The Accidental Tourist

It appears we're "magnificent."

Every year, our town's local historical society puts on a walking tour of historic houses and public buildings. It's a fundraiser for the society and a pleasant day out for architecture buffs or snoopy neighbors. Our house was on the tour a few years ago, and we got plenty of visitors. Then we took a few years off because the organizers like to keep things fresh by mixing up the inventory of houses every year.

It looked like we weren't going to be on this year's tour, either. But then the tour posters started appearing around town and they looked... familiar.

"Hey, honey! Are we on the Heritage Home Tour this year? Because it sure looks like they're advertising our house."

We called the number at the bottom of the poster and introduced ourselves. "Hi, we're from the house in all of your advertisements. Would you like to, uh, include it on your tour?"

The short answer was 'yes.' I'm not sure why they didn't invite us to participate in the first place, but once we offered they were happy to add us to the agenda. The only trouble was, they'd already started printing handouts, tickets, and the tour map. Could we please send them a few photos and a quick history right now, while they tried to stop the presses? Uh, sure.

Within a few days, we noticed that the ads had changed slightly to say there were now 14 houses on the tour, up from the 13 listed previously. The picture stayed the same, but now the accompanying text described the "magnificent Hart Mansion" as one of the attractions.

It's funny to think what might have happened if we hadn't been included at the last minute. Would ticket buyers have come up to our door, assuming that we're on the tour? After all, it's the only house shown on the poster. It's hard to miss. Why would you advertise a home tour with an image of a house that's not on the tour?

The other complication was the potential sale of the house. It's listed for sale and there's a big For Sale sign in the front yard. Is that okay? And what happens if the house actually sells before the day of the home tour? Neither turned out to be a problem, so everything is going ahead as planned.

Kathy and I are happy to be included in the tour one last time. We don't know who will eventually buy this house or if they'll want to share it. This may be the last time it's open to the public for a while.