Tour will explore Aiken's historic downtown
Celebrate Aiken will hold the 175th Anniversary Walking Tour of Historic Downtown Aiken on Feb. 27 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
There is no charge for the tour, and no tickets are required; advance reservations are unavailable and unnecessary.
Thirteen downtown locations have been selected for the special event that commemorates the founding of Aiken.
The self-guided walking tour will begin at Aiken Preparatory School, headquarters for the tour. The school is located at 619 Barnwell Ave. Parking and a tour brochure, including a tour map, will be available. City tour buses will also be available to shuttle people between the sites.
Site docents at each location will elaborate on the history of each property. For easy identification, Celebrate Aiken signs with yellow balloons will identify each site. Some sites are not handicap accessible.
At the end of the tour, the Aiken Choral Society will perform at Rose Hill Estate at 4:15 p.m. Cocktails and food will be available for purchase at the Rose Hill Estate into the evening.
Tour sites:
* Aiken Preparatory School is headquartered in the turn-of-the-century home of U.S. Sen. George Edmunds of Vermont. Mrs. Thomas Hitchcock founded Aiken Preparatory in the home in 1916. Mrs. Hitchcock's portrait will be available for viewing, as well as early artifacts from the school that has been attended by such notables as Fred Astaire's son, Jackie Kennedy's brother, William K. Vanderbilt and others.
* Rose Hill Estate was constructed on the home site of former Confederate soldier Alfred Holmes. At the turn of the century, Col. Sheffield Phelps built the current impressive shingle-style, Dutch colonial revival home over the older Holmes' building. The estate, which has extensive camellia gardens and exotic trees, was the site of the founding of the Garden Club of South Carolina. The estate now operates a restaurant, has bed and breakfast facilities and has event facilities.
* The Aiken Fallout Shelter or "Bomb Shelter" is a relic of the Cold War. This City and County project was constructed in 1961-62 to demonstrate suggested protection from nuclear attack. The Civil Defense Director, Lynn Vinpey, supervised it. The shelter was made of reinforced concrete walls and built to house a family of four. The shelter has a hand-crank ventilation system.
* The Adath Yeshurun Synagogue was constructed in 1925. Jewish worship services were held in Aiken as early as 1906, and the Jewish Sons of Israel cemetery was established in 1913. Adath Yeshurun means "Congregation of Israel." The west wall displays several plaques that commemorate deceased members including the names of early founders and several early Laurens Street merchants.
* The Old Aiken Post Office, across from the historic Morgan Circle Fountain, is an example of Palladian architecture and was constructed in 1912. The interior features 16-foot ceilings and solid oak woodwork. The building held two vaults, one with tear gas protection. The interior has recently been restored and adapted as an office.
* The Holley Building was constructed in 1916. The two-story building originally housed Holley Hardware. Later the building was home to a succession of retailers, including a furniture store, a clothing store and a teacher supply store. The building bears the only physical scars left from the 1953 gas explosion that destroyed five adjacent buildings. The building is home to the Aiken County Visitor's Center, retail shops, real estate offices and a dance studio.
* St. Thaddeus Episcopal Church, the oldest church building in Aiken, was built in 1842. The William Aiken family, namesake of Aiken, was an early supporter of the church. The historic cemetery will also be on tour where the botanist Henry Ravenel, the poet James Matthews Legare, Confederate casualties from the Battle of Aiken, and other politicians and prominent Aiken residents are interred.
* The Legare-Morgan home is one of the oldest homes in the original downtown Aiken grid design. The original part of the house was constructed in 1837. The one-story clapboard cottage was probably typical of the Aiken homes of Charleston summer colony residents who first moved to Aiken. James Matthews Legare, well-known South Carolina poet, artist and inventor, was the first to live in the home. A mantel, constructed from "plastic cotton," a Legare invention, still exists. Some of Legare's art is on panels in the house. Thomas C. Morgan, a British naval officer, also lived in the house.
* All Saints Anglican Church was built as an Episcopal black mission church in the early 1930s.The interior style is Carpenter's Gothic and was constructed by local craftsmen. The windows feature painted and fired medallions and borders in a field of German antique glass painted by local artist Nancy Wilds. The building features unusual dormers on the front that are quaintly called "pigeon houses."
* Wesley United Methodist Church, constructed circa 1885, is an example of the "meeting house" form of sanctuary. The original 24-member congregation paid I.A. Givens $3,000 to construct the building. The original pulpit, pulpit chairs, pews, alter rail and communion table are still in use.
* Friendship Baptist Church was constructed in December 1893 to replace the original building constructed in 1866, which had burned. Black citizens who withdrew from First Baptist Church following the Civil War were led by the Rev. John Phillips, a former slave and first minister, in organizing the church. The structure is a blend of Romanesque and Italianate designs. The parsonage was constructed in the 1920s. The school and activity building was constructed in 1939.
* The Willcox, an elegant inn started in 1898 by Frederick S. Willcox, flourished in the early 1900s as a gathering place for winter visitors including Harold Vanderbilt, Elizabeth Arden, New York Gov. Averill Harriman and reputedly President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Willcox reputation was built on impeccable service and excellent cuisine. It continues as an inn today. Tours of The Willcox will be suspended from noon to 1:30 p.m. Lunch will be available during that time.
* Saint Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church was constructed in 1905. The church features Gustave Dore's bronze of the "Virgin and Child," which won third prize in the world sculpture competition in Paris in 1880. The adjacent Chapel of St. Claire plans were drawn circa 1880 under the direction of Celestine Elizabeth Eustis after the original 1868 church was destroyed by a storm. Eustis commissioned the artist M. Lorin of France to paint on glass the scene of St. Claire pleading for the repulsion of the Saracens. Tours of this location will end at 3 p.m.