2021 Wilcox Historical Society Tour of Homes

March 26 – 27, 2021

Due to the continued coronavirus pandemic, the Wilcox Historical Society has rescheduled its Tour of Homes in Camden, Alabama to March 26 – 27, 2021. If you had already purchased a ticket to the Pilgrimage in 2020, it will be honored in 2021.

The entire weekend will operate as originally scheduled with two exciting additions. James Farmer will still be the Guest Speaker at RiverBend Plantation on Friday night, March 26th. However, the expanded Tour now includes seven homes and two churches on Saturday, March 27th. The Brittany House Antiques at Oak Hill will provide ticket holders breakfast that morning as originally planned. In addition, the Inaugural Pilgrimage Ball, sponsored by the Furman Historical Society, will be held at Wakefield in Furman on Saturday Night, March 27th.

If you currently have a reservation at Liberty Hall Bed & Breakfast or the Capell House at Pebble Hill Bed & Breakfast, you will still have your rooms in March unless you call and cancel your reservation. Visitors staying at other hotels/venues must contact your provider to change your reservation.

As a thank you for your patience and support, two historic sites have been added to our Tour of Homes! The first addition is Pleasant Ridge, circa 1844. This tall-columned “big house” is not only the last extant brick antebellum house in Wilcox County, but also one of less that a dozen brick homes of the period to survive in the Black Belt.

We are also adding the historic Antioch Baptist Church. Opened in 1885, it is one of the oldest African-American churches in Wilcox County and was a crossroads of the civil rights movement. In fact, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at the church twice in 1965.  

Other historic homes on the tour are: Yaupon – the Mathews-Tait-Rutherford House, circa 1840, River Bluff – the Beck-Bryant-Talbot House, circa 1840s, the Beck-Darwin-Coats House, circa 1846, the Strother-Gibbs House, circa 1900, House on the Hill – the Liddell-Phillippi Home, circa 1834,  and Liberty Hall – the McDowell-Harris home (hall and formal rooms only).

The Camden Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church will also be open for Tour. The building of the ARP church is almost four decades older than the church founding. The ARP congregation was organized in 1890 and they purchased an antebellum building, constructed in 1849, from the dwindling congregation of the Camden Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 

Other historic sites on tour are the Old Shoe Shop Museum, the Beck-Miller Law Office, circa 1840s and the Old Wilcox County Jail, constructed 1889 as well as the Tour and WHS headquarters, the Wilcox Female Institute, constructed in 1849 and Dale Lodge No. 25, constructed in 1848.

Please know the decision to move the Tour of Homes again has not been made lightly. We are keenly aware that many of you planned travel months in advance and adjusted those plans to join us for the Tour. Ultimately, the public health and safety of both our guests, homeowners, and our community must be our number one priority.

We will be following strict COVID protocols. Everyone will have a temperature check upon arrival, masks must be worn properly indoors at all times, and admittance to homes will be in small groups. We will also have sanitization stations at each site as well. It is our primary goal to keep everyone safe during a wonderful Tour!

Finally, you can help us immensely by continuing to spread the word about our date change and that tickets are still available. Tickets are available at  Eventbrite.com and locally at The Pecan on Broad  and Black Belt Treasures in Camden and The Brittany House Antiques at Oak Hill.

We hope to see you all in March!

For more information, please contact 256-975-7616.