A nationally known speaker on historic preservation will speak at Historic St. Luke’s Church & Museum in October.

Thompson M. Mayes, author of “Why Old Places Matter,” will present a lecture titled the same on Sunday, Oct. 2, at 2 p.m. Mayes is the chief legal officer and general counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The lecture is sponsored by the Isle of Wight County Historical Society in partnership with St. Luke’s.

Mayes’ expertise includes architectural and technical preservation issues, historic shipwrecks, preservation easements, collections management and the Americans with Disabilities Act. He was selected in 2013 as a winner of the National Endowment for the Arts Rome Prize, which sent him to Rome on a six-month tour to answer the question, “Why do old places matter?”

Seating will be limited to roughly 80 attendees. Registration is free, but the following form, available at https://stlukesmuseum.org/why-old-places-matter/, must be filed out for each person attending.

A self-guided driving tour of 10 historic sites in Isle of Wight County is scheduled a day ahead of the lecture, on Oct. 1, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., beginning at the Schoolhouse Museum, 516 Main St., Smithfield.

The Historical Society is also hosting a dinner with Mayes Oct. 2 at 6 p.m. at Smithfield Inn for $100 per person, $30 of which will benefit the Historical Society. Those interested in attending the dinner must prepay and register by Sept. 16 at https://dinnerwithtommayes.eventbrite.com.