Christmas Tour of Homes visitors to Belmont, the Macchia home, were treated to demonstrations of David Denard's Confederate artillery piece in action throughout the day Saturday. Washington was filled with the Christmas spirit last weekend as hundreds of visitors came to town for the Christmas Tour of Homes, shopping, and other events.

"It was a wonderful Tour and people were very pleased," said Stephanie Macchia, president of the Washington-Wilkes Historical Foundation. "Ginny King and her Tour team did a wonderful job, and all our homeowners worked so hard to make their homes beautiful."

Out-of-town Christmas shoppers in Washington added to the Tour numbers, Macchia said. "It really had an impact on the Tour. We had more drop-ins than reservations," she said. "More than 300 tickets were sold to people just walking in, and homeowners collected lots of $5 fees at the door that we haven't counted yet."

Many tour homes saw more than 300 visitors during the weekend, with many tour-goers saying they were back for the fourth and fifth years.

Ancillary events also saw good crowds. Christmas at Callaway got 170 visitors on Saturday, 30 Friday night and 40 Sunday, Curator Olivia Jackson said, which was a very good turnout for the expanded event. A presentation of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" was well-attended at the Robert Toombs House, as was the Washington Historical Museum.

In previous years, store owners had not seen as much a positive impact from Tour visitors on business as this year, Tourism Director Ashley Barnett said, but now it seems that the impact is the other way around - the number of Christmas shoppers in town added to the Tour. "Our stores and restaurants have been having an incredible few weeks lately, and I think a lot of people were here shopping and just discovered that we also had a Christmas Tour of Homes going on. Isn't that wonderful?"