by Eric Marotta
Editor
Nordonia Hills -- About 200 people will be on the lookout for fetching flowers and dashing dwellings as the Olde Northfield Preservation Association hosts its 10th annual garden and home tour next week.
The annual fundraiser this year features nine properties, from a converted ranch in Northfield Center, to a Northfield Village hideaway, to the community garden in Greenwood Village. The tour is self-guided. Guests are provided with maps when they purchase their tickets and can travel to each stop at their own pace.
Seven of the stops on the tour feature gardens, such as Millie Schuster's home in Northfield Village, where daylillies and figurines peek out from beneath a grove of tall shade trees.
"When I moved here, there was nothing," Schuster said. "Every year we have a project. It shows what you can do with a small piece of property."
Marilyn and Dwight Knapp's remodeled ranch in Northfield Center is the focal point of that stop on the tour, although the drive leading up to the home is lined with colorful plantings.
The tour's other home is back by popular demand, said ONPA President Dawn Nero.
The historic McKisson House, built in 1838 on the site of Northfield Township's first recorded murder, will be open from 2 to 4 p.m. both days of the tour. It is said to be haunted by the ghost of its builder's wife, Catherine McKisson, who was axed to death in 1837 by a young man who wanted to marry her daughter.
Proceeds from the tour go toward the association's efforts to beautify the town center area of Northfield Center, among other projects throughout Nordonia Hills.
Nero, who owns Arrow Cottage and will host an accompanying luncheon, said the association has donated trees to Sagamore Hills, Northfield Village and Macedonia, but is focused on Northfield Center, as it was the former capital of the entire Nordonia Hills area.
"Everyone drives through the center," she said.
Long-term plans for the town center include brick sidewalks and period streetlights, but short-term efforts will be focused on landscaping around Northfield Center Town Hall and the park on the northwest quadrant of the public land surrounding the Route 82/Brandywine Road/Olde Eight Road intersection.
E-mail: emarotta@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3171
About the tour: The Olde Northfield Preservation Association garden and home tour is July 11 and 12 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Advance tickets can be purchased for $12 at Olde Brandywine Antiques, located next to CVS in Northfield Center.
Tickets on the days of the tour will be $15.
In conjunction with the tour, the association will host its annual luncheon at Arrow Cottage. Tickets for the luncheon are also available at Olde Brandywine Antiques and must be purchased by July 9.