HISTORIC HOME TOUR: MacRae-Willard House

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The Azalea Festival Historic Home tour takes you through some very old houses, like the one at 520 Orange Street in Wilmington. In fact, organizers said the MacRae-Willard house is the oldest on the 2015 tour.

Built in 1851, the Tuscan-style cottage, with an 1896 Neoclassical Revival addition, has original hard-wood floors, gas light fixtures, stainedglass and outside shutters. The owners, Landon and Connie Anderson, said after they bought that historical home, they decided to buy more saying it became a business for them. They rent out the other properties.

"We didn't intend to buy a historic house or any kind of that sort. It just happened and we got more and more involved in the preservation and the history, and here we are," Landon Anderson said.

The Andersons said, though, that the MacRae-Willard house is their favorite. They added that there are two others homes in Wilmington that are very similar to theirs.

The Historic Home Tour is Saturday, April 11 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, April 12 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are Tickets $25 in advance, and $30 on the day of the event. The ribbon cutting will be at this house, the MacRae-Willard house, on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Click here for more information.

According to the Azalea Festival's website, the North Carolina Azalea Festival Home Tour is an annual event held by the Historic Wilmington Foundation. Proceeds from the Home Tour will advance the Historic Wilmington Foundation’s efforts to protect and preserve the irreplaceable historic resources of Wilmington and the Lower Cape Fear region. Since 1966, the foundation has successfully saved more than 200 historic properties from demolition.