Southeastern Connecticut’s most eccentric home and garden tour has become even more eclectic and entertaining this year. The Pine Grove House and Garden Tour on Saturday is adding vintage and collector cars to the mix.

The tour provides a rare opportunity to step into turn-of-the-century cottages and to stroll public gardens at the Pine Grove Spiritualist Camp in Niantic. Although there are no longer Spiritualist residents in the 155-home community on the East Lyme peninsula that juts into the Niantic Bay, the Pine Grove Temple still holds services from May through September, and visiting mediums stay in the temple cottage for the season.

The Pine Grove Spiritualist Camp website describes spiritualism as the science, philosophy and religion of continuous life, based upon the demonstrated fact of communication, by means of mediumship, with those who live in the spirit world.

“Spiritualists came to pitch their tent there for the summer months, back in 1881, with mediums, seances and church services,” says Abby Stokes, chair of the homeowners beautification committee. “The Pine Grove Temple, built in 1882, was the center of the community. In the early 1900s, people started building homes on their 25- by 25-foot lots, replacing the platform tents.”

Several properties and many lush pines were devastated during the Hurricane of 1938, according to Stokes, who also is historian for the CT Spiritualist Camp Meeting Association. She hopes to some day see a documentary produced about the area’s local history. Over the past 50 years, a small store and large dance hall were part of the community.

“They interacted with the National Guard, there wasn’t a fence between the two, there was a casino, horses jumping from water towers, jazz musicians came and performed. It was quite the community,” she says.

Back in the day, the cottages were covered with wooden shake shingles and gingerbread trim and not insulated for year-round use. Electricity and running water were later upgrades. Stokes estimates that 50 percent of the homes are winterized and used year-round now. Over time houses have been restored or updated, and some lots combined and larger homes were built on them.

But plenty of history and character remain, Stokes said, and there are some different homes open for viewing than on the first two tours. The most recent tour was in 2011.

A total of eight homes are on this year’s tour. A new stop is the Harry Potter-themed cottage. Some might find it a bit spooky from the outside, but don’t miss the quirky collections on the inside.

Two homes closest to the temple have been restored to reflect their original style, with the added comforts of running water and electricity. The old wavy glass window panes reflect the age of the cottages.

“The nicest houses weren’t built on the waterfront, they were built next to the temple; that’s where the best energy is believed to be,” Stokes says. Another addition this year is a house at the northeastern point of the peninsula, with panoramic water views of the Niantic River.

At first, only Spiritualists could own property in Pine Grove, she said, but that changed in the 1950s through 1970s. Some residents still have family ties or ancestors who were Spiritualists.

Three of the four gardens on the tour are public gardens, available for use by all Pine Grove residents, and offer some of the best views of the Niantic River in Pine Grove.

The purpose of the tour is to raise funds for community maintenance fees, including planting of these gardens. The first beds were installed almost 10 years ago by the beautification committee, with plants and advice from Perennial Harmony Garden Center, which specializes in organic and native perennials for sustainable, lower maintenance landscaping.

“These gardens are self-sustaining now, but we spent a lot of energy and effort to get them going,” says Stokes. Garden volunteers have been systematically tackling Japanese Knotweed and other invasive plants on the river bank, with good success.

And what about the cars?

The Southeastern Connecticut Mustang Club and a handful of Pine Grove residents will have 25 vintage and collectible cars and trucks on display. These will be parked on the waterfront, near the public gardens and community gazebo.

“Al Steiger, president of PGNA, wanted to make sure that men had something to look at when their families came on the house and garden tour,” Stokes notes.

The car show is free, with donations accepted for Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford.