This Saturday morning, the ticket booth for the 51st OctoberTour will be on South Jackson Street, near the Hall House Museum. The free festival will be on the 200 block of South Jackson, next to the museum. Last year the festival was set up downtown at Bell Tower Green for the 50th anniversary. This year it's back in West Square.
Historic Salisbury Foundation explained the 2025 change when it made it. For the semi-centennial, the festival moved to Bell Tower Green "instead of its usual location on Bank Street in front of the Hall House," as a nod to the tour's origins in the Bell Tower restoration. The 2026 festival goes back to the usual spot, and that changes how the weekend works. The Hall House is a tour house, the festival grounds and the ticket hub all at once. It's also the oldest house on the list, so it's a natural place to start a route that runs in date order.
The tour starts with the oldest house
The tour is Saturday, October 10, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, October 11, from noon to 5 p.m. Your ticket covers both days, and the last tour line forms at 4:30 p.m. The foundation's guide lets you visit the houses in any order. For anyone who lives here, the best order is by age, because the eight houses span about 118 years of Salisbury building.
Here they are, oldest to newest, with the dates from the official tour map:
| Built | House | Address | Style / detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| c. 1820 | Dr. Josephus W. Hall House | 226 S. Jackson St. | Federal; built for the Salisbury Female Academy |
| c. 1854 | D. A. Davis Cottage | 127 W. Bank St. | Federal with Greek Revival influences; restoration in progress |
| c. 1898 | Gaskill-Morris-Blackmer House | 425 W. Horah St. | Victorian era |
| c. 1922 | Minnie Lord Henderson House | 220 S. Fulton St. | Arts and Crafts |
| c. 1924 | A. G. Peeler House | 418 S. Fulton St. | Colonial Revival |
| c. 1929 | Walter-McCanless House | 200 Confederate Ave. | Renaissance Revival |
| c. 1934 | Mattox-Crawford House | 231 Confederate Ave. | Colonial Revival by Louis H. Asbury |
| c. 1938 | Hardiman-Davis House | 223 Confederate Ave. | Tudor Revival, "drunken brick" veneer |
The 1800s are on Jackson, Bank and Horah. The 1920s are on South Fulton. The last three houses, built over less than a decade, are on the same block of Confederate Avenue. Touring in date order takes you through those layers in sequence.
Jackson and Bank streets in the 1800s
The Hall House, dated to about 1820, wasn't built as a family home. It was first built for the Salisbury Female Academy. The foundation's guide says enslaved people worked in its detached kitchen before emancipation. The house is a museum now, and this year the festival is set up beside it.
The D. A. Davis Cottage on West Bank Street dates to about 1854. It was originally one of three similar rental houses. It's the only stop being shown mid-restoration, with the Historic Salisbury Foundation doing the work. The other seven houses show you finished preservation. The Davis Cottage shows you the work while it's still underway.
The Gaskill-Morris-Blackmer House at 425 W. Horah Street finishes the 1800s, at about 1898. In the 1920s, the people living there were the parents of actor Sidney Blackmer.
South Fulton Street in the 1920s
The two houses on South Fulton were built about two years apart.
The Minnie Lord Henderson House at 220 S. Fulton is an Arts and Crafts home from about 1922, built for a widow named Minnie Lord Henderson. The current owners first saw it on OctoberTour in the 1990s, so the tour has a role in the house's own history.
Farther down the street, the A. G. Peeler House at 418 S. Fulton is Colonial Revival and was built between 1922 and 1924. The heading in the printed guide says "c.1824," but the map and the guide's own write-up both put it in the 1920s. It still has its original warming shelves in the dining room. A. G. Peeler Sr., a co-founder of Bamby Bakery, lived there for many years.
One block of Confederate Avenue, 1929 to 1938
The newest part of the tour sits at three addresses on one block. Each house is in a different revival style, and all three were built within about nine years.
The Walter-McCanless House at 200 Confederate Ave., from about 1929, is Renaissance Revival. It was built for industrialist Walter F. McCanless, and its carriage house was originally servants' quarters.
The Mattox-Crawford House at 231 Confederate Ave., from about 1934, is Colonial Revival, designed by Louis H. Asbury. It was built for J. P. Mattox, a former Pittsburgh Pirates player, and Daisy Belk Mattox, the daughter of a Belk stores founder.
The Hardiman-Davis House at 223 Confederate Ave., from about 1938, is the newest house on the route and the one regulars haven't seen before. This is its first time on OctoberTour. It's Tudor Revival with a distinctive "drunken brick" veneer, and it was commissioned by a Frigidaire salesman. If you've done the tour for years and want one stop you haven't seen, this is the one.
The Patrons' Party is at Barber Farm, and the Patrons' Porch hospitality stop is at the Utzman-Chambers House. Both are only open to Patrons' ticket holders. The party is Friday, October 9, from 6:30 to 11 p.m., and costs $175 per person. That ticket also covers the home tours and the Porch on both days.
Where the salvage goes
The new stop this year fits a tour built around preservation. Reclaimed Relics, the foundation's architectural salvage store, is a trolley stop and is open during tour hours both days at 120-C N. Church Street. It sells antique doors, windows, mantels, trim, wrought iron, lighting and hardware.
The store isn't new to Salisbury, but this location is. The foundation's lease on the old Fun Factory space began March 1, replacing its storage and shop at the Ice House on East Horah Street. The bigger change for anyone working on an older house is the schedule. Historic Salisbury Foundation reported in July that the warehouse is now open to the public every Saturday and by appointment, instead of once a month. On tour weekend you see original trim and mantels in place in eight houses, and then you can buy pieces like them at the salvage store.
Getting around
From the foundation's official guide:
- Tickets: $30 per adult, age 11 and up, in advance, or $35 on the day. Ages 6 to 10 are $10, and children 5 and under don't need a ticket. You can buy them at octobertour.com.
- Ticket booth and will-call: South Jackson Street near the Hall House Museum. The booth also handles questions and lost and found.
- Trolleys: Free for ticket holders and running both days during tour hours. They stop near each tour house and at Reclaimed Relics, and you can get on and off at any stop.
- Parking: There's no single designated lot. The guide points to legal public and street parking around Bank Street and elsewhere in the city.
- Festival: Free and open to everyone during tour hours, with local artisans, food trucks, live music and preservation partners.
On Sunday, the houses don't open until noon, so there's time for a morning meal downtown first.
Lunch between the 1800s and the 1930s
With the festival in West Square, downtown is now a lunch stop rather than the center of the weekend. Three places that opened downtown this year work for a break between houses.
Chicory Restaurant and The Bake Shop at Chicory, at 127 N. Main St., held a ribbon cutting July 7, marking the return of chef Jasmine Mohamed's restaurant operation, according to the Salisbury Post.
The Butcher's Block opened its second location at 120 S. Main St. the same day, in the former Sidewalk Deli space.
For Saturday evening after the tour closes, Over Yonder, a honky-tonk bar at 119 W. Innes St., opened in June with a soft opening followed by a grand-opening weekend.
If you live in one of Salisbury's older houses and want to know how its age, condition or restored original details affect its value, Maldonado Group can walk you through it in English or Spanish. Start with Get Home Value (Obtener valor de la casa), and we'll follow up with comparisons that fit a house like yours.
