After a two-year hiatus, the Columbus Pilgrimage Jubilee of Homes is getting ready to offer guests a glimpse at the city’s historic homes. The event has been redesigned into an all-inclusive activity for all ages.
Tickets for the March 24-April 16 event go on sale March 1 at preservecolumbus.com.
Proceeds fund preservation, research and programming of the Preservation Society of Columbus, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.
“The daily home tours of some of the most historically significant private homes in America will remain the cornerstone of the Spring Pilgrimage experience,” said Margaret Bateman, Preservation Society of Columbus board member. The architectural periods of the homes featured have been expanded and will give guests a more comprehensive view of Columbus’ storied history.
Preservation Society of Columbus — whose membership is made up primarily of historic home owners — announced in 2019 that it would take over operation of Pilgrimage from the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau. It hasn’t put on a Pilgrimage since, though, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
CVB, through its nonprofit Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation, previously operated Pilgrimage for years.
For the past three years, the Preservation Society has been working with Erin Kempker, chair of Mississippi University for Women’s Department of History, Political Science, and Geography, and her students to redesign and redevelop the Pilgrimage program, said Kathy Novotny, Preservation Society board member.
“At the end of five years, we’ll be able to tell the entire history of all of those who lived and worked and were enslaved in the houses,” Novotny said.
There are more than 20 homes on tour this year. Each tour package includes visits to two-to-three homes. Tickets are $35 each for Thursday-Sunday tours from 2-5 p.m. and $20 each for historic walks, which are held from 10-11 a.m. on Thursdays. Daily carriage rides will be held Thursdays through Sundays.
According to Novotny, each week of Pilgrimage will have activities that focus on telling the history of Columbus’ disenfranchised citizens — women, Native Americans and African Americans.
“We’ll also spend a week talking about Tennessee Williams, our most famous citizen,” she said.
Lunch and Learn events will take place every Thursday from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. The history and culinary experiences will be led by historic experts and held at corresponding historic locations.
Topics include the women’s suffrage movement at the Puckett House, the Queen City Hotel and Seventh Avenue Neighborhood at Helen’s Kitchen, Native American culture at Temple Heights and Tennessee Williams at Zachary’s Tavern. Tickets are $35 each.
Pilgrimage will celebrate playwright Williams with a birthday bash on March 26. On April 15, Pilgrimage will host its first annual Tennessee Williams Bar Crawl.
Activities held in connection with Pilgrimage include the annual Tales from the Crypt. On April 1, April 4, April 6 and April 8, students with Mississippi School of Mathematics and Science will share stories of those buried in historic Friendship Cemetery. The event is scheduled for 7-10 p.m. each day.
Learn about the Women’s Suffrage movement by taking a seat in the jury box of Columbus City Hall to decide the fate of Laura Young Whitfield. After learning about the 1868 case and making a decision, guests are invited to Whitfield’s home, Baskerville Manor. Tickets are $55.
Pilgrimage will include Waverley Mansion, near West Point, to visit the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians on April 2. Dancing, basket weaving, beadmaking, stickball and more will be included, Novotny said.
Participants will get a chance to participate in campfire conversations and a campout with Joe McGill, Slave Dwelling Project founder, April 8-9. McGill’s goal is to visit every former slave dwelling in the United States. He has devoted his life to raising awareness for the need to preserve these historically important structures and to include the stories of those who were enslaved there.
“The campfire conversations open the Friday night’s events,” Novotny said. “We’ll discuss things from slave marriages to Southern monuments. We’ll look how slavery affects our lives today.”
After the campfire discussion, participants can sleep at the slave cabin or pitch a tent for a campout.
“The next day, they’ll go on the big house tour and go to Temple Heights,” Novotny said. “They’ll also visit the Haven, where freed men of color built their houses. McGill will tell their stories. It’s really for most people, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Novotny noted that while the tours occur, the other events allow people to learn history in a different, interactive way.
“History is the present really, because it affects all of us,” she said. “The Pilgrimage’s goal is to give people a greater understanding of Columbus’ history and the community.”
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