Over the past two weeks, antebellum homes have opened their doors for Spring Pilgrimage guests, as they have since 1939. But, the tradition is shifting: one of the longest-running homes is closing its chapter while others return and reshape the stories that Pilgrimage tells.

For Sid Caradine, who has led tours of the Amzi-Love home since 1981, the moment is both familiar and final – but not sad like some may assume. Caradine said letting the home rest after 75 years of annual tours “feels right.”

“I can’t imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn’t come back to live here,” Caradine said, referencing the moment he returned to help his mother and great aunt with Pilgrimage in 1981. “After being here for over 40 years now, I can tell you it’s a blessing. But it’s time to let another home join the Pilgrimage. It’s time to pass the torch. 75 years is a nice number to end on.”

Closing a chapter at Amzi-Love

Caradine, like most antebellum homeowners, is a sentimental collector. His home is filled with antiques passed down over seven generations. Oil portraits of long-gone family members adorn most walls. China older than the home itself sits in the cabinets.
Dressed in vintage clothing, he tells visitors about these heirlooms as he weaves his family’s tales.

“That’s a piece of china the family brought over from Scotland,” Caradine said, indicating a china cabinet against the wall. “Our family was originally from the Isle of Skye on the west coast of Scotland.”

Beneath a writing desk, stacks of scrapbooks chronicle the Amzi-Love home’s long history with the Columbus Pilgrimage.
One yellowed clipping, printed in The Commercial Dispatch in February 1951, announces the addition of two homes to the tour: Amzi-Love and Magnolia Hills.

Decades later, that pairing has reversed. While the Amzi-Love home is giving its final tour, Magnolia Hills – now owned by the Andrew McLarty family – has rejoined the Pilgrimage after more than a decade away.

Magnolia Hills returns to the tour

The McLartys purchased Magnolia Hills a little more than three years ago. Emily McLarty said she attended the Mississippi University for Women 30 years ago, and in 1999 she became a docent for Rosedale, an experience she enjoyed.

“When we came back to Columbus and we bought an antebellum home, the organizers (of Pilgrimage) immediately said, ‘Are you gonna be on pilgrimage this year?’” Emily said. “But it was December when we moved in. I said, ‘let’s get unpacked first.’ And then this year, we just finally got our stuff together and said, ‘Okay, let’s, let’s do it.’ I’m not sure if it’s going to be an every-year thing that we do, but we’ll see.”

The McLartys said that so far, the most challenging – and most rewarding – part of Pilgrimage was the preparation. They worked with a local interior designer, Dennis Tedford of A Southern Touch, to bring their vision for the home to life and attended estate sales and auctions to start their antique collection.

The McLartys added that they also enjoyed learning more about the history of the home itself, since Magnolia Hills was built in 1825 and is said to be one of the oldest homes in town.

Emily said that during their research process, they received an email from Rufus Ward, a local Columbus historian, with details about an enslaved woman who served the home. Ward, who shares a common ancestor with the original owners of Magnolia Hills, sent the McLartys a picture from his personal collection of photo albums.

“We do know that Miss Rebecca Winston grew corn on these acres,” Emily said of the house’s first owners. “We do not know whether she had field slaves. We do know that she has had one domestic slave that has been found in the Hardy family picture albums, and evidently she was endeared because she was listed as Aunt Kenzie.”

During the tour, they showed guests what they believe were Aunt Kenzie’s living quarters – a room beneath the study – and a photo of the portrait that was sent to them by Rufus. Emily said that later she received another email from Aunt Kenzie’s descendants, the Strong family.

“The email outlined her lineage,” Emily said. “They told us exactly how she got here from Virginia to Forks of the Road (Slave Market) in Natchez. She walked behind a carriage the whole way with her family, with her son, Prince, in her arms. We know who her descendants are, and some of them were very famous. She was the grandmother to Muddy Waters. I just found her history fascinating, the survival of her family fascinating. And I really kind of wanted to highlight that.”

Expanding the story of Pilgrimage

Across town, Jace Ferraez opens the screen door of Twelve Gables and welcomes a couple that traveled from Oxford. Ferraez owns the home with his partner, Luke Hodges. According to historians, it’s one of the earliest surviving examples of Greek Revival architecture, known for its distinctive “gabled roofline, millwork, and ashlar stone pattern on the facade.”

Ferraez, a native of Columbus, has been participating in Pilgrimage since he was young. This is his second year participating as a homeowner.

“I’ve always been interested in antiques and have been collecting since college,” Ferraez said. “And I’ve always wanted a historic home … But owning a home and collecting furniture is one thing, but then opening your home is kind of another … Because I’ve been involved with the Preservation Society of Columbus, I feel like the point of preservation is to share and give insight and teach people about the antiques and architecture. And so it just seemed like a natural fit for us to participate in Pilgrimage.”

Ferraez completed a term as president of the Preservation Society of Columbus and remains a board member for the organization. He said the aim of the society is to relay the history of the homes with more breadth and to showcase the city as it is now, encompassing its struggles, strengths and sense of possibility.

“The Preservation Society is year-round, working on preservation efforts,” he said. “And we have cemetery projects and other historic things, we’re trying to get grants to help improve and preserve these places. For Pilgrimage specifically, we’re trying to make it relevant for today’s demographic and tell different types of stories. So traditionally, it’s been focused on one kind of viewpoint. And so our goal, and my goal, too, was to say, ‘Listen, this was a plantation, slavery existed.’”

Confronting history inside the homes

On the Northside, Wisteria Place takes a similar approach.

Homeowners Billy Cox and John Carr take a moment in each room of the house to recognize the realities of what Black enslaved people endured before, during and after the Civil War.

As Carr guides his group into Wisteria Place’s dining room, he points to a spot on the hardwood floor near the entrance to the kitchen. The wood has been worn away – there is a bowl-shaped divot in the floor near the kitchen doorway.

“So imagine, if you will, that it’s 1850, 1860 and there’s no electricity,” Carr began. “There’s no lighting in the house. The only lighting in this house would come from candles. There would be no chandelier over the table. Over the table is actually a device known as a shoe fly. And imagine, if you will, standing where those little divots are, and there’s a cord that connects on each side.
And on this side there would be an enslaved person, probably a child, standing for hours enough to make these divots on the floor.”

“They watched them entertain people for hours, pulling these strings to make a breeze,” he continued. “They would just sit there for hours, trying not to fall over, just kind of rocking on their feet, their center of gravity grinding down. Watching these people have these elaborate meals that they knew they would not partake.”

Looking ahead for Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage began in Columbus around 1940 as a way to display and safeguard pre-Civil War structures. But over the years, the event that once drew tourists to Columbus by the thousands has begun to see a decline.

According to Frances Glenn, executive director of the Columbus Visitors Bureau, ticket sales have declined since COVID-19, with about 800 sold ahead of time for 2026. The final number of tickets sold will be reported after tours conclude this weekend.

As the “Jubilee of Homes,” as it was once called, finishes out its 86th year, some homeowners, like Ferraez, have hope for Pilgrimages to come – in both attendance and storytelling.

“We want to tell the stories of all neighborhoods, primarily Black neighborhoods too,” he said. “We want to expand to church tours and historic Black residential areas. We have a lot of hope for the future with how we do Pilgrimage, and we hope we can see attendance begin to match those efforts.”