Lafayette Manor Inn - 219 East Robert Toombs Avenue
The 2006 Spring Tour of Homes of Washington-Wilkes will be held on March 31, and April 1 and 2. The Candlelight Tour will get underway on Friday, March 31, at 6 p.m., and continue until 9 p.m. The Candlelight Tour will also be held on Saturday evening, April 1, during the same hours.
A Dessert Soiree will be available to those on the tour and others at Holly Court Inn, home of Phillip and Margaret Rothman, 301 South Alexander Avenue, on Friday and Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m.
The Day Tour will begin Saturday, April 1, at 10 a.m. and will conclude at 5 p.m. The day tour will also be available on Sunday, April 2, from 1 to 5 p.m.
Tour headquarters will be at the Washington-Wilkes Elementary School on East Street, just off East Robert Toombs Avenue.
DAY TOUR
There will be six homes on the Day Tour. These six homes are:
The home of Jerry and Kay Robinson, 104 Pembroke Drive;
Southern Elegance, Jean Davis Blair, 115 West Robert Toombs Avenue.
Lafayette Manor Inn, (former Maynard's Manor), East Robert Toombs Avenue, home of Guillaume and Sokun Slama.
Deborah Rainey's Downtown Loft; and
Wisteria Hall, home of Jim and Jane Bundy, 225 East Robert Toombs Avenue.
Washington Plantation, Tom and Barbara Chase, Lexington Avenue;
CANDLELIGHT TOUR
The Candlelight Tour will feature three homes and Holly Court Inn where the Dessert Soiree will be held. These are:
The home of John and Kathleen Overstreet, 401 East Robert Toombs Avenue;
The Rider House, Jane and Smythe Newsome, 109 Court Street;
Holly Court Inn, Dessert Soiree, South Alexander Avenue; and
The Home of Ricky and Kathy Lindsey, South Alexander Avenue.
OTHER
ATTRACTIONS
The Washington Little Theater Co.'s presentation will be "1940s Radio Hour," and will be presented Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. Cost is $10.
The Washington Woman's Club Luncheon is sold out.
The First United Methodist Church will also provide lunch for $10.
Admission to the Robert Toombs House, Washington Historical Museum and Callaway Plantation will be free with the purchase of any ticket package. Cost to non-ticket holders is the regular price at the door.
Other attractions on the tour which are free include the Episcopal Church of the Mediator, Washington Presbyterian Church, First Baptist Church, First United Methodist Church, the Mary Willis Library, and an Arts and Crafts Show at the Livery Stable coordinated by Debbie Wells.
Organ music will be presented at the Washington Presbyterian Church from 6 to 8 p.m. during the candlelight tours Friday and Saturday nights. Visitors are encouraged to sit and listen for as long or as short a time as they would like.Tourists and local people are invited to visit the many shops and attractions in Downtown Washington.
COSTS
Ticket prices are $25.00 for the day or candlelight tour; $45.00 for both Day and Candlelight tours; $5.00 at the door of any single home; and $10.00 for the Dessert Soiree.
TICKETS
Ticket and reservation information are available by calling 706678-2013.
HOMES FEATURED
Each week until the tour days, The News-Reporter will feature one of the homes on the tour. For more information and an overview of all the tour homes, visit www.ww tourofhomes.com.
LaFayette Manor Inn
219 E. Robert Toombs Avenue
LaFayette Manor Inn was built in the mid-1820s for Elizabeth Tarver, widow of John Tarver. It was a single story, approximately 20'x24'. The land on which the house stands had been owned in 1783 by George Walton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. It later became part of the Gilbert estate.
Other owners have included David P. Hillhouse, Guy Harris Sandifer, Oliver L. Battle, Frank Colley, Sarah Cooper Sanders, and C.L. Wickersham.
Ross and Louise Maynard purchased the property on May 30, 1997, and began renovation and restoration immediately. Before the Maynards bought the property it was for many years the home of Katie and Charles Wickersham, both native Wilkes Countians. Following their deaths, the house was vacant for five years or more. The new owner had begun an extensive renovation project and had removed all of the plaster walls and ceilings, along with all of the fireplace mantels, plumbing, electric wiring, doors, door frames, woodwork, stairs and light fixtures.
The house had been extended 18 feet to the rear and this addition was two stories high. The rear wall was never finished and at this point the venture was abandoned and the house stood vacant and gutted for several years.
The house now has six bedrooms and six bathrooms on the upstairs level; two kitchens, a master bedroom with bath, a den, four formal rooms, and a half bath on the main level. Every door in the house is original. The Maynards salvaged and replaced every piece of original trim and baseboard that was found in, around, and under the house. They began occoupancy of the house on August 28, 1998.
In January 2006, the property was sold to Guillaume Slama and Sokunvathany Nuon-Slama, and they chose LaFayette Manor Inn as the name for their bed and breakfast facility. Both are from France and have been living in Atlanta for about eight years. Sokunvathany is originally from Cambodia but moved with her family to France when she was six years old. She is a trained chef and they will be serving a combination of French and Cambodian cuisine to their guests at lunch and dinner.
They have recently been licensed to serve meals to the general public by reservation.
The new owners have installed a large commercial kitchen and Washington-Wilkes decorator Joe Barnett has installed the drapes downstairs. A combination of oriental and French dcor has been used throughout the house. Other decorating is still in progress.
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