42nd Annual Historic Home Tour brings hundreds to Hardeman Co.

HARDEMAN COUNTY, Tenn.—Hardeman County’s Annual Historic Home Tour hosted their 42nd year this weekend taking people through ten of the oldest sights in Bolivar.

Driving through Bolivar this weekend was like riding through the 1800’s. Their annual historic home tour allows people to see what Hardeman County was like in its early days.

“It’s nice to talk about how our ancestors came to Hardeman County and how we evolved to who we are today,” Hardeman County Chapter of the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities president Ken Savage said.

Around 200 people made their way across the city to different sites such as Magnolia Manor, the log cabin Courthouse, and the Pillars.

“You get yourself to each location, but at each location we have docents who are in costume that guide you through the buildings give you the history of the house,” Savage said.

The APTA said there are more than 200 hundred homes on the national historic register in Hardeman county, which means that each year the tour is a little different, so if you have been on the tour before, they say it’s different this year, and will be next year too.

“All of our homes are just a little different if you come this year you’ll see something different next year,” Savage said.

Annette Lowrance and her husband Larry say they come on the tour almost every year and wish more locals would come out to learn about their roots.

“I think a lot of people that live here take it for granted because they say that not many people from Bolivar actually come on to the tour,” Lowrance said.

All of the proceeds from the home tour go to the APTA to help restore and maintain these sites.

There will be another home tour later this year in October with a little more of a “ghostly” theme.