Mark your calendar! Spring City historic-home tour set for May

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Calling all historic-home lovers! The annual Spring City Heritage Day home tour is taking place May 25 in Spring City, Utah.

Friends of Historic Spring City hosts the event the Saturday before Memorial Day. I’ll be there this year, and I’m adding an extra night to my trip so I can make the most of the entire day Saturday.

If you haven’t been, here are a few photos from my first trip:

The entire town of Spring City is on the National Register of Historic Places, so it’s jam-packed with amazing 19^th century community buildings and houses preserved for well over 100 years. My mom and sisters came with me a couple years ago, and we were there for five hours and only had time to see about a third of the sites. But the ones we visited did not disappoint.

Every one of these houses is decorated with original art, and the juxtaposition of old, small house with vivid, gorgeous artwork is so rich. Spring City has drawn lots of artists over the years, and many works are available for purchase at a silent auction held in conjunction with the tour and in a local gallery.

Those two green tiles in the middle have dog faces on them.

The window panes are curved just like the rest of the turret.

My mom pointed out how this tour was overwhelmingly positive—we heard no criticism of any of the houses the entire day. It always feels good to be part of something so happy.

My favorite house on the tour

That curtain fabric will never go out of style.

The house above was the workshop for Jock Jones, who makes Windsor chairs the old-fashioned way—talk about works of art!

The artist’s home below is full to the brim with framed canvases, crazy chandeliers, and total hodgepodge. I didn’t even notice until my second time through the main floor that there is a grand piano crammed in one corner, a makeshift kitchen situated in another, and an easel with an in-the-works still life set up between the two. Instead, the focus is on the homeowner’s collections. The bedroom is the same way. This was the fullest home, but it was also the most personal. Something about an entirely personalized house is attractive and complex, even if you wouldn’t want to live with that much “stuff” yourself.

Tickets can be purchased online here or at the Main Street Historic Firehouse from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children, and the houses are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Funds benefit Spring City preservation and restoration efforts.

For more information, visit Friends of Historic Spring City. •