Holiday House Tour – 202 South Washington Street

202 South Washington Street, the home of Jennifer Wolgamott

As you approach the front door of this brick Romanesque Revival style home, look down. A white marble slab engraved with “J. B. Russell” welcomes you to this circa 1890 masterpiece. By the time James B. Russell built his magnificent home on the corner of Washington and Cork streets, he had served as a Frederick County deputy sheriff, a Winchester City councilman, businessman, and President of the Union Bank.

The first story of the façade is defined by three round-headed arches providing a recessed entry to the home. A soldier course of bricks delineates the first and second stories of the building, while a basketweave brick frieze encircles the top of the second story. An integral porch supported by Tuscan columns and capped with dentil molding is located in the central bay of the second story. Directly above it, a dormer clad with slate shingles with a half-hexagonal-on-hip roof overlooks the front yard.

Recently purchased by Jennifer Wolgamott, the home survived a period of use as apartments remarkably intact. The interior features pocket doors, oak wainscoting, period fireplace mantels, and stained glass windows.

PHW is grateful for the support of Colony Realty, one of our full page advertising sponsors of the Holiday House Tour.

Holiday House Tour 2022 – 119 East Clifford Street

119 East Clifford Street, the home of Vickie Williamson

This vernacular brick building was likely built circa 1850 by Philip Hansucker, who apprenticed wagonmaking with Philip Sherer of nearby 125 E. Clifford St. The families became intertwined further when Hansucker married Caroline Sherer, Philip Sherer’s niece, on Christmas Day, 1849. By 1860, Philip Hansucker took on Sherer’s wagon and plough making business and brought his brother into the enterprise as a blacksmith. He served as a Winchester city councilman from 1861-1865. Shortly after the Civil War, the Hansucker family moved to Millwood.

As is common with vernacular buildings, the home was expanded throughout the 19th and 20th centuries in architecturally compatible ways by its new owners, particularly through adding dormer windows, additions to the rear of the building, and a Colonial Revival style porch with a half-hipped roof supported by Tuscan wood columns.

Initial work to preserve the building was undertaken circa 1974 by Lawrence and Catherine Bell, including restoring the wide pine flooring and opening fireplaces. The home received a Winchester Historic Building Plaque in 1984. The current owner has been working for two years to use her interior design skills to bring new life to this old home. Her eclectic collection includes found objects and antiques, beautifully repurposed to blend with elements of modern décor. Christmas tree ornaments honor the owner’s favorite southern traditions, and garlands of fresh greenery adorn old pine mantels. Visitors will see the old outbuildings in the back yard, likely used in the wagonmaking business.

PHW is grateful for the support of Lisa T. McCoig, one of our full page advertising sponsors of the Holiday House Tour.

Holiday House Tour 2022 – Bough & Dough Shop

The Hexagon House, 530 Amherst Street, site of the Bough & Dough Shop

At the Hexagon House, 530 Amherst Street
November 18-December 11
10 AM –5 PM
Open Wednesdays-Sundays. Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thanksgiving. See our listing on Virginia.org for full list of dates.

Please wear a face mask while shopping indoors.

Do some holiday shopping while picking up your Holiday House Tour tickets at the Hexagon House. The shop features décor, ornaments, sweet treats, small gift items, and fresh greens for holiday decorating. The Shop will once again encompass all of the first floor of the historic Hexagon House with fresh greenery outside on the rear porch and yard. Browse the selections from over twenty-five local artisans and non-profits. The shop is constantly replenished with items, so watch our Shop-specific Instagram @boughanddoughshop for new arrivals and updates throughout the event!

