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Columbus is approaching its Spring Pilgrimage season, an annual tradition of highlighting significant historic sites in the city that goes back more than 80 years.
Two groups are planning tours of historic homes during the month of April: The Preservation Society of Columbus and Historic Home Tours.
Other events will also be ongoing throughout the season, supporting historical tourism and awareness in the city.
So, what are these two groups? What are they planning? And how can you go?
Pilgrimage divided?
In a 2020 column, local historian Rufus Ward said the annual Columbus tradition of Pilgrimage began in 1940 with a tour of 22 antebellum homes that was originally called “the Pilgrimage of Wisteria Time in Columbus.” Over decades, responsibility for the season of tours shifted several times.
In 2019, The Preservation Society of Columbus, a newly formed nonprofit, announced it would take over operation of Pilgrimage from the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the society did not host the Pilgrimage or its Jubilee of Homes again until 2022.
Following the 2022 tours, a group of antebellum home owners formed a separate organization, the Historic Home Tours. Many of those homeowners had been participating in Pilgrimage for years prior, chairman Dick Leike said.
While these two groups are both putting on home tours, preservation society board president Jace Ferraez said he does not want to compete. Rather, his goal is to highlight all of the historically significant places in the city and to encourage more people to visit overall.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to support Columbus and attract tourists to visit homes and participate in events, even though there are two groups,” Ferraez said.
Both the Preservation Society of Columbus and the Historic Home Tours receive funding from the CVB.
Different approaches
While the groups both give tours of historic homes, their plans and timeline for the season are different.
Leike said the Historic Home Tours 2024 Pilgrimage to Columbus, Mississippi includes 12 antebellum homes including Snowdoun, Riverview, Waverly Mansion, Baskerville Manor, White Arches, Wisteria Place and more.
“The whole idea is, the Friendly City invites you to come see our homes built before the Civil War in the 1830s through ‘50s,” Leike said.
Leike said these tours have an emphasis on “jumping back in time,” as the tours involve hostesses dressed up in antebellum-style dresses, along with Leike dressed as a Confederate general.
Meanwhile, Ferraez said the society’s tours include both pre-Civil War and post-Civil War homes. Sites include Aldan Hall, the Kaye Home, Amzi Love, the Scott Home, Oak View and the Ridge House. The society also has other tour offerings, including architectural tours, history for sale tours, tours of City Hall and a progressive church tour.
“We have a very diverse offering, and our goal is hopefully to get a more diverse audience,” Ferraez said. “… Pilgrimage has typically tended to go more into the older demographic. So our hope is by expanding our offerings, we get a wider group of people coming to Columbus.”
The preservation society’s season also includes other cultural events, Ferraez said, like an art/live floral arranging reception, “Lunch and Learns” highlighting the impact of women on the state of Mississippi, a “Sip and See” of trade vendors at the Ridge House, and a “Family Fun Day” with Mississippi Public Broadcasting.
“Our slogan this year for Pilgrimage is, it’s not just history, it’s culture and community,” Ferraez said.
How to go
Historic Home Tours kicks off its antebellum home tours Tuesday. Tours of homes will be available every day until April 13. A full calendar of events and tickets are available online or at the CVB office. For information and tickets to Historic Home Tours events, go to historichomes.tours.
The Preservation Society of Columbus is scheduling tours for the first three weekends in April, including their annual Pilgrimage Jubilee of Homes. Society events kick off at 5:30 p.m. Thursday night with the “Art in Bloom” arts and flower arranging reception, while tours begin the following day.
The society’s Lunch and Learns will be April 12 and April 19. The Sip and See at the Ridge House will be on April 13. The Family Fun Day is April 20.
Tickets to preservation society events are available online, along with a full calendar of society events and other cultural events happening throughout the month.
For information and tickets to The Preservation Society of Columbus events, go to preservecolumbus.com. The society is planning to set up a temporary headquarters at the Rosenzweig Arts Center, which it will staff and open on Wednesday.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
