During the holiday season, there’s nothing that says home for the holidays more than exterior Christmas decorations lighting up a cold evening.

It’s a tradition that people across the world share — creating winter wonderlands with evergreen and ribbon, lights and ornaments — making homes and neighborhoods a cause for celebration and worth an evening ride around town to see the decorations.

This week, members of the Historic Bath Garden Club were hard at work creating that festive space at the corner of South Main and Carteret streets.

It’s long been a Bath tradition, though it’s unclear exactly how long it’s been an integral part of the town’s character.

“I’ve been here nine years, and I think they’ve been doing it at least that long,” said garden club member Pat Mahoney.

 

The Garden Club decorates and the town follows through with an invitation to residents and visitors alike to join in launching the holidays with community caroling, cookies, a performance by singer/guitarist Jennifer Taylor and a reading of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” as well as the official lighting of the tree.

“Of course, our favorite friend will be appearing from the North Pole — via a golf cart,” said garden club President Sallie LaCava. “It’s our way of welcoming, starting, the Christmas season. … This is just our town decorations, whereas when we do the houses, we decorate in Williamsburg style.”

Each year, Garden Club members also decorate the homes that are part of the Historic Bath State Historic Site, and they decorate in keeping with the colonial era — Bath’s heyday as a port. Everything is natural: boughs of evergreen, flowers and natural wreathes studded with pinecones and fruit. Pineapples play a major role in decorating for the holidays in Colonial Williamsburg style, as the fruit’s

design was widely used as an architectural element during that era.

Tonight, the Town of Bath officially lights the tree and welcomes Christmas at 6 p.m. The public is invited to attend. On Dec. 6, the garden club will be decorating the Van der Veer House, Palmer-Marsh House and the Bonner House—three of the most historically significant homes in North Carolina’s oldest town. The decorations will be on display at Historic Bath State Historic Site’s open house on Dec. 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.