Go ahead and take a peak.

It's a once-a-year chance to see inside Newberry homes you could previously only admire from the outside.

Two area groups are hosting the separate Christmas home tours Saturday. Each tour costs $15 and tickets include a map and home descriptions.

Newberry

Some Newberry homes are just too pretty to keep their doors closed year-round.

This Saturday marks the seventh year Newberry will welcome visitors to view its new and historic beauties for the Christmas 2008 Tour of Home from 5:30 to 9 p.m.

“We noticed over

the years, we had so many requests from visitors and locals who would come into town and saw all of these beautiful homes and wanted to see inside them,“ said Cheryl Starnes, director of the Newberry County Chamber of Commerce, the tour sponsor. “So that's basically how it started. We just had so many requests.“

A ticket grants access to see tour highlights like the solid granite Ness home on College Street with heart pine flooring, double front parlors and 12-foot ceilings.

Other highlights are the Oak Grove Plantation home, built in the 1820s by the well-known architect Robert Mills, designer of the nation's first Washington Monument and the University of South Carolina campus.

Another historic stop is the white-column, 6,000-plus square foot Dufford Alumni House mansion, built in 1906.

It originally housed the

prominent Newberry family of Henry Evans, who was chief of police in 1891 and mayor in 1896.

The Floyd-Carpenter House was also built around the turn of the century in 1902 and boasts a classic Greek revival structure and front porch columns and statue bust.

For a more local feel, the Victorian-style Banks' Home has a wrap-around front porch and heart-pine flooring. The Chamber advises visitors to pay careful attention to the home's historic details.

But the tour does not exclude modern homes.

The McPhatter home was built this year in the new Opera Square development off Harrington Street and its first owners have yet to move in.

The luxury home is an interpretation of homes typically found in downtown Newberry and features gas yard lanterns and verandas.

“I think people like to see a mixture of old and new and get ideas on how to decorate,“ said Starnes.

Starnes also gave a nod towards the gracious homeowners for opening their homes to all the visitors.

“They all love their home and know the history,“ said Starnes.

Last year, Starnes said all 600-tour tickets sold out.

This year, $15 tickets are still available at shops along Main Street, the Opera House and the Chamber of Commerce in the downstairs of Community Hall on Main Street.

Starnes says tickets are available the day of the event and can be picked up before 5 p.m. at the Chamber of Commerce.

Mid-Carolina

In Pomaria, six sites will open doors for ticket holders to browse previously private quarters.

With a $15 ticket, guests can see the eight painted walls of the Doolittle Home with a garden mural by a Columbia artist Scott Hoffman and other interesting sites and historic homes in the Pomaria area.

The rescued Oakland Home is also on the tour sheet, which was once on the verge of being burned for firefighters' training in the 1970s. After much restoration, the 1820s home was deemed worthy of a lengthy feature article in the Lake Murray Magazine and boasts homeowner Laura Ridgell's love of collectibles and antiques.

The historic Holloway House, also built around the 1820's, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Just beyond its front porch step is a placard marking Pomaria's center where “Thomas W. Holloway laid out the town of Pomaria, 1,000 yards in all directions,“ the stone reads.

Holloway homeowner Elsie Fields “decorates with live greenery and fruit just like it would have been decorated back then,“ said tour organizer Lori Ricard.

Inside the Richardson House, tourists can visit the Christmas village set up in the sunroom and six Christmas trees in the main living area.

For more historic touring, the plantation-style Boland home dates back to the mid 1800s and is used for receptions and weddings.

“It's been totally refurbished and it's just beautiful,“ said Ricard.

But the tour highlight is the historic St. Paul Lutheran Church in Pomaria, said Ricard.

There is a large, lighted Christmas tree in the church sanctuary and hurricane lanterns line the pew aisle and stained glass windowsills.

Poinsettias are at the front of the church and live greenery drapes the handrails leading to the chancel and balcony.

Ricard says participants can drop by the church for hot apple cider and homemade cookies in the social hall any time during the 5-9 p.m. tour.

The idea for the tour is two-fold: to showcase lovely area homes and raise building funds for the church.

“There are so many historic and interesting homes in the rural area and we wanted to open it up for the community,“ Ricard said.

Plus, with a turnout of around 250 last year, Ricard says a second tour of homes follows last year's success.

“We are very excited, and we're doing it because we had such a great response last year,“ she said. “We definitely was to continue this as an annual event and look to extend it to the Prosperity and Little Mountain areas in years to come.”

She says the festive event is sure to get everyone in the Christmas spirit.

Participants must show tickets at the door of each home, provide their own transportation and may visit homes in any order.

For tickets, call Becky Boland at 924-4052. Last minute tickets can be picked up at the church on Saturday before the event.