The Norman Home The annual Washington-Wilkes Spring Tour of Homes will be held this year on April 2-3, with a total of nine private homes and many other historic places and events available to visitors during the weekend.

FRIDAY, APRIL 2

Candlelight Tour

The Candlelight Tour on Friday night, April 2, will have four homes open for visitors from 6 until 9 p.m. Featured are the homes of Gary and Suzanne Norman at 406 South Alexander Avenue; Kurt Wolf, the Smith-Stratton Cottage at 311 East Liberty Street; the Saunders-Ludwig Loft on The Square; and Fortson Hill on Spring Street, home of Nancy Farris.

A special event of Friday evening will be the Champagne and Dessert Soiree to be held at the Regions Bank, 100 East Robert Toombs Avenue, from 6 to 9 p.m. Skeet Willingham, local historian, will be speaking on “The Legendary Lost Gold of the Confederacy.”

The Loft of Stephen Saunders and Linda Lurwig The design for the Regions Bank building is based on the Bank of the State of Georgia, Washington branch, erected in 1824 and demolished in 1904. The building was located approximately where the Wilkes County Courthouse now stands.

It was in this building that Jefferson Davis signed the final acts of the Confederate government and consulted officially with his cabinet and advisors for the last time. The present building was built in 1985.

Tickets for the Candlelight Tour will cost $25.00, and for the Soiree only, $10.00.

Also available for visitors as well as Washington-Wilkes people will be the Washington-Wilkes Little Theater production of the musical “My Fair Lady” at the Bolton Lunceford Playhouse on North Alexander Avenue. Performances will be at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights. Tickets are $10 each.

Tour headquarters on Friday will be at the Washington-Wilkes Chamber of Commerce, 29 West Square, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Headquarters on Saturday will be at the Washington-Wilkes Elementary School, 109 East Street, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

SATURDAY, APRIL 3

Day Tour

The Day Tour on Saturday will have five homes open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., as well as many other historical places. Open for visitors will be the Fortson-Denard Home on the Tignall Road, home of O.A. and Jerry Denard; the Colley-Barksdale Thomas home, 306 North Alexander Avenue, home of Charles and Betsy Wagner; the home of Mercer and India Harris, 206 West Robert Toombs Avenue; Haygralin, home of Louis and Carol Harris, 306 South Alexander Avenue; and Pembroke, home of William and Virginia Pope, 217 West Robert Toombs Avenue.

The old North Alexander Avenue School dating from 1897 will also be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for visitors to observe the progress being made in the restoration of the old building.

There will be a drawing at 5 p.m. Saturday for 500 Washington Dollars in the Downtown area.

“My Fair Lady” will be presented at the Bolton Lunceford Playhouse at 8 p.m.

Courtesy Tour Cars will be provided for visitors on Saturday. Cars driven by members of the Kiwanis Club and others will pick-up visitors at the headquarters at the school and take them wherever they wish to go and will be available to take visitors back to the headquarters.

Tickets for the Day Tour are $30 each. Cost of tickets for the two-day Homes and Museums Package are $50.00.

Visitors may tour a single house by paying $5.00 at the door of the house chosen.

The Washington Woman’s Club will provide a luncheon at a cost of $10 each on Saturday. Reservations are suggested, but not required.

The First United Methodist Church will have lunch available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. No reservation is needed.

Other historic places on the tour include the Jackson Chapel AME Church, Mary Willis Library (quilt display), Robert Toombs House, Callaway Plantation, and the Washington Historical Museum, as well as most of the Washington churches..

Tickets may be ordered from the Washington-Wilkes Tour of Homes, P.O. Box 1293, Washington 30673; by phone, 706-678-2013; or email: wwtourofhomes@gmail.com

All major credit cards are accepted.

Special prices are available for tour groups.

Two homes are featured this week.

Loft of Stephen Saunders

and Linda Lurwig

The Simpson building on the corner of The Square and Spring Street was purchased by Stephen Saunders and Linda Lurwig. They have made the upstairs into a stunning and accommodating loft apartment.

In the process of renovation, Mr. Saunders uncovered two large signs painted on the front of the building. One reads “Izzy Always Busy.” The other simply says “Bank.”

A plaque in front of the building states: “William Dearing, founder of the Georgia Railroad and Banking Co., had a three-story mercantile business on the site 1818-1825.”

The building burned in a big fire and this building was built by W.W. Simpson, or his family, with Edward Bonner, a black man, as the contractor.

Home of

Gary and Suzanne Norman

406 South Alexander Avenue

The cottage-style home of Gary and Suzanne Norman was built in 1912 by Mrs. Lorenzo Smith. She had purchased the lot between her two sons, R.R. Smith and Harry Smith, after her husband died, and subsequently built this cottage. J.R. Chafin was the architect and builder.

The Normans purchased the property in 1997 as a vacation retreat to visit family in the area, and began restoration in 1998. The house was completed in 2000 and the Normans became permanent residents. It was the first historic home to be completed under the new guidelines set by the Historic Preservation Commission.

During the restoration, the old kitchen and a deck (which was not original to the house) were removed, and a new 1,700 sq. ft. area was added. The Normans were very careful to match the original house in composition, scale and design.

The house has four fireplaces and 14 ft. ceilings, some of which had been lowered. The ceilings were returned to their original height. The house is now approximately 2600 sq. ft. with three bedrooms, two-and-ahalf baths, living room, dining room, family room, and kitchen with a large pantry.

The back of the house has a covered patio with a pool and flower garden. The builder and contractor, Lloyd McCants, made sure the historical character of the property was preserved and very few people can tell where the new addition begins.

Much of the original molding, windows, and other things were saved during the restoration. The foyer has a floral wallpaper and white paneled wainscoting. Leaded windows from the original house are used in the foyer and library.

A pocket door separates the pantry from the galley-style kitchen. The door has a stained-glass rendition of an old-fashioned canning jar filled with pickles. Designer Robin Schweitzer of Schweitzer Stained Glass Studio surrounded the jar with glass canning lids, most of which came from Mrs. Norman’s grandmother’s farm.