Featured Vendors: Angel’s Roost Quilts, Basket Cases, Blooming Hill Lavender Farm and Gift Shop, Nina Burke, Lorraine Candell, Capers in Crochet, The Card Shop Bakers, The Clowser Foundation, CLS Cloth, George Davis, Eye of the Needle Embroidery, Fripperies, Hailewatercolors, Heartsong Hill Designs, Dave Hickman, J&W Farm, Karen’s Kollection, Susan Keenan, Lighthouse Woodworking, The Merry Beader, Libba Pendleton, The Primitive Peddler, Ree’s Treats, Mike Robinson, Donna Sheets, Doris Vanderpool, Very Merry Mittens, and Virginia Pottery

Other Information: The Shop may close for inclement weather; in general if Winchester City Schools are closed, the Shop also will not open. Watch our Facebook page or call 540-667-3577 for inclement weather announcements.

PHW is grateful for the support of the Bank of Clarke County Foundation, our second generous sponsor of the Holiday House Tour.

Holiday House Tour 2022 – Owl Be There! Overview

Preservation of Historic Winchester welcomes you back to our 46th annual signature fundraising event. Guided tours of three private homes will lead you through building styles of the 19th century, while the fourth site will take you to a Georgian-style church. Stop by our pop-up holiday shop for sweet treats, holiday décor, and fresh greenery before or after the tour. You don’t want to miss our year-end celebration – Owl Be There!

Owls may not be a traditional Christmas bird, but they are a recurring winter motif. According to Iroquois tradition, hearing the call of an owl nearby was a sign snow was on the way. Since the non-migratory birds may be easier to spot in the winter, owls and chilly weather have become deeply associated with each other. The owl was chosen as our 2022 mascot for his symbolic associations with wisdom, protection, and winter.

Date: Sunday, December 4
Time: Noon-4 PM

Tour Sites:

119 East Clifford Street
202 South Washington Street
216 South Cameron Street
306 East Piccadilly Street

Admission: $25 in advance, $30 at the door

Ticket Sale Locations: Kimberly’s, Winchester Book Gallery, Winchester-Frederick County Visitors Center, The Bough & Dough Shop at the Hexagon House (starting Nov. 18), and online through Eventbrite (starting Nov. 15).

Other Information: The tour will not be rescheduled for inclement weather. Call (540) 667-3577 or watch our Facebook for announcements. Be prepared to spend some time waiting outside and wear comfortable, low-heeled shoes. No photography inside private residences, please!

Free parking is available at nearby surface lots and on-street. Please be mindful of residents’ driveways when utilizing on-street parking. City autoparks are self-service and open 24 hours a day. Rates at Braddock, Court Square, and George Washington Autoparks are $1.00/hour. Loudoun Autopark is $0.50/hour.

PHW is grateful for the support of the Stephanie Ryall, Realty One Group Old Towne, our major sponsor of the Holiday House Tour.

Friday Roundup: Behind the Scenes for Holiday House Tour

Heads up! PHW is undergoing a deep edit to its physical mailing lists ahead of the Holiday House Tour. This edit mostly impacts those of you who are on our “extended” mailing list (you only receive emails or physical mailers on public events from us). It appears the last time we performed such an in-depth edit was back in 2015, and we know many of you have moved between then and now. If you want to make sure you get a physical postcard mailer in November, reach out with your preferred mailing address to phwinc.org@gmail.com and we’ll make sure you’re on the list or updated to a new address.

Save the date! The Holiday House Tours will be held Sunday, December 4, 2022.

If you were considering placing an ad in our Holiday House Tour program booklet, please note the back cover spot has been spoken for, but we still have room for interior full page, half page, or business card size ads. Find our information sheet on sizes and prices and the reservation form online. If you are working on an ad, deadline is Friday, Oct. 28 to make sure you are included in the booklet. Thank you to our generous sponsors so far this year – your support helps to offset most of the cost in hosting this community event so that proceeds can go back into our preservation and history work!

We are at work now finalizing the site lineup for the 2022 tour. We expect to be able to announce the sites by the end of October and have ticket prices and information on where to buy them available soon.

To finish off your Friday, we have eight pictures around and inside the Old Stone Presbyterian Church at 306 E. Piccadilly St. Catch them all at the top of our Flickr photostream!

