A Christmas open house will be held at St. Mary of Providence Retreat Center, 227 Isabella Road, Elverson, on Saturday, Dec. 17, from noon to 5 p.m. The event will feature tours of the historic Potts mansion, as well as holiday music and treats and visits with Santa in the "Gingerbread House." There will also be an opportunity to win gift baskets.

The mansion, which is also known as Langoma, was built in the 1890s by the Potts family. It will be decorated for the holidays with numerous Christmas trees, greens, lights, garland, poinsettias and manger scenes depicting the birth of Christ.

Visitors will learn about the 76-room mansion and its many features, which include a chapel; 22 fireplaces, one of which was made with pink marble; original brass lighting fixtures that were converted to electric; marble floors; staircases made of marble, onyx and alabaster; and multiple stained glass windows, including one made of Tiffany glass.

New this year is an outdoor component to the tour, which will highlight some of the other buildings at the site. "The guests that are taking the tour will have an additional feature this year, which is a 'sleigh ride.' We rented six-passenger golf carts that will be decorated as sleighs," explained Sister Brenda McHugh, center director. "It will incorporate some of the other buildings on the property as part of the tour. It will be a fun feature."

Construction of the Langoma mansion was started in 1890 by ironmaster Joseph Potts, whose great-great-grandfather was John Potts, the founder of Pottstown. "Langoma" is a Native American term that means "homestead."

According to the history of the site, the home is actually a double mansion. One half of the structure was designed to be a home for Joseph and his wife, Mary. The other half was for Joseph's son, William, and his wife, Mabel. Unfortunately, Joseph died in 1893 and never had a chance to live in the mansion. William finished the mansion in 1897 and lived there with his mother and his wife.

William died in 1943, and the property eventually went to the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence, which acquired the Potts mansion in 1948 to be used as a training and education center for children with developmental challenges. In 1984, the children were transferred to a new complex built by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in Springfield, Delaware County.

Today, St. Mary of Providence Retreat Center functions as a retreat facility year-round, where people of all denominations spend time praying and focusing on their spiritual needs. In addition to the religious retreat center, the site includes several buildings that house senior citizens.

For more information and tour reservations, visit http://www.stmaryprov.org and choose "Events" and then "Christmas Mansion Tours." There will be a fee for the tours, with separate prices for adults and for children ages 6 to 12. Children under age 6 will be admitted for free. A link to purchase tickets is also available by searching for "St. Mary of Providence Center" on Facebook and choosing "Events."