Tourgoers taking the well-attended 18th Annual House & Garden Tour of historical properties, which was held on Saturday, June 28, had an opportunity to visit ten sites, eight of which are on Main Street, one on West Street, and one on Newfield Lane.

The annual event is held as a fundraiser for Newtown Historical Society whose museum at the Matthew Curtiss House at 44 Main Street served as the stepping-off point for the six-hour event. Tourgoers received maps and information there on the ten properties which were open during the event.

Listed on the tour were: The Pleasance, a garden at 1 Main Street owned by the Smith Family Partnership; the home and garden of Patrick Hill at 10 West Street; Newtown Meeting House at 31 Main Street; the garden of Renee and Kevin McManus at 35 Main Street; the Dooryard Garden at The Matthew Curtiss House; the home and garden of Shane and George Miller at 50 Main Street; the garden of Karen Boyle and Mark Poirier at 53 Main Street; the home and garden of Betsy Kenyon at 62 Main Street; and the home and garden of Chris and Rob Hughes at 4 Newfield Lane.

The Inn at Newtown, at 19 Main Street, offered a lunch special for ticket-holders.

The self-guided tour allows participants to view the antique homes and gardens in any sequence. To aid tourgoers in finding tour sites, each property was identified by a cluster of helium balloons anchored in front of the property.

Tourgoers observed that while they may have passed the properties on display many times, they were not aware of the elaborate gardens present in their rear yards.

The private residential properties on the tour were only open for visits on the day of the tour, not afterwards, according to the historical society.