Many people came to Washington Wilkes this weekend to enjoy the 2005 Christmas Tour of Homes and do some Christmas shopping.

Tour headquarters was the Fitzpatrick Hotel, a historic 1898 refurbished hotel with 17 carefully renovated rooms.

Among tour guests were Phylis Johnson Bradford and her sister, Mary Johnson Ashley, children of the late Benard and Evangeline Shields Johnson, of Murphy, N.C. They were accompanied by several of their friends, Larraine Rogers of Marble, N.C., and Beth Stiles of Lula, Ga.; and Phylis’ daughter, Karen Bradford White, and her daughter, Lexie, of Gainesville.

Their cousin, Priscilla Johnson (Mrs. Morrison) Maxwell, joined them for the Day Tour Saturday. We toured six lovely homes. They were Chrean and Archie Brown next door to the post office on Court St.; Gail Boyd, North Alexander Avenue; Margaret and Phil Rothman on South Alexander Avenue; Wisteria Hall, home of Jane and Jim Bundy of East Robert Toombs Avenue; home of Jeanne Blair-Davis, West Robert Toombs Avenue; and the home of Suzanne and Doug Abramson on the Newtown Road.

We also enjoyed going through the Washington Historical Museum which is a restored and furnished ante-bellum home containing a fine collection of Confederate items as well as other exhibits which tell the story of Wilkes County. It is the property of the City of Washington and is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sundays, 12:30-3:30 p.m.

Lunch was enjoyed at the Washington Jockey Club on The Square where a drug store was once located. Lexie White was celebrating her seventh birthday Saturday and was treated with a slice of cake topped with seven candles.

When Priscilla left the group Saturday afternoon, they told her they hoped to see her at Phillips Mill Baptist Church Sunday and presented her a Christmas tree ornament which read, “The Queen Mother,” since I am often called “The Tyrone Queen” by some.

The North Carolina group went on to continue their weekend tour package which included the reception at the Pope Center, dinner at the lovely home of Margaret and Carlton Norris, and bed and breakfast at Washington Plantation, formerly the Ray House.

Sunday morning, Mary Ashley and friends, Larraine and Beth, attended morning worship service at Phillips Mill Baptist Church where Mary’s dad, Benard Johnson, grew up and where her grandparents, the late Burl and Genie Sherrer Johnson, were longtime members and great-grandfather, William King “W.K.” Johnson, was one of the people who helped raise money for the present church building back in the early 1900s. The church was organized in 1785.

After the service, cousins, Priscilla and Morrison Maxwell and daughter Mary Jane Scarborough, and Tyler, treated them to soup and sandwiches in the fellowship hall before they left for North Carolina. They were planning to go by the Johnson homeplace where cousin, Burl “Sonny” Johnson, now lives.