Y’all Come In

There’s something special about a neighbor or a friend popping over and coming in through the back door.

That “come on in” Southern feeling is what the Back Door Kitchen Tour, founded in 1973, has come to emulate. The tour is sponsored by the Residents of Old Wilmington and benefits the downtown area. The 2023 tour will be held Saturday Oct. 14. Nine historic homes will be featured, and tour-goers will enter like a true neighbor, through the back.

“Our focus for the tour is the working part of the home and this is why, typically, guests enter from the back and often through the rear gardens into the home,” says Dave Hendrickson of Residents of Old Wilmington.

The Hashagen House on Orange Street, a Queen Anne Victorian style home built in 1897, is one of the nine on tour. It was built for Frederick Ernest Hashagen, a grocer. In the 1970s a renovation saved it from being condemned. The home later became a bed and breakfast until the current owners completed a renovation in 2022, converting it back to a family home.

“We love the Victorian architecture, the front porch and intricate staircase. The home had a lot of potential, but needed quite a bit of work. We gutted the entire kitchen down to the studs, redesigned the layout, put in custom cabinets, and replaced the flooring” says homeowner Caitlin Sims.

Also on tour is the Harriss House on Dock Street, built circa 1899, and the Italianate William H. Green House on 3rd Street, built in 1879.

Tickets for the Back Door Kitchen Tour are $40. All proceeds benefit the Wilmington community. In the past, grants have been given to the Battleship North Carolina for lights and to the Children’s Museum, the Salvation Army and the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society.

The 2023 Back Door Kitchen Tour is Saturday, Oct. 14, rain or shine.

Tickets are available on Eventbrite.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/back-door-kitchen-tour-tickets-613417005777