The Smyrna Downtown Renaissance Association is celebrating Historic Preservation Month with a free one hour walking tour of Smyrna’s Historic District on Thursday, May 31, 2018 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the historic Dr. John Day Perkins Homestead located at 36 South Main Street, Smyrna, Delaware. This is a special tour on the occasion of the Town’s 250th Anniversary celebration and will span architectural styles over 250 years. The tour is limited to twenty people and preregistration is required by calling (302) 653-6449.
The walk will be led by noted local historian Jim Wolfe, a North Main Street resident who restored the Presley Spruance House on North Main Street and who serves on the Town’s Historic Review Committee. Wolfe also is a former history teacher who received the Ken and Regina Brown Historic Education Award from the Smyrna Downtown Renaissance Association in 2015 for his outstanding interpretative work at The Smyrna Museum and the numerous presentations and tours he has led.
Jim Wolfe will lead a group on a guided free Historic Tour of Smyrna Historic District on May 31, 2018, which will conclude with a complimentary dessert reception at the Perkins Homestead, constructed in 1847, where guests will have the rare opportunity to enjoy the private historic home and garden.
The tour will pass many of the Town’s most historic structures in the District which was entered into the National Register of Historic Places on May 23, 1980. Guests will be introduced to the rich history of the Town. Smyrna was originally called Duck Creek Cross Roads and received its current name in 1806 after the Ancient Greek seaport of Smyrna in present-day Turkey.
The town was established along the north-south King’s Highway and the Maryland Road, a major east-west road connecting the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays. Smyrna was originally a shipping center along the Duck Creek and was the most important port between Wilmington and Lewes, shipping grain, lumber, tanbark, and produce to points north.
The tour will conclude with a complimentary dessert reception at the Perkins Homestead where guests may enjoy the private historic home and garden. The home was built in 1847 in the Greek Revival style and features many period antiques. The gardens have been featured as a venue for many events and include many rare plants in a series of garden rooms. Guests will receive a complimentary choice iris plant from the garden to grow and enjoy at home.
The Smyrna Downtown Renaissance Association promotes the revitalization of Smyrna Delaware’s Historic downtown in many ways. The Association advocates for local small businesses, sponsors downtown events, provides incentive grants to both homeowners and businesses, and partners with other organizations and agencies to preserve and enhance historic Smyrna, Delaware. The Association receives no direct support from local, state or federal governments for its operations. You are invited to join the Association which offers a number of great events each year including its signature Wine Tasting Garden Party which this year will be held at the Perkins Homestead garden on Sunday, September 9, 2018 from 5 – 8:30 p.m.
The Smyrna Downtown Renaissance Association will be undertaking numerous other beautification projects in Smyrna’s Historic District later this year and is looking for volunteers to assist. For more information, phone (302) 653-6449 or visit the Association’s website at www.mydowntownsmyrna.org.
