The 2019 Archie K. Davis Award for History was presented to Langdon E. Oppermann. Ms. Oppermann is an architectural historian and planner with the architectural firm of Joseph K. Oppermann, Architect, P.A. The firm specializes in research, restoration, and retrofitting of historic buildings. She conducts intensive-level research on the history and architectural history of buildings and…
Frederick Pfohl Spach was the 2020 recipient of the Archie K. Davis Award. Mr. Spach is a native of Winston-Salem where his family has long been involved in the business, cultural and religious affairs of our city. His roots, however, trace to the Friedberg community. He is a graduate of R.J. Reynolds High School and…
By the end of the eighteenth century there were three pipe organs in Wachovia built by David Tannenberg, an astonishing number in the new nation. In the summer of 1998, the great organ built in 1800 for Home Moravian Church and dismantled in 1913, was exhibited at the Gallery at MESDA (Museum of Early Southern…
October – November 1780 During the Revolutionary War, Moravians in Wachovia were under extreme pressure from the North Carolina colonial government and British troops, and neighbors were almost evenly divided in their loyalties to crown and Continental Congress. Religious, industrious, peaceful, and not takers of oaths, the Moravians asked only to be left alone in…
In Memoriam: Mary Jane Brothers Smith Two days after attending the May meeting of the board of directors of the Wachovia Historical Society, Mary Jane was stricken with an acute illness that led to her death June 1, 2002. Her like will not come to us again. For those who knew her, little need be…
In planning the town of Salem, Wachovia Administrator Frederic William Marshall wanted to be sure he got it right. He sent to Moravian towns all over the world to get diagrams of their streets, main buildings, etc. (They are still in the Archives). He took the best ideas from all of these, adapted to the…
We have great respect for those pioneers who literally carved the early Wachovia settlements of Bethabara, Bethania, Salem, Friedberg, Friedland, and Hope out of the wilderness. How much were they able to accomplish, how much labor did it take, and how much they had to know to accomplish all they did! Sometimes, though, it is…
This article by Richard Starbuck (1947-2020), former Archivist of the Moravian Church, Southern Province, was published on February 13, 2015, in the Winston-Salem Journal. For many years, Mr. Starbuck was editor of The Wachovia Tract as well as the Treasurer for WHS. This Saturday, Feb. 14, commemorates a special occasion in the history and heritage…