Water Oak Cottage is late Victorian era at its best
SPRING TOUR SET APRIL 4-5

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 Water Oak Cottage.

Home of

Rodney and Pamela Eaton

211 South Jefferson Street

This house with its high pitched roof, wrap-around porch and simple "carpenter" decoration represents an example of late Victorian architecture and was built around 1885 by William Theophilus Johnson, a prominent merchant and developer.

The property was purchased for $800 on February 2, 1889, by Mr. Johnson from T. Burwell Green. The property consisted of "one seventh of the lot known as the 'A.A. Cleveland lot,'" according to Rodney Eaton, present owner, along with his wife, Pamela Eaton.

The house is planned around a central hall with access to each of the six rooms contained in the house. The original ceilings are 12 feet high, except for the kitchen and one bedroom which are 10 feet high. These two rooms have a beaded board ceiling while the other ceilings are of plaster.

There are fivefireplaces with four different mantel designs. Several doors leading into the hall have glass transoms, allowing light to penetrate to the center of the house and aid in ventilation.

When Mr. and Mrs. Johnson built another house on Robert Toombs Avenue, between the present Pitner House and the old Johnson Hotel building (torn down in 1983 for construction of the new Washington Loan & Banking Co. building (presently the Regions Bank), he gave the house to his daughter, Agnes Henrietta Gresham, who lived here until her death in 1964. She was affectionately known throughout the town as "Miss Rhetta." Her son, Johnson Gresham, owned the property until it was bought by the Eatons in June 1980.

The Eatons say they were attracted by the charm of Washington and the architectural quality of the house and moved from Atlanta to begin the restoration process. They began by renovating the kitchen. Hardwood floors, a beaded board ceiling, new cupboards and antique leaded glass cabinet doors have created a live-in kitchen.

Two rooms toward the back were restored to serve for a time as a bed and breakfast facility. They now serve as a sitting room and guest room.

In the mid-1980s a series of storms destroyed all but one of the majestic water oak trees for which the house is named. One of these trees went through the front roof, causing the development of the previously inaccessible attic.

Using the center hall for a stairway, the upstairs contains two bedrooms, study, and storage. The downstairs houses the dining room, music room, library, sitting room, and guest room.

Yard restoration includes a brick wall, brick sidewalk, and plantings. The young oak trees are second generation, planted from acorns of the original trees. Iris beds, daylilies, and a rose bed attempt to replicate "Miss Rhetta's garden."

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