Sponsor: The Nansemond River Garden Club

Tickets: $20; single-site, $5; ages 6-12, half-price

Info: (757) 365-0639; www.VAGardenweek.org

The area around Suffolk was inhabited by the Nansemond tribe of American Indians before English settlers explored it. Government consolidations in the 1970s created a city that covered 430 square miles, the largest city in land area in Virginia. Suffolk, where Planters began, remains a major peanut-processing center.

Tour highlights:

102 S. Broad St. (Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Russo, owners), built in 1890, has been renovated from a five-unit apartment building into a one-family home. Original woodwork and floors remain and a new kitchen was added. Furnishings include the 1880s-era baby grand piano and Victorian antique settee set.

104 S. Broad St. (Mr. and Mrs. Mickey Boyette, owners), the landmark J.M. Darden mansion built between 1911 and 1914, has been restored by its current owners. Highlights include a large foyer with fireplace and grand staircase, Tiffany window on the second-floor landing, Tiffany-domed skylight and tiger-oak paneling and dentil molding in the second parlor.

201 Linden Ave. (Mr. and Mrs. Marcus R. Pollard, owners), a Victorian clapboard house begun about 1908, has original woodwork and hanging brass lamps. English and American antiques, as well as collections of Oriental art, complement the remodeling started in 2006 to bring back the original grandeur.

Cedar Hill Cemetery, Mahan Street, is a restored 37-acre garden spot in downtown Suffolk. Handicapped-accessible, it has signs (also in Braille) that describe the area's historic significance.

* The J.M. Darden mansion at 104 S. Broad St. features two Tiffany stainedglass pieces. Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) was an American artist who made art nouveau pieces in stained glass.