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In 2004, the last time the Wake Forest
Historic Home Tour was held, two of the
houses were “works in progress,” the
William Thompson House that is now on
Old 98 and the J.L. Reid House at 238
North Main Street. This year the new
owners will throw them open to show just
how well that work has progressed.
The tour, a joint effort of
the Wake Forest Historic Preservation
Commission, the Wake Forest Woman’s Club
and the Wake Forest Cultural Arts
Association, will take place Saturday,
Dec. 2, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Tickets will go on sale
about Nov. 1 at a number of places in
the downtown area. They will be $12 per
person in advance, $15 the day of the
tour.
Agnes Wanman, a planner and
the liaison with the preservation
commission, announced six of the tour
homes last week, and she expects to add
more to the list.
Neighbors on North Main have
watched with interest as Bill and Louise
Howard rebuilt the J.L. Reid House,
built in Classical Revival style about
1915. The one-story wings were added in
the 1950s when it was used as a nursing
home. A fire in the early 1970s
destroyed the upper half of the central
block, and the then-owners built another
half story, a pyramidal hip roof and a
cupola. The house had fallen into great
disrepair before the Howards purchased
it.
The William Thompson House,
originally part of a large plantation,
stood empty on Falls of the Neuse Road
for several years. The land and house
were purchased by Bay Leaf Baptist
Church, which still plans a church
building there, and the house was to be
demolished or burned. Frank and Kathryn
Drake bought the house and moved it to a
back portion of the lot. It was
meticulously restored to be eligible for
the National Register of Historic
Places, where it is now listed, and it
has been purchased by a young couple new
to the area.
The Glen Royall Mill Village
is also on the National Register, and at
least one of the houses in the village
will be on the tour. During the early
1900s at least two, in some cases four,
families lived in each of the houses,
and some homes still have the double
front doors.
The Royall Cotton Mill
itself now serves as home for many
people. Built in 1900 and named for the
Royall family that was both involved in
the mill and important in the history of
Wake Forest College, the mill went
through several ownership and name
changes late in the last century and
closed its doors in the 1980s. Part of
the mill was later razed, and the
remaining portion was converted to
apartments in the late 1990s. Two or
three of the apartments, all of which
use as many of the original construction
as possible, will be on the tour.
Also on the tour will be the
oldest house in town, the Calvin Jones
House on North Main Street. Built in
1820, moved in 1842 and twice more
later, used as a plantation manor,
classrooms and a boarding house during
its history, it is now the Wake Forest
College Birthplace and houses a museum.
It stands on the old college athletic
field and tennis courts, a site that was
also home to trailers for married
students and their families after World
War II.
Lea Laboratory is now called
Broyhill Hall. Where college students
once learned the elements and observed
chemical reactions, visitors to
Southeastern Baptist Theological
Seminary are entertained in gracious
rooms. It was built in 1888 as the first
chemistry laboratory on a Southern
college campus.
For more information about
the tour, call Wanman at 554-3911. The
Gazette will also update the tour
information in future issues. |
