Want to walk through Port Royal’s historic buildings? Now’s your chance
For the first time in 15 years, the Historic Port Royal Foundation is hosting a tour through Town of Port Royal buildings, old and new, Dec. 4.
The 12 buildings on the tour are private residences and commercial properties, but will open to the public from 1-4 p.m. as part of a Christmas fundraiser for the foundation.
They are selling 250 tickets online for $40 through Dec. 3. The remaining tickets will be sold on the day of the tour for $45.
The foundation had plans to start a tour three years ago, but the pandemic forced a delay.
“My hope is that it would be something important to the community,” said Janie Ephland, the volunteer who came up with the idea for the tour. “A tradition that we could start here in Port Royal, that would benefit the museum, benefit the history and help people know what we have here and learn about it.”
Ticket-holders will be led through the first floor of each building by a foundation volunteer or an owner, who will explain its history.
Since the Town of Port Royal doesn’t recognize a historic district, there wasn’t a designated list of historic buildings to choose from for the tour. So foundation President Eileen Newton chose historic buildings based on their significance to Port Royal. They range from being built around 1870 to around 1920.
“The buildings that agreed to be on the tour are very important to our area,” Newton said. “They were built by either some of the founding fathers of Port Royal or contributed significantly to the history of Port Royal.”
There are 10 historic homes and two homes built within the last five years.
“For the two ‘new builds’ the homeowners are going to be there, and they’re going to explain how they got the design and what was involved,” Ephland said. “It’s showing us where we’re going besides the historical buildings that are being preserved.”
Buildings include an old war observatory said to be haunted and the old mercantile store, the Scheper Store.
“He was the mercantile store in town. He sold goods to the people that came in on the ships, he sold goods to the people that came in off of their farms. And he sold goods to the people that lived in the town,” Newton said. “He sold everything from feed and seed to rope to shoes to groceries.”
There will be nearly 60 golf carts and drivers to transport people between buildings. Drivers, like the building owners, are volunteers.
“Not one person said no,” Ephland said. “Not only did they not say no. They wanted to be the docents in their home to help share the history they know.”
The tour will end with food and drinks in a residential backyard.
“We just have a lot of people drop by and enjoy our space,” said Norma Cooler, who owns the house. “We just love people coming in and enjoying our eclectic collection of, I’ll call it, junk.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2022 at 12:03 PM.
