By Rick Palsgrove
Southeast Editor
This year’s Groveport Home and Garden Tour features 11 stops that include the homes of the city’s town founders as well as other historic structures and beautiful gardens.
“I think events such as the Home and Garden Tour are vital to the life of the community,” said Carla Cramer, president of the Groveport Heritage and Preservation Society. “It allows Groveport to share its diverse neighborhoods and showcase the beauty of the city. Residences and public buildings are showcased, uniting both visitors and neighbors. Groveport has been called a “hidden gem” and this event provides an opportunity for more visibility.”
The tour will be held June 28 from noon to 5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at Groveport Town Hall, 648 Main St., during regular operating hours as well as the day of the event. Tickets are $5 in advance and $8 the day of the tour. A detailed brochure describing all the tour sites and their locations serves as the admission ticket to the homes, gardens and other buildings on the tour.
Cramer said the sites were selected by Home and Garden committee members, based on recommendations of others, and by homeowners volunteering to share their residences.
A highlight on this year’s tour are the early 19th century Main Street homes of two of Groveport’s “founding fathers” – William Rarey and Jacob Wert. In the early 19th century Rarey founded the town of Rarey’s Port, which was the area east of today’s College Street; and Wert founded Wert’s Grove, which was west of College Street. In 1847 the two towns merged into “Groveport.”
Other home sites on the tour are a blend of historic and more modern homes of diverse architecture and landscaping. The featured gardens on the tour include a variety of trees, flowers, herbs, vegetable beds, climbing vines, shrubbery, rain gardens, and a small pond.
Non-home tour sites include Groveport Town Hall, The Hanson House (which once housed the town’s first hardware store), and Groveport United Methodist Church with its distinctive cranberry brick and arched, fanned stained glass windows.
When asked if she had a favorite site on the tour, Cramer said, “I would hate to choose a site because they all have their own merit and visitors will have their own favorites, based on their interests. We have a variety of things that will appeal to people – buildings and homes with historical relevance as well as those with a more modern touch, beautiful gardens, plant species that are rare, and individual landscaping techniques.”
