Although it was a cool day riddled with intermittent drizzle, those who attended Newtown Historical Society’s 19th House & Garden Tour on Sunday, June 28, enjoyed the opportunity to sample at close range some of the historical houses and adjacent elaborate gardens found in the Borough, Hawleyville, Botsford, and Sandy Hook.

The non-profit society holds the annual event as a fundraiser.

The Matthew Curtiss House at 44 Main Street, which serves as the group’s museum, was the stepping-off point for participants on the self-guided tour, which featured seven properties.

On display for tourgoers were the Whalen residence and garden at 65 Main Street; the DaSilva residence at 17 Main Street; the Lincoln garden at 15 Longview Road; the Beers garden at 117 Toddy Hill Road; the Shanley garden at 7 Little Brook Lane; the Sharpe residence and garden at 62 Underhill Road; and the Kerr residence and garden at 6 Old Bethel Road.

Tourgoers were allowed to the visit the properties in any sequence they chose during a six-hour period from 11 am to 5 pm. Besides a map and detailed travel directions, tourgoers were aided in finding the properties by clusters of colorful helium balloons posted at curbside at the sites.

Among those visits, at 17 Main Street they found a 1904 shingle-style house, known as the “yellow house,” or the “Smith-Scudder house” after the families which built it as a two-family house.

At 65 Main Street, they encountered elaborate Italianate architecture at a home built by Charles Glover in 1867. Mr Glover built five homes in Newtown in that style, according to the historical society.

The property, which has a barn to the rear, formerly was a small diary farm. The three-story pegged barn housed cattle which were kept by Fairchild brothers, for whom the house was built, and later by George Mayer.

At 6 Old Bethel Road at the Kerr residence, extensive landscaping on a sloping lot complemented the 1930s cape-style house, which has been expanded by the owners.

Elaborate gardens at the rear of 15 Longview Road provide a peaceful setting for the Lincoln residence. The multi-level gardens there display a wide range of plantings, detailed stonework, and a sonically soothing waterfall.