{"id":31188,"date":"2025-12-05T15:13:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T20:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=31188"},"modified":"2025-12-05T15:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T20:13:09","slug":"eight-stops-set-on-christmas-home-tours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/eight-stops-set-on-christmas-home-tours\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight stops set on Christmas Home Tours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By BOB SHRALUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tickets are on sale now for the Adams County Christmas Home Tours scheduled Dec. 13-14 in Berne and Decatur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tickets are $20 per person and are available at the Next Page Bookstore in Decatur and the Berne Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Adams County Historical Society and the Berne Chamber have organized the event set for Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 13-14, from 1-6 p.m. both days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be eight stops on the tour, as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* The Dugan Mansion\/Museum in Decatur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* The Pennsy Train Depot in Decatur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* The home of Rick and Emily Sovine above their Next Page Bookstore in Decatur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* The historic Yager House at 246 S. Second St. in Decatur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* The Limberlost Cabin in Geneva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* The Matt and Mackenzie Billington home, 262 Lehman St. in Berne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* The Trace and Lee Howard home, 305 Dearborn St. in Berne. * The Swiss Heritage church and school, Berne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HAILED IN 1898: One of the stops on the tour will be at the Matt & MacKenzie Billington home in Berne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally hailed in 1898 by the Berne Witness as “the most beautiful and costliest house in Berne”, the Victorian home has a long history of transformation, according to information provided by the historical society and Berne Chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designed by Emmanuel T. Haecker and built by C.C. Wittwer, the residence once boasted seven rooms, two butteries, eight upstairs apartments and ornate towers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time, the house alternated between apartments and a single family dwelling before falling into disrepair, abandoned and ransacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Billington’s purchased the home in a 2013 tax sale facing a huge project with a rotted foundation, stolen wiring and a collapsing roof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Billingtons have restored the house to honor its Victorian charm while expanding it into a modern family home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the home spans over 6,500 square feet with five bedrooms, a theatre, pool and play area for their children. They approached the renovation in stages to remain debt-free, documenting the journey on social media as they brought new life to one of Berne’s most storied homes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com Tickets are on sale now for the Adams County Christmas Home Tours scheduled Dec.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31189,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,15],"class_list":["post-31188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-events","tag-featured"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Mackenzie-Billington-home-Bene.jpg?fit=2048%2C1165&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31190,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31188\/revisions\/31190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}