Poplar Grove has five more evening event dates in October and fourteen nights of holiday lights between Thanksgiving weekend and December 22. All of them happen at 10200 US Highway 17 North in Scotts Hill, just up the highway from Porters Neck.
This year the after-dark season matters more than usual. The daytime visit people are used to is on hold, so the evening events are the main way onto the grounds before the year ends. They also pay for a large share of the place.
House Tours Are Paused While Construction Finishes
The Wilmington and Beaches CVB listing for Poplar Grove says regular house tours will resume once construction is complete. The listing gives no scope or timetable for the work. It also mentions a new year-round coffee house on site.
That leaves the calendar doing the work this fall. The site is run by the Poplar Grove Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity whose mission covers education, conservation and preservation. Poplar Grove's homepage calls Merry & Bright the largest fundraiser of the year. The foundation hasn't published how the proceeds are split. Still, with the daily house tour paused, the holiday ticket line is the plainest way a neighbor's money reaches the site this season.
October's Last Paranormal Nights
October's remaining programming leans toward the house's reputation after dark. Poplar Grove's events calendar lists five dates in three blocks:
- October 17–18: Haunted Rooms America investigation
- October 24–25: Haunted Rooms America investigation
- October 31: Paranormal Ghost Tour, the season's final tour
Halloween lands on a Saturday this year, so the closing tour falls on a weekend night. The ghost tour page also carries a notice that the October 10 tours were rescheduled. That date has passed, so October 31 is the only staff-run tour left on the calendar.
After Halloween the calendar sits empty until Thanksgiving weekend. The events archive shows nothing else until Merry & Bright, and its next dated listing after the holidays is the NC Rice Festival in March 2027.
Merry & Bright, Night by Night
Poplar Grove's Merry & Bright page calls it the most popular fundraising event of the year, and the 2026 edition runs on a split schedule. The first three weekends are Friday through Sunday. The final week stretches from Friday to Tuesday. Every night runs 5 to 9 p.m.
| Block | Dates | Nights |
|---|---|---|
| Opening weekend | Fri. Nov. 27 – Sun. Nov. 29 | 3 |
| Second weekend | Fri. Dec. 4 – Sun. Dec. 6 | 3 |
| Third weekend | Fri. Dec. 11 – Sun. Dec. 13 | 3 |
| Final run | Fri. Dec. 18 – Tue. Dec. 22 | 5 |
The Wilmington and Beaches CVB event listing shows general Thursday-through-Sunday hours. The schedule above comes from Poplar Grove's own 2026 page, which is the one to plan around. The last block includes Monday, December 21, and Tuesday, December 22, which suits households with relatives arriving early in holiday week.
Which ticket pays off
The three prices make more sense side by side:
- $10 per person, all ages, with children 2 and under free
- $35 family pass for 2 adults and 2 children ages 2 to 11
- $100 season pass for the same family of four
For a family of four with two kids in that age range, the family pass costs $5 less than four single tickets. The season pass covers 10 single tickets' worth of money. Against the $35 family pass, it pays off on the third visit, since three family passes come to $105. A household that plans to go opening weekend, again with visitors in mid-December, and once more on the 21st or 22nd comes out ahead with the season pass.
The festival page is also running an "It's Fall Y'all" sale with 10% off tickets booked through its FareHarbor link.
What Fills the Grounds on a Merry & Bright Night
According to Poplar Grove, the ticket covers:
- Lighted grounds and lit trees
- Visits with Santa at the Gazebo, sponsored by Renewal by Andersen, starting at 5 p.m. with last call for the line at 8:30 p.m.
- Grinch's Junk Shop, Secret Gardens, Bumble's Snowball Party and Santa's Boot Camp
- Campfires for roasting marshmallows and outdoor holiday movies
- A manor house decorated with scenes from A Christmas Story
- Mr. Twister sculpting balloons for kids
- Vintage carnival games, food trucks and concessions, and a juried gift show
- The Spirit of '76 Tavern, marking America's 250th
The last item is Poplar Grove's late-year tie-in to the national anniversary. The site's only other 250th-related listing is a Moores Creek anniversary event that sends visitors to Moores Creek National Battlefield and shows a February 26 date. Nothing else tied to the 250th appears on the October-to-December calendar, which leaves the tavern as the one in-season program.
The decorated manor house also matters because of the construction pause. With regular tours on hold, a Merry & Bright night is one of the few chances this year to see the 1849 house dressed up for visitors.
The Porters Neck Thread in the Manor House
The house's recorded history names Porters Neck directly. Poplar Grove's own history traces the Foy family from Baltimore to New Bern around 1760. James Foy Jr. bought the original property in 1795 from the estate of Cornelius Harnett, a Revolutionary-era politician.
The manor house standing today is a Greek Revival building finished in 1849. According to Poplar Grove, it was built by enslaved people connected to the Foy family and neighboring families, including the Nixons of Porters Neck. The house was restored and opened as a museum in 1980, and today the Poplar Grove Foundation sustains the museum complex.
That history is part of why the 250th tavern and the paranormal nights fit this site rather than a generic event lawn. Every program on the calendar takes place on land whose records name the neighborhood just to the south.
Before You Go
A few house rules from Poplar Grove's festival page affect how a Porters Neck household plans an evening:
- Pets come on Sundays only. Well-behaved, leashed pets are welcome on Sunday nights. This season that means November 29 and December 6, 13 and 20.
- No outside alcohol. Concessions are on site.
- Parental supervision is required. The page asks that no one climb, pull or run through the light sets, trees, buildings or garden beds.
- Time the Santa line. Visits start at 5 p.m., the line closes at 8:30 and the show ends at 9.
- Use the main entrance. For its market days, Poplar Grove directs visitors to enter at 10200 US Hwy 17 by the flagpole and the MAIN ENTRANCE sign. The festival page doesn't post separate parking directions, so check with Poplar Grove before opening weekend.
For coffee on the way up US-17, Concorde Espresso Bar opened its second location at 8121 Market St. on June 26, according to StarNews. A warm cup helps on a December night spent walking the grounds.
Places like Poplar Grove are part of why so many people look at homes in Porters Neck in the first place. At Chris Luther, we follow those local details as closely as we follow sales, and that background goes into how we price and market Porters Neck homes. If you're curious how your home might be positioned heading into the holiday season and the spring market after it, Request Your Free Coastal Home Valuation.
