Merry Oaks" is one of the homes to be featured on Washington's Spring Tour of Homes for 2008. The 2008 Washington-Wilkes Spring Tour of Homes is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, April 4 and 5. The annual tour is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club and the Woman's Club in partnership with the Washington-Wilkes Chamber of Commerce.

This year's tour will feature three lofts on The Square in Downtown Washington on the Candle light Tour Friday night; and fivehomes on the Day Tour on Saturday.

The lofts are Stephen Sanders and Linda Lurwig located over Pop-Lahr Possibilities on the corner of Spring Street; Renee Brown, over Master's Wildlife Services; and Roger and Vivian Ware next door to the Fitzpatrick Hotel. Hours for this tour are 6-9 p.m.

Downtown shops on The Square will be open during regular working hours and from 6-9 p.m. Shops will be open for the Day Tour from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.

The Day Tour homes are Peacewood, B.J. and Bill deGolian on the Tignall Road (former Saunders home); Gail Boyd, North Alexander Avenue; Pamela and Rod Eaton, 211 South Jefferson Street; Debra and David Denard, Tignall Road; and Beth and Frank Petersilie, 207 Water Street (former home of Lairiee and the late Wallace Rodgers.) Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Mark and Emilie Waters will host the Dessert Soiree Friday evening at their home on East Robert Toombs Avenue.

Headquarters for the Candlelight Tour is at the Chamber of Commerce officeon The Square. Headquarters for the Day Tour will be the Washington Wilkes Elementary School on East Street off East Robert Toombs Avenue. Courtesy cars will provide transportation for visitors to the various homes and other sites.

Any home on the tour may be viewed individually by paying $10 at the door.

Churches, museums, and historical sites will be open on Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; and Sunday, April 6, from 1-5 p.m.

The cost for a combination Friday and Saturday tour package is $60.00 each. The cost for the Friday Candlelight Tour and Soiree is $35.00. Cost for the Day Tour on Saturday is $35.00 each.

The Woman's Club luncheon on Saturday is by reservation only and is $15.00 each.

Tickets will be available at tour headquarters and may be reserved in advance by mailing checks made payable to Spring Tour of Homes, P.O. Box 1293, Washington 30673; or by calling the Chamber of Commerce at 706-678-2013.

The News-Reporter will feature one of the homes each week. This week's home is Merry Oaks - Home of Gail Boyd and Ted Bush

519 North Alexander Avenue

Merry Oaks, the Plantation- Plainstyle home of Gail Boyd and Ted Bush, was probably built before 1835 by Thomas G. Semmes of Maryland, first cousin of General Paul J. Semmes, Confederate States of America (CSA), who was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg commanding a brigade of Georgia troops.

Members of the Semmes family moved to Georgia around 1798 and were early Catholic residents of Washington. Thomas Semmes' second wife, Kate Taliaferro Winter, a dedicated Catholic, and first cousin of Admiral Raphael Semmes, was a "noble matron, wife, and mother," according to an article by Miss Nellie Maguire in the January 1894 issue of American Catholic, Historical Researches.

According to Colonel Frank Colley in a September 19, 1930, article in The News-Reporter, the Semmes house had a full English basement. On an early plat and from other descriptions of the home, a long avenue approaching the house was lined with cedar trees and Mr. Semmes had built a large front gate. Some of the cedar trees still line the drive.

It was in the Semmes home that the first Catholic mass in Washington was conducted by Rev. Peter Whelan about the year 1837. Mr. Semmes gave the lot and two acres near their home for the first Catholic Church which was named St. Patrick.

After the Semmes family removed to Mississippi in 1852, Benjamin Bowdre bought the house September 10, 1854. According to Col. Colley in his column, "Washington's Who's Who in 1860," (The News-Reporter, September 19, 1930,) the house had conservatories on each side of the steps. Then came the large dining room, kitchen and pantries.

"These rooms were the delight of many boys and girls who were friends of the Bowdre children and at recess time they made raids on Mrs. Bowdre's pantry for cakes, pickles, peach leather, etc.," described Col. Colley. These children were attending the Female Seminary just up the street. The Bowdres moved to Memphis after the Civil War.

In 1869, Zebulon DuBose Colley bought the property and lived here until 1877 when he, his wife, Willie Anthony, and children moved to New Orleans. Their daughter, Frances Owens, married Thomas J. Barksdale and returned to Washington to live.

In December 1884, Lorenzo Smith bought the 27-acre property and it remained in the Smith family until 1919.

Will Wynne Jr. and his family owned the house from 1919 until 1974. In his 1930 article, Col. Colley states that Mr. Wynne lowered the house, creating its present appearance. There is evidence of such a change in the physical structure but no corroboration for this is yet found.

The home and 12 acres of land were purchased in 1974 by Gail and John W. Boyd Jr. from Mrs. Will (Lois) Wynne. An extensive renovation was done at this time. Mr. and Mrs. Boyd reared four daughters, Tanya, Misha, Shana and Whitney, in this house where their friends and family enjoyed its spaciousness. Mr. Boyd died in August 1993.

The house has four rooms over four rooms, each floor with a wide central hall. There are four chimneys with eight fireplaces each enclosed in the walls. Mantels in the downstairs parlors feature a sunburst design. Pocket doors were probably added in modern times. Dentil molding at the ceiling was added as were brass doorknobs and chair rails.

A beautiful fanlight is over the front door and over the door of the second floor balcony. The Victorian front door was added.

A few changes in room arrangement were made downstairs. The downstairs bedroom has a large bathroom and its adjoining side porch has been enclosed. In the small bathroom under the staircase there is evidence of a stairway to a basement level.

Upstairs the finemantel in the northwest bedroom came from the Lexington, Ga., townhouse of 19th century Georgia Governor George Gilmer.

Another interesting feature in the house is a narrow finished stairway to the attic which has an old pushup door. The room above is too low to fully stand upright and the floor is unfinished but the stairs to it are finely made.

The guest cottage at the rear of the house once served as a bomb shelter for the Wynne family in the 1950s. The smokehouse has a huge fireplace and is of early construction. Mrs. Boyd recently used the stones from the burned 1875 Catholic parsonage to outline a lovely organic garden.