Old Wilmington by Candlelight Tour celebrates 50 years of bringing people downtown
Back in the early 1970s, downtown Wilmington wasn't exactly a destination.
The Atlantic Coastline Railroad had departed in 1960, leaving the area economically depressed. Downtown had begun to show signs of wear, with seedy bars and adult bookstores popping in former retail spots. Many former residents, almost all of then white, had fled for the suburbs.
Even under those trying circumstances, however, there were still people who believed that downtown Wilmington and its history could play a part in the Port City's future. Some of those people were part of the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society (LCFHS), which operates the 170-year-old Latimer House museum at Third and Orange streets and maintains an archive of Wilmington's history on its top floor.
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The LCFHS formed in 1956 and has been in the Latimer House since 1963.
Alison Dineen, archivist with the LCFHS, said that in 1972, looking for a way to fund the restoration of the Latimer House's historically significant slave quarters, which were in danger of collapsing, the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society created the Old Wilmington by Candlelight Tour. Featuring docents in period, 19th-century costumes and the placement of dozens, if not hundreds of luminaries on downtown sidewalks, the tour gave the public the opportunity to view historic homes and other significant buildings.
"Fueled by community interest in the distinctive architecture of Wilmington's historic district," Dineen said, the Old Wilmington by Candlelight Tour proved a success, and was one of the first events that attempted to make downtown Wilmington a destination at a time when many were avoiding the area.
On Dec. 10 and 11, the Old Wilmington by Candlelight Tour will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a self-guided tour through six downtown homes, three houses of worship and the Hannah Block Historic USO/Community Arts Center. With the pandemic canceling tours in 2020 and 2021, it's the first Candlelight Tour since 2019.
Tickets are $50 and are good for both Saturday and Sunday of the tour.
"We're excited. We're thrilled," said Glenn Saulnier, LCFHS board member and chair of the committee organizing the tour. "The anniversary has us ready to open the house again."
The event is the LCFHS's biggest fundraiser of the year − maintaining the Latimer House, which turned 170 this year, is its largest expense − and Saulnier said they hope to set an attendance record. Past tours have drawn more than a thousand people over two days.
The tour will include a decorated-for-Christmas Latimer House, with its creaky wooden floors, period furnishings and ornate chandeliers. Also on the tour is the Latimer House's slave quarters structure, which is owned by the LCFHS and is currently occupied as a rented apartment. The slave quarters were occupied by Black servants of the Latimer family as late as 1930.
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New to the tour is the recently renovated Richard Langdon House at 314 Orange St., which at more than 200 years old is one of the oldest structures in Wilmington.
Houses of worship on the tour include the Basilica of St. Mary Catholic church on South Fifth Avenue, as well as Fifth Avenue United Methodist Church.
Docents at each location will give some of the history of the structures, and while Sunday's tour will be mostly during daylight hours, Saturday will feature the iconic sidewalk luminaries the tour has become known for.
"It's a candlelight tour," Saulnier said. "You've got to have candlelight."
Want to go?
What: 50th annual Old Wilmington by Candlelight Tour
When: 4-8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, and 1-5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11
Where: The Latimer House, 126 S. Third St.; Strausz House, 308 S. Third St.; C.W. Worth House, 412 S. Third St.; Richard Langdon House, 314 Orange St.; Pennington House, 622 S. Second St.; Hannah Block Historic USO, 120 S. Second St.; First Presbyterian Church, 125 S. Third St.; Basilica of Saint Mary, 412 Ann St.; and Fifth Avenue United Methodist Church, 409 S. Fifth Ave.
Info: Tour tickets are $50 and are good for both days.
Details: 910-762-0492 or LCFHS.org
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Old Wilmington by Candlelight Tour marks 50 years, started in 1972
