For the past 60 years proceeds from the Annual Christmas Homes Tour have been used on projects in the surrounding community. The Club’s mission is to provide education and beautification for the pleasure and enjoyment of residents and visitors alike.
Last year in celebration of the return of the Christmas Homes Tour, and to coincide with many of Colonial Williamsburg Grand Illumination activities, the tour showcased on two Saturdays (December 3rd and December 10th).
This year four homes will be featured on December 2nd.
In 1714, John Custis purchased land occupying a prime location on Palace Green facing Bruton Parish Church. By 1717, a one-story frame tenement was built that he and his descendants leased for decades.
The Red Lion is a reconstruction of a house that was built in the early 1700's by innkeeper Francis Sharp. It was known as the Red Lion in 1737, when John Parker obtained a license to operate an ordinary.
In 1701, Henry Gill built a house on this site and opened it as an ordinary. The next owner, Robert Davidson operated an apothecary here. John Holt occupied the property and he ran a store on the premises.
Benjamin Waller (1716-1786), was born in King William County, Virginia. His family came to the colony in the seventeenth century. He attended William & Mary College and studied law using Sir John Randolph's law library.