october tour salisbury nc 2023

48th Annual OctoberTour

Date and time.

Sat, October 14, 2023 – Sun, October 15, 2023

10:00 AM – 5:00 PM EDT

Historic Salisbury Homes

Join us for the 48th Annual OctoberTour! Tour hours are: Saturday, October 14th, 10 AM - 5 PM Sunday October 15th, Noon - 5PM Virtual tours of two sites will be available online during regular Tour hours Complimentary trolleys will be available to Tour attendees around the perimeter of the Tour sites. Go from site to site in the order of your choosing! Docents at each home will guide you through the property and inform you of each site's unique history! Bank Street Festival is located at 226 S Jackson Street at the Hall House Museum and is free, open to the public, and operates during Tour hours. Here, you'll find food trucks, vendors, live music, and more! Tickets may be purchased in person both Saturday and Sunday at the Ticket Booth on Bank Street during Tour hours. This is also where you can get Tour information, purchase HSF merchandise, and view the silent auction items to bid on!

TICKETS Selected during registration

Early Bird Adult Ticket Ages 11 and Up

Unavailable

Early Bird Ticket Child Ages 6-10

Adult Admission Ages 11 and Up

Child Admission Ages 6-10

HSF Members Only - Adult Admission (ages 11 & up)

49th Annual Historic Salisbury OctoberTour of Homes

There's nothing like an old place made new, and that is the mission in Salisbury's historic districts. Enjoy the fresh fall air and changing leaves while exploring 10 historic homes, including the signature Dr. Josephus Hall House, dating from the 1700s to the 1900s. Between house tours, take in live music, delicious bites from food vendors and food trucks, and explore booths from local organizations and artists. Whether it's your first OctoberTour or your 49th, the excitement and tradition of this two-day event is cause for celebration. Historic Salisbury Foundation has committed millions of dollars and countless thousands of volunteer hours in order to save and protect Salisbury's area landmark buildings, downtown commercial area and historic neighborhoods.

Dates & Times

October 12-13, 2024

Downtown Salisbury Salisbury, NC 28144

[email protected] (704) 636-0103 octobertour.com

Ends: 6/15/2024

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Visitors guide, autumn jubilee in salisbury, nc.

For more than 40 years Autumn Jubilee has arrived at Dan Nicholas Park the first weekend of October. The annual festival attracts more than 60,000 visitors from across Rowan County and the state, and celebrates the season with craft vendors, children’s activities, live entertainment and food.

Originally, this event was run by the United Arts Council as an arts and crafts show, but due to ever increasing popularity, Rowan County took over to facilitate the event. The event happens rain or shine! Autumn Jubilee is such a robust celebration that the planning for the next year begins as soon as the current year’s ends.

The festival typically boasts more than 120 vendors selling hand-made soaps, local honey, candles, iron works, jewelry and more. All crafts are hand-made with no duplicate vendors.

If you have children in tow, plan to spend some time in the Kids Zone. Previous years have included bungee jumps, climbing walls, magicians, face painting, sand art, pumpkin painting, wax hands, obstacle courses, soap bubble circus and more! Don’t forget to check out the live music on the stage throughout the weekend.

Regional and local bands take the stage throughout the weekend to provide outstanding entertainment. Be sure to check the schedule ahead of time and grab a seat to hear your favorite artists and tribute bands.

Plus, you certainly won’t go hungry at Autumn Jubilee, and you’ll be able to smell the flavors throughout the park as you explore. The festival typically has more than a dozen food vendors with home made ice cream, barbeque, kettle corn, fried pies, tacos and so much more.

Guide: 42nd Annual Autumn Jubilee

August 30, 2023.

Are you ready to embrace the vibrant colors of fall and experience a family fun, memorable event?

Give us a call (704) 636-0103

Send us a message [email protected]

Doors open to an expanded OctoberTour October 1, 2022

Fifty years ago, 200 Salisbury citizens became preservation activists. They were concerned that historically significant structures were being demolished for banks and parking lots. On April 12, 1972, they joined founder Ed Clement as charter members of Historic Salisbury Foundation. Five decades later, our city is known far and wide as Historic Salisbury and our citizens embrace its preservation spirit.

In 1975, the foundation provided a glimpse inside some of the historic houses and buildings they helped preserve. Foundation volunteers selected 10 historic houses in West Square for the first OctoberTour.

This golden anniversary year, Historic Salisbury Foundation is hosting its 47th OctoberTour Saturday, Oct. 8, and Sunday, Oct. 9. Not only will locals and visitors be welcomed inside eight houses and three other historic structures, but they will also enjoy a free, expanded, family and pet-friendly Bank Street Festival.

