TRINITY PARK 2024 HOME TOUR: If These Houses Could Talk
The Trinity Park 2024 Home Tour was held Sunday, October 20, 2024, a beautiful, sunny fall afternoon, and featured 9 homes, two houses of worship and the Park itself, which is celebrating its 50th birthday this year!
The 2024 Trinity Park Home Tour was held on the sunny afternoon of Sunday, October 20. About 600 neighbors and visitors bought tickets, another 50 served as volunteers, and all enjoyed meeting new people, reconnecting with friends, and sharing stories. It’s been said that the shortest distance between two people is a story, and that held true on the Home Tour!
Thank you to the dozens of neighbors who created and displayed their own “If This House Could Talk” sign in front of their homes during the tour, sharing histories, fun facts, photos, and stories. The theme for the tour was modeled after a community-based history and public art project called “If This House Could Talk” that was started in Cambridge, MA, and has now spread across the country. See photos of many, if not all, of the Trinity Park home signs here.
The official tour included 12 stops — 9 homes sprinkled throughout the neighborhood from Albemarle St. to northern North Duke St., as well as Beth El Synagogue, Watts Street Baptist Church, and the park itself. The park, 50 years old this year, was spruced up for the occasion, with a coat of fresh paint on the gazebo.
Lynne Grossman from the Beth El congregation said, “I want to relay what a pleasure it was to host tour goers today… All our visitors were receptive, respectful and asked great questions… Our docents were terrific and having 10 banners on display to illustrate the 400 year history of Jews in North Carolina was an added bonus.”
Tim McNulty, a docent at one of the homes, said, “As a volunteer for this year’s Trinity Park Home Tour, I was delighted to welcome residents of all ages, from young families to older couples, eager to peek inside the beautiful houses and discover imaginative decorations and redesigns. The homeowners’ generosity and pride were evident as they answered questions and explained the decisions they had made to make their houses truly homes.“
Vance Kite, homeowner, said, “Sharing our home with the community was an absolute joy. It was a pleasure getting to know those who live nearby and to learn new stories about our home.”
The Trinity Park Neighborhood Association thanks to the many neighbors who worked hard to make the event a success. Thanks to the gracious hosts of the tour stops: Lindsey, Dan, Chris, Dan, Stacey, Melissa, Frank, Jim, Brad, Dennis, Gina, Carson, Thea, Rachit, Jamie, Vance, and the congregations of Watts Street Baptist Church and Beth El Synagogue. Thanks to the volunteers — the cheerful and helpful docents and ticket sellers, as well as the researchers, writers, designers, and organizers behind the scenes. Thanks to the dozens of creative neighbors who created and displayed their own “If This House Could Talk” signs.
Finally, thank you to our generous local sponsors: Ellen Cassilly Architects, Marie Austin Realty Company, Adam Dickinson Realty, Inhabit Real Estate, Patina, Preservation Durham, Trinity Design/Build, Four Over one Design + Preservation Consulting, Acme Plumbing, Broadway Veterinary Hospital, Lucie’s Home Services, Kate Kennedy Photography, Urban Durham Realty, Hylton Daniel Design+Construction, The Common Market, and Dominos Pizza.
Since the mid-1970’s, the Trinity Park Home Tour has been a beloved tradition, opening up unique, historic, urban homes for everyone to enjoy and visit. Over the years, the funds raised by the Home Tour have funded maintenance and improvements for public areas in the neighborhood for neighbors and visitors from throughout Durham to enjoy, including new plantings, benches, and safety fencing, in The Trinity Park; art installations like the Bug Walk and a new park sign in the form of a sculptural neighborhood map; a new neighborhood sign/sculpture in the median at Main St. and Buchanan Blvd.; and restored granite steps at the Park entrance on W. Trinity Ave.
The 2024 Home Tour raised about $18,000, which will be put to good use. First, the funds will help sustain the operations of the Trinity Park Foundation for the next two years, carrying out important maintenance and improvements in our shared public spaces. In addition, because the Tour’s focus is on housing, TPNA will donate some of the proceeds to help people in need of stable housing, here in Durham as well as in western NC. As in 2022, a portion will be donated to Families Moving Forward, providing families with children a stable, safe, and loving environment while they are in the temporary crisis of homelessness in Durham. TPNA will also make a special donation to help rebuild housing for people in western NC, still reeling from the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.
For more about previous tours, see here (2022) and here (2018). And digging even deeper into the past, here (1981).
