Editor's note: this version corrects the house tour's web address.

Next month, Old Lyme will harken back to holidays of years past, as several historic homes in its village center open their doors.

Visitors can amble through a Victorian dwelling by the Lieutenant River, a former rectory and a stately building that once held a boarding school, among other homes.

The Old Lyme Children's Learning Center is hosting the "Homes for the Holidays" tour Dec. 6 to feature six dwellings decorated for the holidays.

The event is intended to bring people to the town's center, which is also the home of the learning center itself, said event organizers. "We're right in the middle of the historic village," said Mary Ballachino, president of the center's Board of Directors.

The showcase house on the self-guided tour is Boxwood, a prominent brick and white-trimmed building surrounded by hedges on Lyme Street in the town's historic district. The building, a combination of Greek Revival and Georgian styles, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

During the tour, visitors can walk through the now residential building, outfitted with holiday decor, and view its marble mantles, chandeliers and mirrors. There will also be a table set as if for a holiday feast, event organizers said.

The building's history spans from its origins in 1842 - when merchant Richard Sill Griswold built it - through periods as a boarding school for girls and as a seasonal hotel. Now residential, it had expanded over the years to include an addition and a third floor, according to a document on its history compiled from town records.

The Boxwood School, founded by Rosa Brown Griswold, was open from the late 1800's until 1907. A newspaper account at the time of its closing described it as "a fashionable boarding academy for young ladies."

Woodrow Wilson and Old Lyme's impressionist artists were said to have stayed at Boxwood when it was an inn, according to the document.

The hours tour also stops at a Victorian building overlooking the Lieutenant River, a structure which was moved from Ferry Road in the 1920's, according to a description for the event. Architect James Gamble Rogers installed an addition on the house that featured french doors, a signature style of the architect.

"The Rectory" in the historic district is another stop. The 1880 building was first a home, but later housed clergy members, according to its description. Recently it has been renovated to its original state.

As part of the Dec. 6 event, The Lyme-Old Lyme High School Select Singers will perform holiday songs at Boxwood.

"It adds to the holiday feel," said Barbara Crowley, the owner of the Chocolate Shell on Lyme Street, who is helping to organize the event.

The tour will benefit children's enrichment programs at Old Lyme Children's Learning Center and is the largest fundraiser for the nonprofit organization, said Director Alison Zanardi.

The center began as a grass-roots effort led by Connie Pike in 1987. Today, the center serves about 75 families from the Lyme and Old Lyme area and from as far as Madison and West Hartford, she said.

The learning center hosts a tour every two years. The 2012 tour featured stops that included Mason's Lodge, the Old Lyme Inn and the Hiram G. Marvin House.

The tour is intended to highlight the town's charm during the holiday season and has attracted visitors beyond the Lyme and Old Lyme areas, the organizers said.

"It's a very quaint area to come to, and that's what people love to do over the holidays," said board member Pam DiNapoli.

k.drelich@theday.com

Twitter: @KimberlyDrelich

If you go

What:

Homes for the Holidays House Tour of Old Lyme

When:

Self-guided tour:

12 p.m. to 4 p.m. ,Saturday, Dec. 6.

Where:

Tour begins at Town Hall on 52 Lyme St., where there is also a holiday boutique from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tickets:

Advance tickets for the tour, which will take place rain, snow or shine, are available for $25 by visiting www.olclc.com/home-tour.html; also available at the following locations: the learning center, 57 Lyme St.; Nightingale's Café, 68 Lyme St.; The Chocolate Shell, 18 Lyme St.; Salon Pure, 11 Halls Road; and Homeworks, 711 Boston Post Road, Old Saybrook. Tickets the day of the event are $30.