Final slate of homes still uncertain; Moore, Zima homes will be on tour

The Armstrong-Saggus-Moore home - Tignall RoadThough the final list of home to be officially featured this year is still not certain, it is known that the Washington-Wilkes Spring Tour of Homes 2007 will have a different schedule this year from years past. Both the Day Tour and the Candlelight Tour will be held on Saturday. There will be no tours on Friday or Sunday. The tours will be held on Saturday, March 31, with the Day Tour hours being 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.; and the Candlelight Tour, 6-9 p.m. The homes on the Day Tour include those of Dawn and Sam Moore on the Tignall Road; Virginia Lee King and Skeet Willingham on West Robert Toombs Avenue, Washington; Vivian and Roger Walker (Holly Ridge), Sandtown; Archie and Chrean Brown, Court Street. There will be four homes on the Candlelight Tour. Included are the home of Allan and Sharlene Zima at 206 South Alexander Avenue; the home of Shane and Amy W. Moore on the Tignall Road; the Nash-Wills House on East Robert Toombs Avenue; and the home of Billy and Rosemary Caddell on the Tignall Road. Headquarters for the tour will be at the Washington-Wilkes Elementary School on East Street. The Zima home - 206 South Alexander AvenueThe Kiwanis Club will be driving courtesy cars to provide transportation to the various locations. There is no Dessert Soiree this year. Shops on The Square will be open on Friday evening, March 30, to provide a "Taste of Washington." The always-popular Woman's Club Seated Luncheon will be available for $10 each with reservations required. The First United Methodist Church will be open for buffet lunch. The Washington Little Theater Company will be presenting the musical "Gypsy" on Friday and Saturday nights, March 30 and 31, at 8 p.m.; and again on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. Debbie McLeod will be the star of the musical which is directed by Sue Davidson. Musical direction will be by Mrs. McLeod, and Cynthia Aultman will be doing the choreography. Reservations are recommended for the performances and may be made by calling 706- 678-9582. Churches, museums, and historical sites will be open on Friday and Saturday, and also on Sunday. Downtown shops will be open on Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. The First Baptist Church will be presenting a pre-Easter musical drama on Sunday evening at 7 p.m. Any tour home may be visited individually by paying $5 at the door. Cost for the Day Tour (six homes) is $25; Candlelight Tour (four homes), $25; Day and Candlelight package, $45; and the Woman's Club Luncheon, $10. Theater tickets are $10 each; members may use their cards. Tickets may be ordered by sending checks to Spring Tour of Homes, P.O. Box 661, Washington, GA 30673. Tickets will be mailed upon receipt of payment. More information can be obtained by calling the Washington-Wilkes Chamber of Commerce at 706-678- 2013. Home of Allan & Sharlene Zima 206 South Alexander Avenue This cottage on South Alexander Avenue began as a replica of the house that stands on the corner of South Alexander Avenue and Liberty Street, now the home of Liz Reynolds. In 1889, work began on this corner for a parsonage for the Little River Methodist Circuit. It was completed in February 1890 and for some reason was sold to John T. Wootten. The Circuit then took the $1,500 received from the sale to Wootten and erected another parsonage of the same design on the adjoining lot just south of the corner. The original structure included a front porch, four rooms off a main hallway, a kitchen, and a back room, later remodeled to a master bath and dressing room. The kitchen was remodeled in 1973 and a den added. Allan and Sharlene Zima purchased the house from Laura and David Toburen in 2005. Home of Dawn and Sam Moore Tignall Road The home of Dawn and Sam Moore on the Tignall Road has been known for many years as "The Armstrong House" because the Armstrong family who came to Wilkes County in the early 1800s built it and Armstrong descendants have lived in the house since that time. Mrs. Moore, nee Dawn McAvoy Saggus, was the widow of a sixth generation Armstrong, Donald Richard Saggus Jr., who died suddenly in 1997 at the age of 37. Mrs. Moore is married to Sam Moore and they make their home in the house with her sons, Joshua and Caleb Saggus who are seventh generation Armstrong descendants. According to family history, James Armstrong II of Savannah moved his wife, Elizabeth Giles Butler Armstrong, and their children to Wilkes County and began to acquire property, some of which is still owned by is descendants today. This was in 1812 at the time of the British occupation of Savannah. James Armstrong II was a planter and later a Baptist minister. He built the first Armstrong house, perhaps around 1815, and it was located about 300 yards south of the present Armstrong house, closer to the family cemetery. The house burned several years after the death of James Armstrong II in 1835, leaving no trace of its existence. James and Elizabeth Armstrong's eldest son, John Francis William Cavoisier Armstrong, built the house that stands today around 1849. The house consisted of six rooms, four on the first level with the back two being "shed" rooms used as bedrooms, and two on the second level. A large columned twostory front porch gave the house the Greek revival style it retains today. The house underwent its first major renovations and improvements in the early 1900s when James Wingfield Armstrong and his wife Carolyn Ayer Armstrong (nicknamed Lula) occupied the home. Details are sketchy on the changes made in the house. George Terry Armstrong and his wife, Mary Willis Bounds Armstrong, gave the home to their only child, Emelyn Bounds Armstrong, who had married Joseph W. Bennett. They moved into the house in the early 1940s with their daughter, Terry Armstrong Bennett, and son, Joseph W. Bennett Jr. At the death of Emelyn Bennett in 1976, the property was bequeathed to her oldest grandchild, Donald Richard Saggus Jr., son of Emelyn's only daughter, the late Terry Armstrong Bennett Saggus. Donald Richard Saggus Jr. was the sixth generation of descendants to live in the Armstrong House. In 1984 he married Melanie Dawn McAvoy of Wilkes County and they assumed possession of the house in 1988. Together they began the most ambitious of renovations since its original construction. With a clear understanding of his grandmother's wishes for historical preservation of the exterior and as much of the interior as possible, Don Saggus and his wife began painstakingly dismantling the interior, saving all of the old woodwork, mantles, floors, doors, and anything else salvageable. Included in this renovation were the enclosure of the back porch, replacement of the "beyond repair plaster walls," rewiring, new plumbing, and modernization of the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry. The removal of the old plaster walls revealed that small pine trees with the bark still intact had been used as braces and studs in certain places for the interior walls. They made the decision to leave them. The corner cabinets in the dining room were left but much needed closet space required redesign and change upstairs. The Sagguses also added a deck and patio preserving and incorporating the old well house shed as part of the patio. In June 1989, Don and Dawn Saggus with Joshua, their first son who was born in 1987, moved into the house before the arrival of their second son, Caleb, in September. Joshua and Caleb represented the seventh Armstrong generation to live in the house and on the property. Caleb, like his great-great-great-grandfather, James Wingfield Armstrong, was born in the house and has never lived anywhere else. Following the death of Don Saggus in 1997, Dawn, Joshua and Caleb supervised the completion of the planned additions making this old historic house a modern and convenient home while maintaining its 1800s charm and architecture. Mr. and Mrs. Moore, and Joshua and Caleb Saggus live in, maintain, and continue to improve the second 1849 Armstrong house and the property remains one of the most picturesque sites in Wilkes County.