Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

50th Annual Tour of Homes July 25

Story by Millie Tolleson

St. Mary of the Hills Episcopal Church and the Blowing Rock community are putting the final touches on plans for the 50th anniversary of the Blowing Rock Tour of Homes to be held Friday, July 25.

Participants leave from St. Mary of the Hills, located at Main and Chestnut streets, in private cars driven by members of the church. The first car leaves at 9:00 a.m. and the last at 3:00 p.m.

Event organizer Becky Johnson said that because the tour is usually more crowded in the morning, it takes about three hours. However, during the afternoon, participants can get through the tour in about half the time, Johnson said.

Participants can park at the Hayes Performing Arts Center and ride a shuttle to the church to begin the tour.

Tickets are available in advance at the church office or at the Blowing Rock Visitors Center for $25 by cash or check. Tickets are also available on the church lawn the day of the tour.

The proceeds from the event benefit church-related and regional outreach efforts. Johnson said the event supports about 35 local charities, and over the past 50 years, more than $500,000 has been donated to local charities.

During the tour’s early years, about 500 people took the tour. Today, however, organizers expect about 1,500 participants. Johnson said both residents and tourists attend the event each year expecting to see a different set of mountain homes.

“It’s really gotten to be well known throughout the country. We have people from Illinois, New Orleans, a group from Virginia and many from the coast,” Johnson said.

Over the past 50 years, the tour has evolved in more ways than simply growing in attendance, but has also managed to continue many of its early traditions.
A small group of women from the church initially came up with the idea of a home tour. “Each year, the women hosted a summer bazaar but decided to do something different,” Johnson said. The first tour cost $3 and featured the same transportation in private car from home to home that participants enjoy today.

“The basic format hasn’t changed, except for the first 30 years, there was a formal tea at church after the tour. It was very elegant and old fashioned,” Johnson said.

However, Johnson said, because people seemed more interested in the tea than the tour, event organizers substituted a boxed lunch program in place of the tea. This year, Storie Street Grille is providing boxed lunches with French-themed food.

While the original tour included six homes, recent tours, including this year’s, boast just four. Johnson said the change is partly because the homes have become much larger over the years.

A selection committee chooses the homes to be featured on the tour. The committee is approached either by church members with suggestions or local homeowners themselves, Johnson said.

“People are so giving and since the money goes back to the community, people are more than happy to welcome the community into their homes,” Johnson said.

The homes on the tour change every year, but “since this is the 50th anniversary tour, we wanted to include historic homes,” Johnson said.
Of this year’s four homes, three have been on the tour before in the decades from the 1960s to the 1980s.

This year’s homes include Miramichi, Shadowlawn and Chestnut Manor, all built in the 1920s, and the Cottage—brand new to the tour.

Although St. Mary of the Hills sponsors the tour each year, Johnson said, it has “really become a community event. We have about 300 volunteers this year, and about 150 of them are from the community.”

Johnson said tour participants should pay attention to the grounds and the floral arrangements in the homes as much as the homes themselves.
Between 35 to 40 women from the church are creating floral arrangements for almost every room in each home this year, Johnson said.

This year’s tour is planned in conjunction with a Glorious Homes and Gardens event scheduled for the morning of Saturday, July 26, at the Hayes Performing Arts Center.

Breakfast will begin at 8:00 a.m., followed by a program featuring award-winning landscaper Hunter Stubbs and celebrated interior designer Barry Dixon at 9:00 a.m.

Stubbs has won awards for his work landscaping the grounds of the Richmond Hill Inn in Asheville, while Dixon is considered one of the top 10 interior designers in the United States.

Both will offer practical tips to attendees on landscaping and designing their own homes, Johnson said.

The event costs $50 per person, and Johnson recommends purchasing tickets in advance.

For more information about either event, contact St. Mary of the Hills at 828-295-8663.

Want To Go?
What: 50th Anniversary Blowing Rock Tour of Homes
Date: Friday, July 25
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Location: St. Mary of the Hills Episcopal Church
Cost: $25

Want To Go?
What: Glorious Homes and Gardens Breakfast and Program
Date: Saturday, July 26
Time: 8:00 a.m. breakfast/9:00 a.m. program
Location: Hayes Performing Arts Center
Cost: $50