Candlelight Dinner and Tour of Historic Homes Friday  May 2nd 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM Escorted Tour: Meet bus at Haines St. Park & Ride (near Safeway (click for map) ) ONLY 75 TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE! Tickets go on sale March 14th, 2008 Adults & children 12 and over = $60.00

Sponsored by: Nancy Stelow Real Estate Professional
	Nancy Stelow, Re/Max First, Inc. 2500 Sims Way Port Townsend, WA 98368 (360) 344-3937 (800) 714-6499 (360) 385-6495 fax e-mail me

This is not a handicap accessible venue.

What was it like to live in one of Port Townsend's most beautiful homes in the 1890s? Or, what was it like to attend an elegant evening reception as the guest of the owners of one of these homes? Now you can experience the ambiance of a late 19th Century buffet reception, with costumed docents, an elegantly decorated table and strains of music wafting from the parlor. Join us for the fourth annual Port Townsend candlelight tour of historic homes, including a dinner buffet in the elegant parlors and dining rooms of three of the city's most elegant homes. Meet our bus at the Haynes Place "Park & Ride" (near Safeway) and board for an exciting tour of the city's most famous houses. Three buses will depart from the meeting point at the same time. Each will run a guided tour of Port Townsend, with commentary on the historic structures you pass. En route, your tour guide will tell you about the history, owners and other interesting information about the house you will visit on your first stop. Gracious current owners have volunteered to open their homes to you for the benefit of the Jefferson County Historical Society. The Bash House The D. H. Hill House The Horton/Bendixen House click to tour the house click to tour the house click to tour the house click to view the artist's renditions of the homes At your first stop you'll disembark and enter with your group and guide into the gracious foyer or parlor. You will be able to tour the open rooms of each home and view the lovely antique decor, admire craftsmanship that can no longer be duplicated, and imagine the rooms filled with swirling taffeta skirts of properly attired ladies. Perhaps you would like to tarry awhile in the parlor and listen to the music being provided for your entertainment. No reception of this type would have been without music of some kind in the 1890s. Docents will be available to answer many of your questions. After you complete your tour of the home, you'll be invited to partake of the first course of the dinner buffet in the dining room and chat with your fellow visitors, tour guide and docents, enjoying the softness of evening light on cherished antiques while you snack and sip. About 40 minutes after arrival, when signaled by the guide, you will re-board the bus to continue to the next home, where you will enjoy a repeat of your first visit in a completely different home with the second course of refreshments. Three private homes will be featured on this tour. After your final stop the bus will return to your meeting place at approximately 9:30.

This is not a sit down dinner. Seating is limited to that available at each home.
All foods will be served and dining will be while standing, cocktail style.

The menu for the evening: 1st course: Curried Red Lentil Soup Cream and Cheddar Biscuit Assorted Fresh Fruit 2nd course: Beef Bourguignon en Croute Glazed Baby Carrots Haricots Verts 3rd course: Lemon Pound Cake with Sliced Fresh Strawberries and Creme Fraiche Assorted Sparkling Water

The Bash House c. 1885	The Horton/Bendixen House c. 1889	The D. H. Hill House c. 1862

 

 

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The Henry Bash House c.1885 Dreams of Victorian grandeur and commercial prominence awaited the Port Townsend of 1880's. One such visionary was Albert Bash who arrived in 1881 and worked as a customs collector for the Puget Sound region. His father, Henry C. Bash, followed in 1883 to take up duties as an Inspector of Customs, and soon, as U.S. Shipping Commissioner. Henry completed construction of his grand, yet modest home in 1885. Although Henry had a large office at the U.S. Customs House, now the Post Office on Washington Street, he often had visitors present themselves at his home in his study (now the Dining Room) bearing gifts of coral and exotic birds. The house stood on one corner of an eighteen acre estate. Tennis courts were next to the house. Little has changed in the original structure of the house. Recent visitors have included some relatives, including Henry's great grandson, Steven Bash, and his wife from Utah. They have taken up the task of restoring the plantings at the family gravesite. Another visitor included a woman that lived in the house when it was a boarding home for young military families stationed at Fort Worden in the 1950's. She had fond memories of starting her family in the boarding house run by a Mrs. Campbell. If walls could talk!

