Christ Episcopal Church
55th Annual Tour of Homes
and Gardens

A Message from the chairman 

The annual St. Simons – Sea Island Tour of Homes and Gardens is a traditional springtime celebration in the Golden Isles of Georgia.  This year’s tour on Saturday, March 15th marks the 55th anniversary of this much anticipated event.

From 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. generous homeowners welcome visitors to view the diverse architecture and stylish interiors of some of the Island’s finest homes.  The tour is essentially divided into two sections.  The homes on St. Simons are self-guided and can be located by maps provided inside the ticket brochures along with ample road signs.  The men of the church volunteer as car parkers and will help guide our guest parking at the individual homes.  The homes on Sea Island are accessible only by bus and all tours leave from Gascoigne Bluff on St. Simons.  Once again, consult your ticket brochure maps for locating Gascoigne Bluff.   Tickets are color coded for departures to Sea Island.  Please understand, if you have an afternoon ticket to Sea Island, you will be driving your own car to the homes on St. Simons in the morning starting at 10:00 a.m.  Morning tickets to Sea Island will then tour St. Simons in the afternoon. 

Along with the sale of our beautiful Christ Church cookbooks, the tour is the major fund-raiser for the entire year and 100% of proceeds are funneled back into our community.  A list of these charities can be found elsewhere on this web site.  Also, you may order tickets on our web site and they will be mailed in early March.  

Make your plans now for a memorable day on St. Simons and Sea Island visiting stunning homes and professionally landscaped gardens.  We invite everyone to the Christ Church parish house for refreshments where our cookbook will be for sale.  It is a masterpiece featuring Dorothy Paulk McClain’s stunning photographs of the stained glass windows of our church.  The hard cover is from an original watercolor of Christ Church by the acclaimed artist Betty Lowe and was an exclusive commission. While at the parish house, please take the opportunity to participate in a silent auction of six original paintings be members of Christ Church. 

In addition, we are very fortunate to offer a stop at Musgrove Plantation, open only for the day of the tour plus a walk-through of Wesley Memorial Gardens which will, hopefully, be awash in blooming azaleas.   Be advised that some of our homes are multi-leveled and will be a little strenuous for some; leave your high heels at home and wear comfortable shoes.  Pictures are not permitted inside for security reasons but the gardens and Church are real “photo-ops”!  

It is our pleasure to offer this outstanding tour to you, our guests, and we look forward to being your hostesses and docents.  On behalf of all the men and women of Christ Church…..WELCOME. 

Barbara Bruce
Tour Chairman 2008