Holiday Tours at the Hackley and Hume Historic Site to Begin 11/28

The homes of Muskegon's most well-known lumber barons have been decorated for the holidays and will be open for tours the weekends of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The tours will begin on Saturday, November 28, with special activities including horse drawn-wagon rides from the Site to Hackley Park for the city's lighting of the Christmas tree. A tent will fill the courtyard between the Hackley and Hume houses where visitors can listen to Christmas carolers, decorate cookies, and sip hot chocolate.

Tours begin in the Hackley house where a tree in the bay window of the Reception Hall greets visitors as they embark on their journey through the homes built in the late 1800s. The seven fireplace mantels in the home have all been decorated and candles in the trees and windows will illuminate the tours. The dining room table has been set with china and desserts are ready to be served to celebrate the holidays. The rooms on the second floor have also been decorated and in Charles Hackley's library it appears a card game is in progress and one of the players is enjoying a cigar.

The holidays are also being celebrated across the courtyard in the Hume family home. A tree decorated using a family photo as a guide fills the bay window in the second parlor. A display of holiday treats including popcorn balls and gingerbread cookies will tempt visitors' appetites. Children's drawings and letters to Santa are found throughout the house which was once filled with Hume children and grandchildren.

The houses have been decorated by local service groups and volunteers: Delta Kappa Gamma, Women's Division of the Chamber of Commerce, Greater Muskegon's Woman's Club, Shoreline Victorian Ladies Society, Muskegon County Medical Society Alliance, Helen and Elizabeth Sherman, Minerva Dill Questers, and Barb Lloyd and Jane Arndt.

Tours will continue November 29 from 1 to 4 pm and Saturday, December 26 from 4 to 8 pm and Sunday, December 27 from 1 to 4 pm. The Hackley & Hume Historic Site, operated by the Lakeshore Museum Center, is located at 484 W. Webster Avenue at Sixth Street in Muskegon. Tours are $7 for adults and teens, $5 for age 65 and older, and free for visitors 12 and younger. For more information, visit www.lakeshoremuseum.org.