Houses on Tour of Homes offer unique antiques on display

Rachel Litwiller didn't start collecting antiques until she moved into her historical home at 311 N. Adams Street in Mt. Pleasant in 1988

The house, built in 1911, is now decorated with antique furniture and glassware, all original artwork, and odds and ends from around the world.

'Stuff is junk unless it's displayed nice,” Litwiller said as people mulled around her home for the Chapter DD T.T.T. Tour of Homes on Sunday, Nov. 18

Rachel and Cal Litwiller's home was one of four stops on the Tour of Homes tour. It was their third time opening their house for the event because 'we just enjoy showing our house,” Litwiller said.

Just through the entrance past the sitting room, which was decorated for Christmas, Litwiller displayed a photo of the original owners of the house, Moses and Margaret Van Syoc. Litwiller said when the owners sold the house they wanted the photo to stay with it.

Litwiller also had a photo of the signature of the builder of the house. John Williams signed the staircase on Nov. 15, 1913, a discovery the Litwillers made just two years ago when putting in new carpet.

In every corner of the house was another of Litwiller's collections. Nativity scenes from Mexico, Costa Rica, India and Angola were in every room. German incense smokers sat on the kitchen table.

Litwiller demonstrated how an antique high chair from 1890 could be converted from a chair to a stroller to a rocking chair. It was used by four generations of her family.

The Christmas tree in the sitting room was decorated with old, white handkerchiefs Litwiller picked up from elderly friends, family and antique shops over the years.

Litwiller wasn't the only collector whose house was on display Sunday. Sue and Darrell Williamson displayed antique grandfather clocks, Aladdin lamps, and camelback trunks at their home at 1243 Old Highway 34 in Mt. Pleasant.

The oldest clock the Williamsons own was from 1871 and displayed in the center of the mantle above the fireplace. Sue's favorite clock, however, was a grandfather clock to the left of the fireplace that came from a hotel in Chicago. Sue said the hotel was where Al Capone once held his crime conventions and where Marilyn Monroe and President John F. Kennedy frequented.

The Williamsons collect clocks because Darrell's great-uncle was a clock builder, Darrell said. Today, Darrell is one of three known antique clock repairers in Iowa.

'I rescue them,” Darrell said.

'My husband never met a clock he didn't love,” Sue said.

The trunks the Williamsons began restoring just a few years ago. Although some of the 16 trunks The Williamsons have in their house had to be partially rebuilt because of damage, Sue said she tries not to change anything she can save.

Jan Crow decorated her house at 106 E. Ashford Circle in Mt. Pleasant. with a different kind of collection: red trucks.

It's her newest passion, Crow said as she welcomed guests on the Tour of Homes into her house.

Crow, who moved into her house a little over a year ago, was happy to be on the tour and show off the open concept design and large kitchen. In each room, there was a red truck displayed in some fashion, whether decorating a dresser or stitched onto a bedspread.

'I just thought they were so darn cute,” Crow said, adding that everything in her home was close to her heart.

Carrie and Wayne Hester's home at 2568 Iowa Avenue in Mt. Pleasant was the newest house on the tour, with construction completed just a year ago.

The Hesters wanted a together forever home, Carrie said. Although there are plenty of amenities within the house like a sliding barn door that leads into the laundry room or a walk-in closet in the master bedroom, her favorite part is the view.

Carrie enjoys the seclusion of living an acre off the road and the peacefulness and quiet that comes with it, she said.

Carrie opened her house for Tour of Homes Sunday to 'share my ideas with other people who are wanting to build” a house, she said.

One of the unique pieces in the Hester's home is a cuckoo clock that Wayne sent back from Germany when he was on his three-year tour in the 1990s. The dark-stained clock fit the nature theme of the house with carvings of birds, flowers, leaves and birds.

'It's pretty cool to put up because it's very sentimental and a unique piece,” Carrie said.

The proceeds from Tour of Homes go to send four to five girls to Camp Wyoming at the end of their fourth-grade year. T.T.T. purchases everything they will need during camp including camp fees, transportation costs and buys them new clothes.

If interested in being on Tour of Homes in 2019, contact a T.T.T. member.