Article and photos by Mary Ellen Graybill – special for Columbia news, views & reviews

From double helpings of cookies and tea served by costumed high school students at the Marietta Community House to an unlimited feast of color and design and welcoming smiles of the owner of Marietta ARTHOUSE, and more – there was a lot to do on Sunday, December 2, 2012 in Marietta, Pennsylvania.

The annual Candlelight House Tour offered surprise things to do that cost nothing but a love of adventure and cookies, art, people, historic buildings and scenery!

The real Mrs. Santa Claus was spotted. And, the father and son team of Tristan and Shane Mrakovich, operators of the new hardware store, were open for a pre-opening peak at 24 S. Perry Street, in the old railroad station across from the former Railroad Inn. The Marietta Teen Girl Scouts Troop #70235 hosted guests at the Community House in town under the cheerful supervision of co-leaders Rachel White and Sylvia Prickett-White. They served a Victorian tea at the beautifully restored Marietta Community House.

As some visitors waited in long lines for a walk through the beautifully decorated Christmas houses featured on the tour, the streetscapes instill a feeling that Marietta is a timeless town of both the past and future – creative and growing amidst the old structures, some unchanged for 200 years.

Claire Lavin, owner and founder of the Marietta ARTHOUSE at 316 E. Market Street basks at the end of a successful day at her gallery/gift shop and studio.

Stylized jewelry and other hand-crafted items – all original – made sales brisk.

Owner Claire Lavin has specialized in teaching mosaic-making classes.

Curator Linda Mylin Ross, does charcoal and pastel drawings.

The “real” Mrs. Santa Claus arrives at the Marietta Community House at 264 W. Market Street. On the left, Doris, a sophomore at Donegal High School, and Alexis, a junior, welcome Mrs. Claus to the Marietta Community House. The students are earning a new badge for girl scouting.

Doris and Alexis welcomed guests at the door for the Victorian Tea and open house. According to a write-up by Margaret Hunt Landis in September 1981, Marietta Community House has been used as a meeting place for organizations such as scouts, senior citizens, historical groups, and cooking classes, well-baby clinics and more are held at the beautiful structure. Donations are tax deductible.

Visitors on Sunday, December 2 enjoy a cup of tea … and maybe some cookies!

…”Take two.”

Tristan and Shane (on the phone) Mrakovich, father and son, at the open house of  the eagerly awaited hardware store located in the old railroad station building at 24 South Perry Street in Marietta.

While the grand opening is slated for spring 2013, the store is operating and serving Customers.

Tristan Mrakovich, 11^th grade student at Lancaster Catholic High School, is enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the history of the railroad depot site. A lifelong native of Bainbridge, he and his family have been in the hardware business many years and look forward to providing a needed source for supplies to Marietta.

Outside the now-vacant former Railroad Inn, another Mrs. Santa Claus drove by with Mr. Claus, taking a needed day off before the big around-the-world Christmas night trip. The old Ford proves as reliable as reindeer these days.

Thus ended a day of sights and scenes in Marietta, Pennsylvania on December 2, 2012, a place out of time, and headed to the future.