Nine of Wilmington’s historic homes and Basilica Shrine of Saint Mary will open their doors to the public for the 2015 Azalea Festival Home T

 

This year’s Azalea Festival Home Tour will showcase the wide variety of architectural styles found in Wilmington. Nine inviting historic homes and one historic church will welcome ticket holders April 11 and 12, and span 170 years of Wilmington’s history and architecture.

The homes on tour this year cover many examples of classic Wilmington architecture from the Craftsman Bungalow to a Greek Revival cottage, from a Foursquare style to an English Cotswold Cottage. The Basilica Shrine of Saint Mary provides an exquisite example of Spanish Baroque style. The tour will also feature a Brookwood neighborhood Home on the Tour. Brookwood was announced as Wilmington’s eighth National Register District in December. The tours will be from 1 to 6 p.m. on Saturday and from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday (The Basilica Shrine of Saint Mary is open on Saturday, April 11th from 1PM to 5PM and Sunday, April 12th from 2PM to 5PM).

Proceeds support the Historic Wilmington Foundation, a private nonprofit organization that has helped preserve more than 100 historic properties since in 1966.

Tickets, which are $25 in advance, go on sale March 11th. They will be available at the Azalea Festival Office, 5725 Oleander Dr., as well as at historicwilmington.org and the Historic Wilmington Foundation’s office at 2011 Market St. (the office is located just inside the gate of the Wilmington National Cemetery). Foundation members can buy tickets from the office for $15 through April 9th.

Tickets also will be available at Maran Home, The Ivy Cottage, Crabby Chic, The Transplanted Garden, Occasions, Cape Fear Antiques, A Proper Garden, Gravity Records and Wild by Nature in Southport. Starting March 18th tickets are on sale at all local Harris Teeter stores ($2 off with a VIC card). On the days of the event, they will be available at any house on the tour for $30.

Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo and New Hanover County Chairman Jonathan Barfield, Jr. with the Cape Fear Garden Club Azalea Belles will open the tour at the ribbon cutting ceremony, 12:30PM Saturday, April 11, at the MacRae-Willard House, 520 Orange Street. This beautiful home is described as ‘A Cubical Cottage in the Tuscan Style.’ Built circa 1851 for politician, foreign diplomat and Civil War Veteran, Colonel Duncan K. MacRae. Today it is owned by Landon & Connie Anderson.

To see the homes on tour click here

Brookwood becomes Wilmington’s 8th National Register District

Historic Wilmington Foundation has been working with the Brookwood and the City Preservation Planner to get this neighborhood listed on the Register since 2007. HWF managed the funding for the project and oversaw the consultant work and compliance with the deadlines. This is a great achievement for the City.  For the story from Port City Daily click here.

 

 

 

 

HWF’s third Preservation Talk, Dr. David La Vere, North Carolina Geography and the Tuscarora War

David LaVere

On February 17th at 6:30pm, Dr. David La Vere will be giving the second lecture in a series of Preservation Talks provided by the Historic Wilmington Foundation. This talk will be held at the First Presbyterian Church. Dr. La Vere, a former Marine Infantryman, is an ethnohistorian and a Professor of History at UNCW, primarily teaching undergraduate and graduate courses on American Indians in the Southeast. He received his PhD from Texas A&M University in 1993 and has published 7 books and numerous articles.

Dr. La Vere’s lecture will focus on North Carolina Geography and the Tuscarora War relating to his book, The Tuscarora War: Indians, Settlers and the Fight for the Carolina Colonies. Star News writer Ben Steelman writes that La Vere, “has combined scholarship with [a] readable, compelling narrative… illuminating a near-forgotten chapter in North Carolina history” in his most recent book publication, “re-creating a vanished 300-year-old world. . . . [and] gives his narrative a human face and the force of tragedy.”

Dr. La Vere is a member of the Western History Association, the American Society for Ethnohistory, the Texas State Historical Association, and the Louisiana History Association.

First Presbyterian Church is located at 125 S. 3rd Street. Please use the Orange St. entrance to the church fellowship hall.

To register for this talk please RSVP here or call (910) 762-2511.

The Tuscarora War

This project is made possible by a grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

NC Humanities Council logo

Additional support provided by: Cothran Harris Architecture and H. Kenneth Stephens II, Attorney at Law.