they choose, Clermont Bluffs co-owner Troy Bickford said.
Bickford and his partner Douglas Adams will have Clermont Bluffs decorated from the front walk to the backyard.
Forty-two Christmas trees — inside and outside — will welcome guests to the Victorian house on Cemetery Road just north of the Natchez National Cemetery.
Inside, guests will be welcomed with eggnog, cookies and other refreshments. Bickford said the house will be decorated in the spirit of a traditional Victorian Christmas.
Outside, ticketholders can visit Santa’s Toy Shop and other light displays.
“Once you get the feel of what a Victorian Christmas in Natchez is like then you can wander around the two acres around the house to see a fun and festive modern take on Christmas,” Bickford said.
At Choctaw Hall, on Wall Street next to the Natchez City Auditorium, guests will be greeted by homeowners David Gardner and Lee Glover with Jefferson Davis Punch and a variety of sweets and other treats.
Gardner said the candlelight tour of the antebellum house will be informal and in the spirit of an old-fashioned Christmas tour.
Adams said he hopes the tour will continue to grow each year and become a holiday tradition for residents and tourists.
“In my hometown in southwest Alabama everyone would get into the car, or a couple of cars and drive around to experience the Christmas light tour,” Adams said. “We hope to build on this from year to year.”