Accent Dec Victorian Lights

HOLIDAYS |

luminaries

VICTORIAN

Lights

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TEXT BY ROBYN JACKSON PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY VISIT HATTIESBURG December would be much darker if not for the more than 15,000 luminaries that brighten the Hattiesburg Historic Neighborhood for one weekend each year. The 33rd annual Victorian Candlelit Christmas will be held the evenings of Dec. 12 and 13. Events include horse-drawn carriage rides, tours of two historic homes and strolling carolers. Entertainment and refreshments will be at the Walthall Center. Victorian Candlelit Christmas is a featured event of Hattiesburg’s Holidays in the Hub, which includes a Holiday Art Walk at the galleries in downtown Hattiesburg. Two trolleys will circulate on Saturday, offering free rides with stops throughout the downtown and Historic Neighborhood districts. Horse-drawn carriages will offer tours of the 115-acre neighborhood, located just south of downtown, during the event. Tickets are $5 and will be sold only at Walthall Center from dark to 9 p.m. both nights. Homes in the neighborhood date from 1884 to

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1930 and include a variety of architectural styles, from Victorian, Italianate and Greek Revival to cottage. Residents of more than 400 restored homes line their sidewalks and porch rails with luminaries - candles inside paper bags - as well as strings of lights. Some also include yard displays of lighted figures. Home tours will be from 5-9 p.m. Saturday and 2-5 p.m. Sunday. Featured houses will be the Dunn House Bed and Breakfast, 102 Short Bay St., and Lucius Cottage, 109 Short Bay St. Tickets are $10, which includes both houses, and will be available at the doors and in advance at Main Street Books. Entertainment at the open houses will be provided by members of the Suzuki Strings. Court Street United Methodist Church, 609 Southern Ave., will also host an open house Saturday evening. There will also be activities at Bay Street Presbyterian Church, 202 Short Bay St. and Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 317 Walnut St., where the church carillon will be played.

The event began in 1976 as a bicentennial celebration and a way to showcase the neighborhood and encourage new people to move to the area, which was undergoing a transition. Many of the residents then were aging, direct descendants of Hattiesburg’s original settlers who were still living in their old family homes, which were falling into disrepair. Barbara and Harry Ward were instrumental in starting the Hattiesburg Historic Neighborhood Association, which sponsors the annual Victorian Candlelit Christmas events. They bought a house on Walnut Street in 1975 so that Harry, who was an art instructor at the University of Southern Mississippi, could have a studio. The Wards went door to door, meeting their new neighbors and drumming up support for the association. Only a few thousand luminaries were set out the first year. The votive candles were purchased from Sacred Heart Catholic Church, which is located in the neighborhood. “It was probably mainly on Bay Street and Walnut Street,” said Linda McMurtrey, who sets out six dozen luminaries around her home on

Williams Street. “People saw the candles being put out that day and they wanted to join in. People were amazed at the impact that kind of display can make.” Now, candles are ordered four or five months before the event. Early on Saturday, residents collect sand from the neighborhood’s central depository, fill white paper bags with sand and candles, and set them out on their sidewalks. They stay lit until the event ends each night. Victorian Candlelit Christmas has become a tradition for many Pine Belt families. “I have people come by now and tell me they went to it as kids and now they’re bringing their kids to it,” Ward said. “That’s so heartwarming.” Even the residents, who put so much time and effort into setting out the luminaries and lighting them each night, still fall under its spell.

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