Old Stone Church
Daniel Morgan overlooks Winchester’s roundabout with the Old Stone Church in the background. Photo by Rick Alvarez.

Sneak Peek: Bough & Dough Artists for 2022

PHW is proud to announce the lineup for this year’s Bough & Dough Shop (Nov. 18-Dec. 11) at the Hexagon House. Here’s what you can expect this year:

Ornament by Margie Cullers, the Primitive Peddler

Nina Burke, gourd art

Lorraine Candell, holiday decor and party favor treats

Tracy Carbaugh, The Card Shop Bakers, cookies, notecards, ornaments, and cross stitch

The Clowser Foundation

Margie Cullers, The Primitive Peddler, ornaments made from antique butter and Springerle molds

George Davis, reclaimed wood tables

Ornament by Dave Hickman

Melanie Fields, The Merry Beader

Linda Spollen Haile Watercolors notecards

Dave Hickman, turned wood items and ornaments

J&W Farm, birdseed wreaths

Susan Keenan, mosaic ornaments and jewelry

Beth Light, Eye of the Needle Embroidery

Ron Light, Lighthouse Woodworking

Weaving detail by Clara Schulte, CLS Cloth

Karen Miller, Karen’s Kollection

Annamarie Mrazik, Ree’s Treats

Jamie Pein, Fripperies

Libba Pendleton, felted items

Deborah Phillips, Heartsong Hill Designs, sea glass art and jewelry

Preservation of Historic Winchester: Holiday House Tour tickets, fresh greens, books, and bows

Cyndie Rinek, Blooming Hill Lavender Farm

Snowflake ornaments by Hilda Troxel, Capers in Crochet

Mike Robinson, Winchester Tales books

Clara Schulte, CLS Cloth

Donna Sheets, jams

Carol Spalding, Angel’s Roost Quilts

Virginia Stultz and Jean Whetzel, baskets

Hilda Troxel, Capers in Crochet, crocheted ornaments

Doris Vanderpool, shell ornaments

Steve Wilson, Virginia Pottery

Kathy Yereb, Very Merry Mittens

Need to plan your visit this fall? See our listing at Virginia.org or on Facebook for days and times.

Friday Roundup: Labor Day Weekend

It’s been a busy week at PHW as we shift into Holiday House Tour mode for the last part of the year. Many thanks to all the artists, new and returning, who will help us create the Bough & Dough Shop in November. We will be announcing the artists next week – we think you will find your old favorites as well as some fun new items. (Spoiler alert: we have some awesome ornaments in the selection this year!)

Hand in hand with our artist line up, we are now working on our Holiday House Tour sponsorships. As you may know, since 2013 we have produced a program booklet to accompany the house tour. We use these funds to cover most of the event expenses (like printing, postage, and homeowner decorating reimbursements) through the advertising sponsorships, and we hope the business community will continue their support this year. You can find the ad size and price sheet and the form to return to PHW. The deadline to turn in your ad for the program booklet is Friday, October 28.


Looking for something to do this weekend? You may be interested in the Patsy Cline Block Party, which this year will mark what would have been her 90th birthday. The event starts at 10 AM on Saturday, September 3 in front of her childhood home, 608 S. Kent St. Find more information on the event at Facebook. Follow up the block party with the Mandy Barnett Benefit Concert for the Patsy Cline Historic House at 7:30 PM. Celebrating Patsy Cline is collaborating with Patsy Cline Enterprises and Patsy’s Nashville family to present a first-ever tribute concert in the Patsy Cline Theater at John Handley High School to benefit the Patsy Cline Historic House. Find more information on Facebook.


The PHW Office will be closed on Monday, September 5 for Labor Day. We’ll see you again on Tuesday!

Friday Roundup: Bough & Dough Shop Open House Tomorrow!

