25th Annual Candlelight Home Tour

The  25th annual Hillsborough Candlelight  Home Tour is Sunday, December 4 from Noon –  6  pm.  The tour showcases prominent homes and structures built by Hillsborough brick mason John Berry (August 18, 1798-January 11, 1870) who became one of the most respected builders in the antebellum Piedmont.  All will be exquisitely decorated for the holiday season. 

The 2011 Candlelight Home Tour stops include the following:

The Alexander Dickson House, 150 E. King Street, now the town’s Visitors Center, once served as the last headquarters of the Confederacy.  It was in this house that Gen. Johnston and Confederate leaders determined the terms by which they would negotiate surrender with Gen. Sherman to end the Civil War.

Prominent Scottish merchant James Hogg once owned the 253-acre parcel that made up Burnside, 201 S. Cameron Street.  The present two-and-a-half story house was built in a side hall plan by Ruffin’s son-in-law Paul Cameron in 1835.

Bellevue Kitchen, 209 E. Tryon Street., located on the east side of Bellevue, is one of the earliest surviving brick structures and one of the finest early kitchens in Hillsborough.

Ruffin Hill House, 311 St. Mary’s Road, was built by Thomas Ruffin, Jr. and his wife, Mary Magnum Ruffin, around 1877-1878.

Evergreen, 292 St. Mary’s Road, was named for the majestic American and Nellie Stevens hollies that border the property and was built during the 1920s.

Norwood Law Office, 101 Court Street, is the only one remaining of three one-room law offices that once lined Court Street, which runs along the east side of the old Orange County Courthouse.  Today it is furnished to reflect a 19^th century law office.

The Old Orange County Courthouse, 104 E. King Street, is one of the most architecturally distinguished courthouses in North Carolina; this brick temple-form Greek Revival building was designed and built by John Berry.

The Florence Elkins House, 206 South Hillsborough Avenue, is a one-story, three-bay, frame house built in 1936.

The Berry Brick House, 208 W. Queen Street, was built circa 1805 for Rhody Berry, the mother of local brickmason-architect John Berry.  The house was most likely constructed by neighbor Samuel Hancock, a master brickmason who later because Berry’s partner.

The Whitmore Home, 125 W. Queen Street, was a standard minimalist, two-bedroom traditional, brick veneer ranch-style home until renovated in 2009 to better fit the neighborhood.

Burwell School Historic Site and Music Building, 319 N. Churton Street, was home ot the Burwell family, an enslaved community and a boarding school for young women from 1835 to 1857. 

The first St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 210 St. Mary’s Road, was built before 1768 at Tryon and Churton Streets.  Although it was damaged during the Revolutionary War, it served as the site of the N.C. Constitutional Convention of 1788 and as the site of Hillsborough Academy but by 1800 had disappeared by fire or demolition.  The present church was built in 1825.

The Masonic Hall, 142 W. King Street, is one of the most architecturally significant landmarks in Hillsborough.  Much of the Greek Revival design remains as it did in 1823. 

Hillsborough First Baptist Church, 201 W. King Street, was designed by William Percival, a Virginian architect who set up a branch office in Raleigh in 1857.

Orange County Historical Museum, 201 N. Churton Street, is situated on the site of the old Presbyterian Session House; this building was constructed of native quarry stone in 1934 as the Confederate Memorial Building.

The Hillsborough Presbyterian Church, 102 W. Tryon Street, is believed to be the oldest Presbyterian structure in continuous use in North Carolina and is built on the site of the first St. Matthew’s Church (c. 1768) and site of the 1788 N.C. Constitutional Convention. 

Hillsborough United Methodist Church, 130 W. Tryon Street, is a white-trimmed brick building and the only one known to have been both designed and built by Berry. 

Dickerson’s Chapel AME Church, 100 E. Queen Street, was built as the third county courthouse (c. 1790) but was moved in 1845 to make way for the new courthouse.  It was purchased by minister Elias Dodson and moved to be used as First Baptist Church.  In 1866, the building was purchase by Quakers, who set up a school for black children.  In 1866, the trustees of the Dickerson Chapel purchased the church.

Many venues will feature live music and some will have refreshments.  A shuttle will be available during the tour.

Attendees can also enjoy festive horse-drawn carriage rides for $5 per person from 1 – 5 pm.  Musical entertainment features a Handbell Choir, pianists, school choral groups, harpsichord, tuba music and more. 

House Tour tickets  -  Adults $20 day of, $15 in advance; children 5-12, $5 day of, $3 in advance, under age 5 free; groups of 15 or more, $15 day of event, $12 in advance.

Also, a collectible ornament of the Old Orange County Courthouse built in 1844 is available for purchase for $15.  

For tickets and information about the Hillsborough Candlelight Home Tour,  call sponsor Hillsborough/Orange County Chamber (919) 732-8156 or visit www.hillsboroughchamber.com

Hillsborough is located in Orange County, NC off of I-40 Exit 261 or Exit I-85 Exit 164.     Day of tickets will be available on the lawn of the Alexander Dickson House (Orange County Visitors Center) at 150 E. King Street in downtown Hillsborough.