Tour of Homes centers on changing Hill neighborhood
The historic structures that comprise the sixth oldest church in Florida will have funds to ensure their maintenance and preservation thanks to another successful Historic Apalachicola Home and Garden Tour earlier this month.
Tara Carter, who cochaired with Sabrina Fornes the 31st of the annual tours on May 2 and 3, said that an estimated 800 participants toured the eight homes and gardens on the tour this year, all but two of them on the northwest side of U.S. 98, in the rapidly growing Hill neighborhood that is seeing significant change affecting its aging buildings.
Carter said the tour generated over $60,000 in revenue, with monies going both to the 1838 church and its buildings, the state’s second oldest continuously serving church, as well as to help meet the needs of those living in Franklin County.
The 19th century home of one of Apalachicola’s most legendary citizens, the eminent botanist Dr. Alvan W. Chapman, highlighted the tour, which saw visitors arriving early on the sunny day. Friday evening opened the event with an Evensong service and reception.
Patrick and Lauren Ferguson, real estate investors from Oxford, Mississippi, who purchased the property five years ago, were on hand to welcome visitors, as well as to show off the magnificent antique furnishings, that include 18th- and 19th-century Scandinavian furniture, acquired over the years by Helen Tudor, a patented scientist and engineer, who in 2008 acquired the five-bay Classical Revival house and returned it to how it appeared during Chapman’s lifetime.
Tudor was meticulous in transforming the property, including restoring the surrounding gardens to honor Chapman’s legacy. The Fergusons have advanced her revitalization and opened sections of the home, adjacent to Chestnut Cemetery, to short-term rentals
The John Wakefield House,on Avenue C, and the Plum Tree Cottage, on 15th Street, were the two homes on the southeast side of U.S. 98, in what has often been called the “Silk Stocking” neighborhood, as it includes the many stately homes that have populated the tour in years past.
Randy Fike and Cathy Gordon, owners of the Wakefield House, were on hand to welcome guests to the mansion, built in 1905 by George Marshall and fully renovated in 2006
The Plum Tree Cottage, home of Anne and Bill Avery, was built in 1946 and renovated last year with the help of local contractor Earl Duggar.
While most of the homes were fully renovated, a trio of three structures on Eighth Street, once a key stretch of a thriving business community in what was a predominantly Black neighborhood, are in the process of being completed by owners Diane and David Peck. One is the site of Glad Hat Pottery, where Diane has her studio, another is set to become David’s woodworking shop and a third will be a small living space for the couple’s daughter when she comes to visit.
Skilled craftsman Greg Philips and wife Betsy Doherty assembled their home in 2000 on Dr. Frederick Humphries Street by adding a pair of shotgun houses to the Florida Cracker house on site. Now home to Bonnie Kellogg, the secluded compound features a lush garden alongside.
The Granberry-Henry-Gordon House, on Avenue E. was built in 1904 and reconfigured and renovated beginning in 2012 by owners mechanical engineer Phil Fuerschbach and wife Marcie, a fiber artist whose work adorns the home.
The only newly built home, finished a year ago, was “Hoskiti,” on Ninth Street, named for the Apalachee Indian term for “blessed house.” Built by Salty Dog Construction, it is the home of Bryan and Jeri Desloge.
The Apalachicola City Square Community Garden, established in 2011, offered visitors a glimpse of the success where gardening neighbors work on 30 raised beds to cultivate healthy food and medicinal plants.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.