By Lorna Reese

Special to the Weekly

In 1971, the Hoedemaker family bought an old Lopez farmhouse, built in 1913. “You have no idea what a mess we found when we opened up all those rooms that had been closed off for years,” said Linda Hoedemaker, daughter of the purchasers. “The house hadn’t been painted since the 1930s. The building was basically being used for storage. The hay barn was falling down, but the milking parlor, granary and piggery were in good shape and remain today.” She and her brothers, John and Stephen, inherited the property when their mother died in 2005.

As only the second family to own the historic property, the Hoedemakers carried on the farming traditions of the Davis ancestors. Today, the family is committed to preserving and maintaining their historic property and use the old homestead as a quiet retreat from their busy lives in Seattle. “We’ve only changed a few light fixtures,” said Linda. “We don’t want to make changes. Our children like it this way.”

This is the story of just one of the houses on the tenth annual Lopez Center Home Tour. There are seven more stories like this one, including Bill and Marty Holm’s 16 by 20-foot weathered cabin overlooking Rosario Strait, the iconic water tower that served for years as the Lopez Thrift Shop and its adjacent Sears and Roebuck kit bungalow, and a stylish makeover for a 1976 house.

If you’ve experienced one of Lopez Center’s Home Tour fundraisers, you know those tickets offer a once-a-year opportunity to drive down roads you don’t normally travel, enjoy views you’ve never witnessed before and visit eight unique and thoroughly original homes, all reflections of those who live in them. “It’s a chance to see outstanding homes of every size and shape on our island Home AND help support Lopez Center — the community’s house,” says Jan Sundquist about the upcoming tenth annual Tour on September 14. Jan and husband Bob’s former and current houses have both been part of past tours.

“We’ve been sponsors of the tour since it began and will continue to sponsor into the future,” says Lauren Stephens whose former home was also on the tour. “We also think tickets to the tour make a nice gift for people looking for ideas on how to decorate or design a home.”

Now you know what you’ll see. Here’s what you won’t see: innumerable details attended to by a Home Tour Committee of close to 20 who have met for months to iron out every single aspect, plus another 30 volunteers on top of that. You might, for example, notice people helping with parking but you likely won’t stop to think what went into just that one element of the tour — like obtaining walkie talkies, mowing the fields, creating and placing signs in strategic places.

You may notice booties available to put over your shoes outside every house but won’t think about the fact that there is something to sit on while you do so. When you enter the homes, you’ll ooh and ahh at what meets your eye but may not think about the fact that poster boards offer additional historical and construction information about the home you’re visiting.

Over the years, the committee has considered and refined countless particulars and planned for everything to make visitors’ experiences as easy, pleasant and seamless as possible. In recent years, the Home Tour Committee has even arranged for inexpensive and easy-to-eat lunches available for purchase at Lopez Center as well as some of the homes.

Here’s what Lopez Center director Janet Baltzer noted recently to the Home Tour Committee: “I want you all to know how much the community, whether they are aware or not, appreciates what you are doing to help the Center stay afloat and thrive. Recently, we hosted celebrations with 500 (mostly local) people and another with 350. The list goes on.”

“I’ve been on all the tours,” says Nancy Caleshu, “and I’ve volunteered for them, too. The tour has developed into an annual event, eagerly anticipated every September by our community.”

Tickets are available at Lopez Center (lopezcenter.org), Paper, Scissors on the Rock, the Lopez Bookshop and the Farmers’ Market.