historic site. Decked in period decora- 

 tions and serving a variety of refresh- 

 ments, they are: 



• Pecan Tree Inn, 1 16 Queen St. 

 Constructed in the 1860s, the house 

 was named for the 200-year-old pecan 

 trees on the property. It was home to 

 Beaufort's first electric lights, tele- 

 phone and indoor toilet, and it has 

 served as a Masonic lodge, school- 

 house, doctor's office and tearoom, 

 according to co-owner Joe Johnson. 

 The open house features a tree deco- 

 rated with more than 400 Santa Claus 

 figures and a local wood carver 

 creating even more versions of St. 

 Nick, Johnson says. 



• Captain's Quarters, 315 Ann 

 St. The Victorian house dates to the 

 turn of this century and was built by 



• Cousins Bed & Breakfast, 303 



Turner St. The house formally dates to 

 1855, although innkeeper Martha 

 Barnes said parts were built by local 

 merchant Gabriel Benjamin as early as 

 1840. 



• Delamar Inn, 217 Turner St. 

 Jacob Gibble, a local merchant who 

 owned a dry goods shop and lumber- 

 yard, built the house for his family in 

 1865. Over the years, the Gibble 

 family intermarried with the 

 Delamars, who kept the house in their 

 family until about 20 years ago, says 

 co-owner Mabel Steepy. The open 

 house resonates with music from the 

 Scottish Highlands, and visitors can 

 sample shortbread and wassail and 

 stroll through the English-style 

 courtyard garden. 



through some of the city's private 

 historic homes. 



Nine miles north of the city that 

 same weekend, Poplar Grove Planta- 

 tion, built in 1850 for Joseph Mumford 

 Foy, hosts a Victorian Christmas open 

 house and Civil War encampment on 

 the grounds. Descendants of the Foy 

 family and Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus 

 dress in Victorian garb and mingle with 

 visitors. There are also displays of 

 traditional crafts such as loom weaving. 



Ticket holders to the Old 

 Wilmington by Candlelight tour are 

 treated to Christmas music in most of 

 the houses and on street corners and a 

 horse-drawn carriage ride, which 

 begins at the historic Bellamy mansion. 



Built between 1859 and 1861 for 

 wealthy physician and plantation owner 



the great-grandson of one of the 

 original whalers to call Beaufort his 

 home port, says co-owner Dick Collins. 

 It also has been used as a tonsillectomy 

 hospital and a Sunday school. 



• The Cedars, 305 Front St. The 

 inn consists of two houses, one built 

 around 1768 by shipbuilder William 

 Borden Jr. and the other in 1 852 by 

 his great-grandson, owner Linda Dark 

 says. Borden was a prominent politi- 

 cian and the largest landowner in 

 Carteret County, possessing tracts 

 that stretched as far as Emerald Isle, 

 which in colonial days was known 

 as Borden's Banks. 



• Langdon House, 135 Craven 

 St. Originally built in 1733, the house 

 was added to in the 1790s, 1870s and 

 early 1 900s and features a combina- 

 tion of colonial and federal styles, 

 according to owner Jim Prest. For the 

 holiday celebration, Prest serves 

 refreshments based on colonial 

 recipes, which in years past have 

 included gingerbread made 1740s- 

 style and a meadlike drink to wash it 

 down. 



In Wilmington, an 18th-century 

 center for trade, politics and culture, 

 the Old Wilmington by Candlelight 

 tour Dec. 6-7 offers a melodic trip 



John D. Bellamy, the four-story, 22- 

 room mansion was occupied for a time 

 by Union forces during the Civil War. 

 It remained the family home until 1946 

 and is now a history and design arts 

 museum. 



Festooned in garlands of natural 

 greenery, decorated with fruit, lace and 

 live plants, the mansion is dressed for 

 an antebellum Christmas, says Marcella 

 Rippel, visitors services coordinator 

 with the mansion's museum. It does not 

 have a Christmas tree because that 

 German tradition did not become 

 popular until Victorian times, she says. 



From the mansion, where the 



18 HOLIDAY 1997 



