Preservation Warrenton proudly presents:
the 2010 Homes Tour: "Life Today in Homes of the Past"
Warrenton and Warren County, NC
Saturday, April 24 10am to 5pm, and Sunday, April 25 1pm to 5pm
Ticket prices:
Luncheon * and Tour (Saturday Only) $32.00 Advance Purchase Only
Advance Purchase For Tour Only $20.00
Same Day Purchase For Tour Only $25.00
*Luncheon will be offered by Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church (Corner of North Main and Church Streets) in conjunction with the Saturday tour only. There are 300 luncheon tickets available.
Tickets are available at The Chamber of Commerce of Warren County, The Hardware Café, and The Scarlet Rooster in downtown Warrenton. Tickets will also be available on the tour days at the Jacob Holt House.
Sites are numbered for purpose of identification only. You may begin the tour at any site.
See below for a brief history of Warrenton and click here for a full screen interactive map of the tour.
Warrenton, a National Register Historic District, was established in 1779 on 100 acres of land owned by Thomas Christmas. By the 1820s Warrenton had become the center of a prosperous plantation region. Tradesmen, professional men and the wealthy planters gave the county seat sophistication; while the county’s politically prominent lawyers lent it power. By the 1840s, and especially in the 1850s, it was a bustling trade center, thriving on the burgeoning wealth of the tobacco and cotton plantations of the Roanoke Valley. Builders and craftsmen from Prince Edward County, Virginia, came in the 1840s and produced a distinctive group of fine buildings. Jacob Holt was a master carpenter and Edward Rice and Francis Woodson were reputable masons. Initially they worked in the Greek Revival style of fluted Doric porch columns and intricately carved classical ornamentation. In the 1850s this basic form was enriched with bracketed rooflines, arched tracery windows, and more Italiante style ornamentation. Gamaliel Jones, later famous for his Murfreesboro buildings, had his start in Warren County. The architectural legacy of these men has been visibly preserved in Warren County homes and buildings. Preservation Warrenton, Inc., continues their mission, "Preserving the Past for the Future."