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The Horton/Bendixen House c. 1889 Occupant History: The house at 1706 Clay street has traveled across town to this site. Allegedly built about 1889 by the Hortons as a speculative house alongside a mirror image twin sister in which they lived on Harrison Street, the house was sold and moved to its current location on log rollers by a team of oxen about 1905. The house was purchased under the name Hilda Bendixen in 1909 and was occupied for many years by the Bendixen family. Karl B. Bendixen, who immigrated from Norway, arrived in the U. S. about 1884 when he was 28 years old. His wife, Gunhilda (Hilda), and son, B.O. (Olaf), followed five years later, in 1889. The family raised four children in the house. Two girls, Anna Henrietta and Martha Caroline, and another son, Karl G. Martha Caroline married H. E. Busch in Seattle on March 21, 1911, and Anna married Peter Norby, a long time resident whose home is only a few blocks away. She lived in Port Townsend all her life except for a short time in Anaconda, Montana when she was a young girl. Mr. & Mrs. Bendixen gained U.S. citizenship in 1894. He worked as an engineer on government boats stationed at Old Fort Townsend, which was deactivated in 1895. The youngest, son, Karl G., was chief engineer on the ocean going steamship "Iowa", which was lost at the mouth of the Columbia River on January 12, 1936. The ship was loaded with lumber and general cargo when it ran into a 76 mile an hour gale and was swept onto Peacock Spit. By the time the Coast Guard Cutter Onondaga reached the wreck, all that was visible were the tops of the masts. Karl G. and all 33 of his shipmates were lost. This early photo dates from sometime around 1909, and shows Karl and Hilda Bendixen standing near the front gate. The home looks nearly the same now, right down to the garage at the back. Previous owners added the covered side porch near the rear, as well as completing most of the major interior restoration work. This included floors and interior trimwork, as well as a major upgrade to the kitchen and family room area. They handmade the bullseye corner blocks in the woodwork, replicating the owner's favorite flower, the dogwood. The current owners have added a second story addition above the kitchen/family room and extended it to the west with a balcony. The new second floor interior space holds the master bedroom with a hot tub on the balcony. Entertaining you in the parlor on the classical guitar….Seth Euro-Fountain Seth grew up and has lived in Port Townsend for 22 years. He has been constantly surrounded by music from a very early age, studying both the piano and guitar. He learned his first classical song on the guitar at the age of 15 and has continued his musical journey with the guitar ever since. Enjoying a wide range of musical styles, Seth favors classical, Latin jazz, and flamenco and flamenco-influenced music. He has performed for a variety of occasions both as a solo artist and with his father, Joe Euro. Venues include The Wooden Boat Festival, private parties, restaurants, churches, weddings and elderly care centers. He even entertained on the streets of Paris for extra pocket change while studying French. Seth can be contacted at seth_fountain85@hotmail.com

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The D. H. Hill House c. 1862 This spacious, wonderful home was once a much simpler and smaller building similar to a New England farmhouse. Additions and modifications have occurred throughout its long history. The current residents have turned the house into one of the jewels of the historic neighborhood, adding and restoring period details and beautiful landscaping. The house may have been the first of many houses constructed by A. Horace Tucker, a prominent builder and civic leader. The house takes its name, however, from the family that called it home for 90 years. In 1877 title transferred to Captain H. E. Morgan, another early pioneer, who presented the house to his daughter, Kate, when she married Daniel H. Hill in 1885. Although the house is now known as the D. H. Hill House, the property remained in Kate's name until she transferred it to their son, Dan, Jr. in 1932. It remained in the family until his death in 1975. Daniel, Sr. was a Port Townsend druggist, and served two terms as mayor. The family drug store was in the downtown N. D. Hill Building now housing Water Street Brewing and Ale at 639 Water St. Kate made major changes to the house, adding the elegant new staircase you'll see inside, two dormers and gingerbread trim on the exterior. The current owners purchased the home in 1994 and carried on the reconstruction begun in 1990. They have worked tirelessly to bring it to its current grandeur. Although much of the exterior and nearly all the interior is new, they have maintained the original character to provide a seamless transition that convinces everyone who drives by that the house has been this way since built. Period photos will be on display, as well as pictures of the reconstruction process, when the parlor functioned as the workshop and bare studs were the only walls. Also on display will be a number of 'found treasures' from the property, including old wallpapers, square nails, marbles, buttons and old N. D. Hill & Sons bottles, as well as photos of children and grandchildren of the house who have returned to share memories On Concertina and Flute in the parlor of the N. D. Hill House: Mike Fleming and Susan Lee Mike Fleming began playing the concertina 25 years ago when he needed to fill vacant hours as captain of NOAA research ships. He discovered playing improved his relationship with his crew, because during the hours spent practicing, he became the novice to their expert guidance. Susan Lee began playing the flute 40 years ago when teaching in a boarding school in Appalachia where a need developed for a flute player in the school band. She left it for voice and piano for a number of years, but returned to the flute when she moved to Port Townsend a few years ago.

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