This Italianate palace, whose exterior would work well in a Tim Burton movie, dates back to 1860. Inside it's sumptuously decorated with rich furniture, frescoes, paintings, carpets, gilt, exotic woods and stone. The former owner of the house was a hotelier in New Orleans, and many details, like a stained-glass window displaying Louisiana's and Maine's respective state seals, hint at a split identity between the far north and Deep South.

　　The mansion gets decked out in holiday decorations come December, when it is open to the public from 10am to 3:45pm Tuesday to Sunday, and until 6pm Monday.