The houses open for this year’s tour are within easy walking distance. Stroll the shady sidewalks and stop to watch the plein air artists as they capture the tour houses in pigment. The tour houses include the 1929 Franklin Smith Jr. House at 209 South Fulton St., the 1871 John Knox House at 303 West Bank St., the 1868 Murdoch-Wiley House at 203 West Bank St., the 1914 Torrence Corners House at 416 South Jackson St., the 1852-1876 Thomas Maxwell House at 300 West Horah St., and the 1820 Dr. Josephus Hall House at 226 South Jackson St. In addition, two Arts and Crafts homes on North Main Street, the 1919 L.C. Hines House at 925 and the 1912 Holshouser-Beaver House at 905 may be visited virtually, in your pajamas if you prefer, at OctoberTour.com.

OctoberTour 2022 continues downtown. Step back in time and tour the iconic Empire Hotel. Visit the first and second floors of the 1855 hotel before it is transformed into a boutique hotel, apartments and retail space. Then check on the improvements to the elegant second floor of the 1898 Bell Block Building. Finally get a close-up look at the stunning stained-glass windows of the 1925 St. John’s Lutheran Church. These sites are only a few blocks from the tour houses and can be accessed via a free trolly.

For years, October tourists have enjoyed lunch and music on Bank Street. That tradition continues, but this year the Bank Street Festival has expanded to include South Jackson Street. Children will enjoy the new Kid’s Corner, hosted by Communities in Schools and Family First. They can explore the Hall House grounds to find hidden treasure and enjoy a ride on a vintage fire truck.

Historic demonstrations on the Hall House lawn will include pottery making, ancient herbs as medicine, woodcarving, the evolution of 18th and 19th century clothing and how to save and repair old windows. Throughout the weekend to keep things lively, there will be music with 11 acoustic musicians, folk singers and young dancers performing on the Hall House stage.

If you like to roll through your tour, check out the Sunday Biketober event. Check the details at octobertour.com/biketober/.

The tour and festival begin at 10 a.m. Saturday and at noon on Sunday and end at 5:30 p.m. both days. OctoberTour admission is $30 per person. For members of Historic Salisbury Foundation, it’s $25. Tickets for children ages 6 to 10 are $10.

Tickets can be purchased online at octorertour.com, by calling Historic Salisbury Foundation at 704-636-0103, or during OctoberTour at the Ticket Tent on the corner of Bank and Jackson streets in front of the Hall House. Ticket pickup begins Oct. 3 at Historic Salisbury Station, 215 Depot St., weekdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or at the Ticket Tent during the event.

You can support historic preservation by being part of the celebration — and fun — of OctoberTour 2022.

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Dates, sites announced for Historic Salisbury Foundation’s annual OctoberTour

SALISBURY, N.C. (WBTV) - One of the most anticipated and popular Fall events in the area is the tour of historic homes and buildings in Salisbury known as the OctoberTour. Now the dates and sites for the 2022 event have been announced.

This year the OctoberTour will take place on Saturday, October 8, and Sunday, October 9 and will have five residential sites and three commercial sites. The 2022 featured site is 203 West Bank Street, the 1869 William Murdoch House.

The Historic Salisbury Foundation says this year’s tour sites could not have been possible without the aid of Board President, Steve Cobb and our OctoberTour Oversight Chair, Jacque Jensen.

HSF will continue the virtual tours with two North Main homes, which will be announced later this Summer.

The sites for the in-person visits include:

203 West Bank Street, 2022 Featured Home

303 West Bank St

300 West Horah Street

416 South Jackson Street

209 South Fulton Street

The Empire Hotel

The Bell Block Building

St. John’s Lutheran Church

To learn more, visit https://octobertour.com/

Copyright 2022 WBTV. All rights reserved.

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Historic Salisbury Foundation October Tour 2022

The Historic Salisbury Foundation turns 50 years old and they are celebrating this October by expanding OCTOBERTOUR ! Historic Salisbury Foundation has 10 homes/landmarks on tour this year, including 2 virtual tours for those who cannot make this year’s event. Patrons’ Party and Patrons’ Porch will resume. Bank Street Festival will kick off the weekend and it will be bigger than ever!!

