WILMINGTON — Mandy Moore may have gotten her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this week, but you can visit the place that immortalized the star next weekend.
The 1912 Crocker-Spillman House, better known as the temporary set for the early 2000s romance flick “A Walk to Remeber,” is just one stop on the Azalea Festival Home Tour.
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Fans still mosy up to the famous front porch — uninvited — to get a feel for the coming-of-age film. At the Azalea Festival Historic Home Tour, visitors get the green light on two afternoons to waltz through ten Wilmington homes. Handpicked by the Historic Wilmington Foundation, another notable stop on the two-day tour includes touring the first floor and grounds of the Governor Dudley Mansion.
“The Dudley mansion is not just the gem of Front Street,” Beth Rutledge, Historic Wilmington Foundation’s executive director, said. “I don’t know when people will have the opportunity to get in unless they want to buy it.”
(The private mansion built in 1825, which housed James Sprunt, Pembroke Jones, and North Carolina’s first governor, is currently on the market for $2.9 million.)
At this year’s tour, ticket-holders will be treated to free ice cream from the Boombalatti’s food truck on Saturday. The event is sponsored by Delinda Harrelson and Associates, a historic house “flipper” who last year featured a restored Dock Street bungalow on the tour.
“If you’re somebody who loves to look at houses to get inspired, what’s exciting about this tour is every house you are going to find something that excites or inspires you,” Rutledge said.
From mansions to an 850-square-foot bungalow Rutledge calls “genius,” the tour features three neighborhoods: Carolina Place, Carolina Heights, and downtown. Tickets for the tour are on sale for $35 before April 2, and $40 after. Inspiration, Rutledge said, can be found in any of the tour’s 10 houses.
“If you highlight the original character of a home, you can pretty much do anything with your decor and your furnishing, and both of them play off each other in a way that is beautiful,” she said.
More information on the tour, on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, April 6 and 7, can be found on Historic Wilmington Foundation’s website or on the Azalea Festival Home Tour’s event site.
Send tips and comments to Johanna Ferebee at johanna@localvoicemedia.com
