Christmas Tour of Homes to be held
The Slingluff home in Dover is now owned by Shirley Schumacher, and it is part of this year’s Christmas Tour of Homes.
The 27th annual Christmas Tour of Homes will be held Sunday, Dec. 12 from noon to 5 p.m. The event is presented by the Tuscarawas County Heritage Home Association and features a line-up of holiday sites including homes, a church and a business. All are in New Philadelphia and Dover.
The Reeves Victorian Museum will be decorated in holiday regalia and will be open until 7 p.m. with a discounted admission of $3 for Dec. 12 only.
A limited number of Christmas Tour of Homes tickets are on sale through the Heritage Home website at www.tuschha.org and at the Geib Funeral Homes of Dover and New Philadelphia, the First National Bank at Dennison, and Pam’s Posies at 732 Boulevard St. in Dover. Tickets are $15 presale and $20 at the doors.
Eight stops have been planned for the tour, and they can be completed in any order. Visitors are asked to wear shoes that can be easily removed if they do not want to wear provided shoe coverings in the homes. Masks are required to be worn inside the sites.
One stop on the tour is the home of Shirley Schumacher at 606 N. Wooster Ave. in Dover, a house that holds a lot of history. Known as the Joseph Slingluff House, it is of the Italianate design and is both a plaqued Heritage Home and on the National Register of Historic Places. The home was built in 1866 for Slingluff, the first mayor of Dover and its first physician.
Schumacher has lived in the home for six years when she moved to the area to be closer to her grandchildren. Some of her favorite features are two marble fireplaces, ornate window hoods and the dining room trim. One room is her favorite.
“I love my library. It’s got the rolling ladder and everything,” Schumacher said. “I love to read, and in the winter, that is just my favorite spot. I like to sit in there and read my books.”
Schumacher loves the Victorian home style but couldn’t pass up the Slingluff home for all its unique features.
“They are large, and they are roomy,” Schumacher said, adding the only downside would be the laundry of the home is in the basement. “I don’t mind the upkeep. A lot of people believe the upkeep is a challenge, but that part I don’t mind. The windows are a challenge to wash because they are the original windows. They are the old, poured glass.”
One of the unique features is that the home was once used as a gas station known as Fryer’s Sunoco Station in the 1940s and 1950s.
“The brick was actually painted yellow and blue, and they sandblasted that off with corn cobs so they didn’t damage the brick,” Schumacher said of the work done prior to her purchasing the home.
A former resident of Woodsfield in Monroe County, Schumacher and her family lived in a huge Victorian home. She had to downsize some of her antique furniture when she moved to Dover, but she still has plenty of space for her hobbies of quilting and embroidery work.
“I love it. It’s a great neighborhood. Everybody is very friendly, and Dover is a very clean town. It’s a nice place to live,” Schumacher said. “The former (home) owner, Tod Carper, has been a godsend. He’s helped me with so many things, and so I appreciate his help.”
Carper will help at the home during the tour.
Another location on the tour is the Trinity Episcopal Church at 122 Third St. NW in New Philadelphia. The church was built in 1902 and is constructed of red sandstone quarried near Strasburg.
The church has many features including the Celtic crosses in the ceiling, carved inscriptions on the altar and stained-glass windows. Trinity’s pipe organ was built in 1926 by the Schantz Organ Company in Orrville. In 1975 the office and education wing was added using matching sandstone from the Strasburg quarry. Restrooms and refreshments are available at the stop.
The Jonathan Gentsch and Ted Hamilton home at 320 Fair Ave. NW in New Philadelphia is a red brick Italianate that was built in 1864 by Franklin C. Miller, a successful druggist of O’Donnell & Miller, later F.C. Miller & Sons of New Philadelphia.
The 318 address addition to the house was constructed approximately 20 years later in a Victorian style. While used as a duplex for most of its time, this house was owned by only a few families over the last century.
By 1984 it became close to being demolished. Fortunately, Gerald Stoughton and John Lacey rescued this home that year and devoted 28 years to its restoration. In recent years it has changed owners, and the current ones will allow visitors to view the parlor, great room and dining room.
There are three stops along East High Avenue in New Philadelphia including the home of Carl and Robin Mackey at 631 E. High Ave. This brick Georgian Colonial was built in 1928 with more than 3,700 square feet of living space. It consists of four bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, a two-story foyer, an updated kitchen with easy access to the formal dining room and two sunrooms.
Outside, there are two patio areas and an in-ground pool and gazebo. There also is a wine cellar located on the lower level and a wine bar and pub located outside at the rear of the house.
The home of David and Liz Hipp at 705 E. High Ave. also is a Georgian Colonial Revival home. It was built in 1919 for Alfred and Mary Hert. Alfred was a partner in the Linn-Hert Furniture Company and what is now known as Geib Funeral Home, both in Dover and New Philadelphia.
The house is a three-story, symmetrical, rectangular structure with an ornate entrance framed by columns, a fan light above and side lights on each side of the door. A columned portico was added to the west side of the building. The restored shutters and shutter dogs, which hold the shutters against the house, are original to the house.
The home of Rick and Sue Sattler at 1416 E. High Ave. is an example of the Colonial Revival design. The two-story home was built in 1927 on land that was part of the Rutledge Addition.
In 1999 an addition to the home was completed that features a kitchen, family room with a gas fireplace and sunroom. The older part of the four-bedroom home still retains the original hardwood floors, archways, painted woodwork and doors, fireplace, glass door knobs, and French doors. The grounds of the home feature English and cottage-style gardens.
At 207 S. Broadway St. in New Philadelphia, Around the Corner Frames and the Tusc Arts Co-op are in a building that was originally a foundry in the 1870s. In the 1930s it was the Gibson Brothers Auto Supply store, and later several auto sales businesses were located there.
In more recent times, it was Valley Video, Books & Things and a consignment shop. The current business is a full-service custom picture framing shop and fine art gallery with work from more than 30 local artists available for sale. They have a variety of pottery, glass work, jewelry and 2-D art.
Located at 517 E. Iron Ave. in Dover is the Craftsman-style home of Ian Wamboldt and Nathan Paternoster. It was built by John Phillips, nephew of Jane and Jeremiah Reeves, and his wife Daisy between 1912 and 1914.
The home retains many original details including original bathroom fixtures, a dining room chandelier and China cabinet, bedroom wall sconces, light fixtures, doors and windows, and floors. It also features an inglenook with its original 1914 gas fireplace, and outside there are brick columns.
For anyone who loves old homes, the annual Christmas Tour of Homes is not to be missed.