TOUR: October 8th & 9th, 2022 10:00am – 5:30pm BANK STREET FESTIVAL: October 8th & 9th NOON – 5:30pm PATRONS’ PARTY AT THE HAMBLEY-WALLACE HOUSE: 6:30pm – 11:00pm

Admission: $30 Patrons’: $150 Sponsors: $500-600

Questions? Please contact  [email protected]  or 704-636-0103

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OctoberTour triples advance ticket sales for 47th event

Published 12:10 am Sunday, October 9, 2022

By Elisabeth Strillacci

People moving from one side of the Empire Hotel to the other to peruse the interior, already undergoing changes, were excited about what they were seeing, even if it was not the ghost that allegedly haunts the buildings. Photo by Elisabeth Strillacci

Nearly every location on the historic sites list in Saturday's Octobertour event had a line waiting to enter, beginning at 11:30 a..m., including here at the William Murdoch House on W. Bank Street. Photo by Elisabeth Strillacci

Rosalie Laughlin, left, and Historic Salisbury Foundation Executive Director Kimberly Stieg in front of Hall House during Saturday's Octobertour event. Photo by Elisabeth Strillacci

SALISBURY — Taking a peek inside the elegant historic homes in the city is a delight for many each year during the Historic Salisbury Foundation’s annual tour of homes, but this year, sales of advance tickets tripled, according to the executive director of the foundation.

There were 11 locations on this year’s tour and it is likely the addition of the Empire Hotel also added a few new tourists, said Director Kimberly Stieg. In addition, the first Brewfest at Bell Tower Green, which the city hopes to make an annual event, offered combined tickets to both events, and Stieg said about one fourth of Brewfest tickets were the combination ones.

This year’s event marks two anniversaries for the foundation as well. The first is one for the foundation itself — it was formed 50 years ago after the First Presbyterian Church was taken down and the bell tower was threatened.

Rosalie Laughlin, whose mother was an original foundation member, said founder Ed Clement stepped in to try to save the tower, “and he knew that if he got several of Salisbury’s first ladies to join him, it would be successful.” Laughlin served her own time on the foundation, has offered her own home on recent tours, and was one of the docents at Saturday’s event.

The second is the 200th anniversary of the Dr. Josephus Hall House, which was the first property the foundation actually purchased for preservation. Descendants of Hall were on hand Friday night for a celebratory event.

In addition to tours of the historic sites, which ran all Saturday aftern0on (and is available today via BikeTober, a bicycling tour of the exterior of the sites, sponsored by The Pedal Factory), the Bank Street Festival ran Saturday afternoon and continues today at Hall House Museum.

The full list of sites included The Hall House on S. Jackson Street; William Murdoch House on W. Bank Street; John Knox House on W. Bank Street; Thomas T. Maxwell House on W. Horah Street; Torrence-Corners House on S. Jackson Street; Franklin Smith Jr. House on S. Fulton Street; Empire Hotel on S. Main Street; Bell Block Building on S. Main Street; St. John’s Lutheran Church on W. Innes Street; and the Holshouser-Beaver House and L.G. Hines House, both available virtually.

At the Empire hotel, a documentary team was on hand interviewing Lummie Jo Honeycutt, a former Salisbury resident who took dance lessons as a child in the ballroom of the hotel.

“I am so excited about what they are doing to bring it back,” she said. “I hope I live long enough to see it when it is complete.”

Stieg said she and other members of the foundation have been overwhelmed by the level of support. Tickets for a Patron’s Dinner Saturday night sold out so fast that there were two waiting lists. Initially they thought they could accommodate “about 275,” she said. “But we spent some time reworking things and talking with the caterer, and we have been able to get a total of 350 situated.”

She said there always has to be a cut-off point, but she was sure they could have sold 450 tickets easily, and that’s something to keep in mind for next year.

“It certainly shows the level of support our patrons have for what we are trying to accomplish and preserve,” she said.

Former foundation member John Paul said he has been coming on the tour off and on for 32 years and he still enjoys every minute.

“I love old things,” he laughed, “and this year there were a few new locations, so I’m glad to be back.”

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The 48th Annual OctoberTour

October 13 from 6:30pm-11:30pm

Get Tickets

Historic Salisbury Station

215 Depot Street, Salisbury

Join Historic Salisbury Foundation for Patrons' Party to kick off the 48th Annual OctoberTour! Food, drinks, dancing and more!

Patrons’ Party tickets are open to the public for purchase at $175 per person. Please note: This event does have a maximum number for attendance.

Patrons' Party tickets include entrance to the following:

• Sinister Speakeasy Patrons' Party on October 13th at 6:30 pm
• OctoberTour Historic Home Tours on October 14th from 10 am - 5 pm and October 15th from 12 pm - 5 pm.
• Patrons' Porch at the home of Shawn and Leah Campion, 223 W. Bank Street. Enjoy hors d'oeuvres and drinks during tour hours.

How to Pick up your Patron tickets:

• Pre-purchased Patrons/Sponsor tickets may be picked up at the Historic Salisbury Foundation Office at 215 Depot Street, Salisbury, in the two weeks prior to October Tour.
• Pre-purchased Patrons/Sponsor tickets not picked up by 5:00 will be taken to the Patron’s Party registration table.