Preservation of Historic Winchester will host an informational open house for the 46th annual Bough & Dough Shop tomorrow, Saturday, August 20, 10 AM – 1 PM on the first floor of the Hexagon House, 530 Amherst St. PHW is seeking new artists crafting unique handmade items and holiday décor to expand the shop’s offerings for 2022. We invite anyone interested in applying to stop by to see the space in person and find out more about the event, or read our informational handout available at http://www.phwi.org/events/Shopinfo.pdf.

Prospective artists are encouraged to bring portfolios or example pieces for the jury process. Application forms will be available at the event or can be downloaded at the PHW website, http://www.phwi.org/events/2022juryform.pdf.

If you cannot make the open house event, applications can be sent in by mail to PHW, 530 Amherst St., Winchester, VA 22601 or by email to phwinc.org@gmail.com until September 2, 2022. Final artist lineups will be announced after September 14.

Bough and Dough Shop 2019
A variety of items that were for sale during the 2019 Bough & Dough Shop.

Friday Roundup: Bough & Dough Shop Call for Artists

We hope you enjoyed the offerings of last week while the PHW office was on vacation. We spent our week off doing proper preservation things, like scraping and painting wood porch elements. We are now ready to start the second half of the year here at PHW, which will culminate with the Bough & Dough Shop and Holiday House Tour.

To get prepared for the Shop, we are bringing back our Bough & Dough Shop Open House and Call for Artists on Saturday, August 20, 10 AM – 1 PM. The informational open house for the 46th annual Bough & Dough Shop will be held on the first floor of the Hexagon House, 530 Amherst St.

The boutique holiday pop-up shop will be held Nov. 18-Dec. 11, 2022 to support the organization’s fundraising for local preservation projects. PHW is seeking new artists crafting unique handmade items and holiday décor to expand the shop’s offerings for 2022. We invite anyone interested in applying to stop by to see the space in person and find out more about the event. Prospective artists are encouraged to bring portfolios or example pieces for the jury process. Application forms will be available at the event. You can also find the informational sheet and application on our website in advance.

Friday Roundup: Upcoming Events

Handley Regional Library presents the Orrick Cemetery 100th Anniversary program on Saturday, April 23, 2:00 PM in the Handley Robinson Auditorium, Handley Library.

Orrick Cemetery is the only surviving African-American cemetery that is still active in Winchester, Virginia. It will be celebrating a century of incorporation on April 13, 2022, but has served our community for over two centuries.

Presenter Brenda Nelson will give a comprehensive history of Orrick Cemetery. She has been researching her and her husband’s genealogy and has shared what she has learned and the family she has researched by writing and publishing three articles for the Fairfax Genealogical Society Newsletter. Brenda’s latest project had been researching the history of the Orrick Cemetery here in the City of Winchester.


National Historic Marker Day will take place this year on Friday, April 29. The William G. Pomeroy Foundation created this fun and family-friendly celebration in 2021 to bring people together to clean historic markers in their community, while helping to promote and preserve local history.

Markers educate the public, encourage pride of place, promote tourism and generate economic benefits. Despite their importance, many have not received ongoing care to maintain their luster. Road salt, pollen and other contaminants can take their toll. Markers must be regularly cleaned so they can be enjoyed now and for future generations. That’s where volunteers for National Historic Marker Day make a difference.

Visit the official National Historic Marker Day webpage for details about registering as a volunteer, planning a service project, tips for cleaning markers, and the benefits of participating. PHW will be sprucing up our markers at the Hexagon House before closing early that afternoon for Apple Blossom festivities.


PHW is planning a National Preservation Month event in mid-May at the Hexagon House. We are ecstatic to have finally completed an updated history brochure on our wonderful office space and are looking forward to celebrating its launch this spring. More details will be coming soon!


Are you an artist interested in being part of the Bough & Dough Shop this year? The dates have tentatively been set for November 18-December 11. Artist application forms will be completed soon; if you are a prospective artist drop us an email at phwinc.org@gmail.com to receive a digital copy when they become available.

Hexagon House