Tickets are on sale now for the popular fall historic homes tour organized by The Twig.
The 84th annual Historic Alexandria Homes Tour will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26. Ticket sales end on Sept. 10. There are 1,400 tickets available — 200 more than last year — and the event usually sells out.
The tour, taking visitors inside several Old Town homes, is a walking tour and is self-guided. Proceeds from tour tickets, which are available to purchase through The Twig’s website, benefit The Twig, the Junior Auxiliary of Inova Alexandria Hospital. Tickets are $50 and include a printed tour book and map, and free entrance on tour day to the Alexandria History Museum at The Lyceum.
In keeping with tradition, the specific homes on this year’s tour are kept a secret until tour day.
“The surprise is part of the experience,” the organization says. “A modest exterior can open into rooms full of curated art, museum-quality collections, pools, and English gardens.”
Last year, the five homes on the tour included the Italianate-style home at 908 Princess Street (built between 1896 and 1902), and “The Prince” at 810 Prince Street, a Federal-style townhouse built in 1830 that has seen significant renovations. The tour includes not just the homes but artwork and historic artifacts inside each home.
The Twig was founded in 1933 by two dozen women from wealthy local families. The organization was set up to provide financial aid, volunteer service and other support to what is now Inova Alexandria Hospital. Since its founding, the organization has given more than $6 million to the hospital. It recently made a $2 million commitment to the future Inova Alexandria Hospital campus at Landmark.
According to the organization, the name “The Twig” was chosen from a contest entry by Nellie Sommers Blackwell, representing the group’s role as a small branch supporting the larger tree of the hospital. Blackwell was one of The Twig’s founders.
The homes tour wasn’t always under The Twig’s direction. The Historic Alexandria Homes Tour, which began in the early 1940s, was originally sponsored by the Board of Lady Managers, the Auxiliary of Inova Alexandria Hospital. The Twig, the Junior Auxiliary of Inova Alexandria Hospital, took the lead in 1997, longtime Twig volunteer Scoti Albrecht told ALXnow.
“Before taking on the Historic Homes Tour, in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s they [The Twig] used to do cook’s tours, often in Rosemont and the Russell Road area, generally five homes that had great kitchens,” Albrecht said.
The group is already scouting homes for the 2027 tour, including one that was considered for 2026, but renovations on the home would not be complete in time for this year’s event. Albrecht said that sometimes homes are added to the tour by happenstance or word of mouth.
“I was walking down Prince St in 2025 on the way to an Edgar Allan Poe reading on Halloween at the Lyceum,” Albrecht said. “It was a beautiful warm night and there was a couple sitting on their steps giving out candy — I could see inside that they had a fabulous house — and I stopped and asked on the spot if they’d be on the tour.” Their home is on the 2026 tour.
In addition to the homes tour, the organization runs The Twig Thrift Shop at 106 N. Columbus Street and a variety of events throughout the year. Children under age 12 are not allowed inside the homes on the tour, except for carried infants. Strollers must remain outside, and several homes have staircases. In the event of severe weather, the tour will be rescheduled to Sunday, Sept. 27.
