55th Annual Historic Oakwood Candlelight Tour

The Historic Oakwood Candlelight Tour returns to the Historic Oakwood neighborhood on Saturday, December 12 and Sunday, December 13, 2026, from 1 PM to 7 PM. This year marks the tour's 55th edition, and it's one of the few times of the year you can actually go inside these houses rather than just admiring them from the sidewalk. Ten Victorian homes open their doors for a self-guided walk, with docents or the homeowners themselves on hand to talk through the history and architecture of each property.

Oakwood is one of Raleigh's few remaining nineteenth-century neighborhoods, with homes dating from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. You'll see a mix of Victorian, Queen Anne, and Craftsman styles, and because these are still lived-in homes, the tour lets you step past the front porches and see how they're laid out inside. The docents are there to fill in the gaps, so you get the stories behind the buildings as you go.

The tour is produced by the Society for the Preservation of Historic Oakwood (SPHO), and the event has a bit of a legacy behind it. By 1970, the neighborhood had grown run-down, and the state planned to demolish half of it to make way for a highway. Neighbors formed SPHO to stop the developers, and the tour became their 'Special Forces'—the primary way they raised the funds to keep the neighborhood intact. This year's 55th edition is a direct continuation of that effort.

Tours begin at The Tucker House, 418 N. Person St, Raleigh, NC 27604. Tickets are $43 per person, with a group rate of $40 per person for groups of 10 or more, and children under 6 are free when accompanied by a paying adult.