WILKES-BARRE — Wilkes-Barré Preservation Society executive director Tony Brooks will host the annual spring architectural walking tour of downtown Wilkes-Barre at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 17.
The tour will begin at the John Wilkes and Isaac Barré monument on the West Market Street side of Public Square.
The tour will explore three centuries of Wilkes-Barre architecture in one square mile. From simple colonial Yankee houses to the magnificent mansions of the Gilded Age, from Gothic-revival churches to streamline modernism, Wilkes-Barre has it all.
Participants will learn how you can become an urban anthropologist through church architecture, visit inside the Zebulon Butler House, understand the meaning of Westmoreland, and hear the stories of French royalty, a world-famous artist, the first black attorney in Pennsylvania and marvel how a little girl spread the gospel of good manners and social graces around the world.
Wilkes-Barre is not only home to anthracite coal that fueled the Industrial Revolution, but is also the birthplace of Planters Peanuts and Home Box Office.
The cost is $10 per person, and children will be admitted for free. Proceeds will benefit the restoration of the 1793 Zebulon Butler House, the oldest house in Wilkes-Barre. Participants are asked to wear comfortable shoes. The tour is approximately two hours.
Reservations can be made by calling or texting 570-793-3631. Suggested parking at Park & Lock Lot #6, 25 W. Northampton St., where the tour will end.
For information, visit http://www.facebook.com/WBPreservation.