For the 34th year, the Governor Wolf Historical Society, East Allen Township, is offering a tour of local historic homes 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 6.

The Christmas house tour is one of the society's most important fundraisers.

In addition to the homes, all decorated for the holidays, the three buildings on the Governor Wolf campus, 6600 Jacksonville Road, Bath, will be open with craft vendors in all three buildings, demonstrations of hearth cooking, a sale of decorated wreaths and swags, and refreshments for sale by the Daily Grind.

This year, the tour will be of special interest to Parkland area residents, as four of the featured homes are in Schnecks-ville.

The home of Dave Wirth and Sonja Kustafik, Wood Street, Schnecks-ville, originally stood on a 93-acre farm purchased by Dave's father and mother, Frank W. and Rose A. Wirth, from Mable A. and Harry Schlicher of Coplay borough in April 1943.

They later purchased an additional contiguous 12 acres of land from Dave's grandfather, August Wirth, of North Whitehall Township, in November 1952.

This was a 104-acre full working farm until 1995. Dave purchased the farm from his siblings in October 1992.

The original section of the home was built as a two-story settlers log house in the 1730s or 1740s, along the Coplay Creek.

A stone addition was added in the early 1800s.

The current owners added a solarium 15 years ago, incorporating the 1915 cool cellar within, using 1800s spare beams from the barn.

Complete restoration took approximately 15 years and included repointing all interior and exterior stone and walk-in fireplace. All interior chestnut beams were exposed and refinished, along with the original window frame between the two-story settler's home and the 1800s addition.

Other features are a large 1800s drilled and pegged beam barn, smokehouse, old drilled and pegged beam sheds and stable.

Dave says the experience of living and farming as the youngest member of the Wirth family over the past 58 years has been exhausting at times, but rewarding.

The home of Andy and Raenette Schneck, Park Valley Road, Schnecksville, sits on half an acre.

The house dates to the late 1870s or 1880s, as it does not appear on the 1876 Lehigh County map. It was originally a farmhouse; the property consisted of many acres, including two large barns, a large fruit orchard behind the house, and the park land across the street.

Paul and Jean Schneck bought the home in 1953 and lived there for 45 years before selling it to their son and daughter-in-law in 1998.

Andrew is a direct descendant (eighth generation) of Adam Schneck, founder of Schnecksville.

The home is a two and one-half story brick farmhouse with nearly 10-foot ceilings throughout. It features pine flooring throughout, as well as an open stairwell and stained glass windows and transom.

The exterior is red brick with white trim and green shutters. Over the past 16 years, 18 windows have been replaced and three chimneys removed.

In 2006, an addition was added, at which time the deteriorating slaughterhouse and smokehouse were razed.

The rear porch was refurbished and a laundry room added in 2010. Two pine trees fell on the house during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

This set into motion the removal of the remaining trees and landscaping planted in the early 20th century. Stone from the smokehouse was used in landscaping around the home.

During the past decade, the bedroom and living room floors were exposed and refinished. In 2014 the two remaining first level floors were refinished. Recently, the hand pump from the original hand dug well was repaired and placed back into service.

The home of Michael and Sandra Daumer, Bellview Road, Schnecksville, is a fully restored 1903 Pennsylvania stone farmhouse on five acres, with two additions, the first in 1932 and the second in 1990. The original house is random rubble field stone construction, using layers of stone inside and out with mud and horsehair between.

The first addition is post/beam/peg construction filled in with brick with an overall coat of stucco. The second addition is modern construction done to obtain wide windowsills that match the original house. During construction of the second addition, both additions were wrapped with approximately 800 tons of local fieldstone to match the original house.

This "gentleman's farm" was purchased by the Daumers in 1979, and fully restored over the next 10 years. Constant updating has occurred since, taking great care to keep the exterior stone farmhouse look and feel. The interior has been brought up to 21st century standards, but retains its country heritage.

The property contains a half-acre pond and the east branch of the Coplay Creek flows through it. There are two post and beam barns, two smaller sheds and a brick pavilion.

The house has four bedrooms, two and one-half baths, kitchen, foyer, formal dining room, family room, mud porch and walk-in closets, a deck and a finished basement (the owners' Elvis tribute room) open to the public.

The majority of the infrastructure and finish work was done by the owners. There is a working potbelly stove from the Northampton Railroad Station.

The home of Tom and Anne Lutz, Greenleaf Street, Schnecksville, is a Victorian farmhouse built in 1840. The barn was built around 1860 and the stone addition in 2005. The home is framed with milled lumber, but the main floor is supported by roughhewn wooden beams. The exterior has hardplank siding installed over the original clapboard. The windowsills and openings are original. The windows are wooden reproductions.

The original wooden shutters were recently installed after being hidden in the barn for almost 20 years.

Exterior stone on the addition is veneer, but historic building materials were used in the interior.

The Lutzes first visited the home when it was for sale in spring 1995.

After a second visit, they fell in love with the convenient location and bucolic setting. Upon confirming the home had solid bones, they embarked on renovation projects over the next 10 years which included removing the asbestos siding, replacing the windows, scraping off layers upon layers of old wallpaper and building the addition.

They researched the property and discovered the land was originally owned by Stephen Balliet, a Colonel in the Revolutionary War.

The second owner of the home had a daughter named Kitty Ann Scheirer who was born in the house in 1846.

She lived her entire life there after she and her husband purchased it from her father. She appears with her husband and 10 children in a turn of the century photograph in the great room.

Other features of the home include an original smokehouse, chicken coop (now a playhouse) and outhouse in the back of the property. The smokehouse has a hand excavated stone-lined well and an original brick beehive oven which the Lutzes would like to restore. They also have plans to restore the barn to host parties and gatherings.

All rooms in the house, except the attic and basement, are open for the tour, as are the smokehouse, chicken coop and outhouse.

Robert and Shari Swan's stone center-hall farmhouse on School Road, Bath, is historically known as the Hugh Horner Homestead.

Hugh was a son of Jane Horner, the first casualty of the massacre of 1763, when she was killed by angered Indians as she set out to visit a neighbor for live coals to start her fire.

Hugh bought the original 107 acres in 1782 from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which had confiscated the land from Andrew Allen, identified as a traitor for assisting the army of the King of Great Britain.

The original house was built in 1787 and has been in the Swan family for 43 years.

The Robert Bysher home, on Weaversille Road, Allen Township, is a distinctive restoration home combining the styles of Folk Victorian and Queen Anne.

Built on 1.4 acres in 1900 by William Hess, it was said to be a practicing doctor's office through the 1940s.

The exterior construction is a combination of brick and frame, with unusual features such as a granite foundation and marble entryway slabs. The wrap-around porch features both double and single door entries.

Tickets for the tour are avaiable at Bath Drug, S. Seem Antiques and Artisans, Bath; Curt's Cyclery, Nazareth; Miller Supply-Ace Hardware, Northampton; and Kornfeind's Market, Coplay.

For more information on the tour, go to govwolf.org.