Now is the time to make reservations if you want a look inside half a dozen homes in the City of Salem that are all decked out for the holidays.

The owners of six Salem homes will be opening to the public on December 3rd and 4th as part of the Salem Federation of Women's Clubs, Christmas Tour. This is the first time several of the homes have been opened for public viewing.

Several of the owners have enlisted professional designers to assist them in creating a holiday feast for the eyes.

The tour will be December 3rd from 10-4 PM and December 4th from 1-4 pm. Each one is decorated for the Christmas season.  Tickets are $20 to benefit the Ruth Smucker House and the Salem Federation of Women's Clubs.

What you’ll see on the tour:

David and Kathy Gano's home at 343 Highland Avenue is a colonial revival style built in 1936-37 by Salem Industrialist Nathan Hunt.  The home was designed by Cleveland based architect Munroe Copper who is known for designing many of the homers in the Shaker Heights area of Cleveland.

Dr. Marshall and Samantha Bahr at 700 Highland Avenue is Georgian style colonial home which was built in 1901 by Salem Industrialist, Herbert H Sharp who was co-founder of the Buckeye Engine Company, the largest manufacturer of stationary steam and gas fueled power plants and electric generators in the country in the late 1800s through the 1930s.

The Baer family home at 1085 Jennings Avenue is a circa 1866, a Greek revival style built by a southern gentleman, William Fisher after his wife passed. The house is known for being the home of a former Quaker Senator, Jones D. Cattell and for storing the wooden box that carried home Edwin Coppock who was hung along with John Brown on the raid on the U.S. Arsenal in Harpers Ferry WV. in October 1859.

The Crowell House, 725 South Lincoln Avenue, is an Italianate constructed in 1880 by patent attorney turned industrials, Amos Rank. This home is one of many listed on the National Register of Historic Homes in Salem.   The home features a living room measuring 18 by 32 feet with 12-foot ceilings, thick brick interiors walls, and two Carrara marble fireplace mantels.  Paul Metzger, a bodyguard for President Lincoln during the Civil War (1861-1865) purchased this home in 1889, and for many years owned the Metzger Hotel in Salem.

The Greenisen Farm, 1904 Depot Road, is a Century Farm which has been owned continuously by members of the Greenisen Family for more than 100 years.  Phil and Marge Greenisen are the current caretakers. The farmhouse was built between 1862-1870.  It boasts a sugar house where maple syrup is made and it is currently the home of five Haflingers, a horse that was imported to the United States from Austria.

The home of Jennifer Brown at 2005 Pearce Circle was built in 1991.  It is a "McMansion" of the early 1900's which were larger homes with blending styles. It is a blend of modern/colonial/Victorian.  It features a grand entrance with an open staircase that greets you with elegance and grandeur indicative of the 'McMansion" and has a semi-open floor plan.  The home has been remodeled by Jennifer Brown, a florist and designer.

Tickets can be purchased in Salem at the Salem Computer Center on 2nd Street, Wild City Bird and Feed on Broadway, and at Nature and Nurture and a Taste of Gracious Living both on State Street in Salem.  Tickets will also be sold at Consign and Design in Poland, Ohio. 

The day of the tour, tickets will be sold at the Salem Federation of Women's Clubs - Smucker House at 271 South Broadway in Salem.