With the Phase I archaeological study having been completed in June 2022, Wachovia Historical Society is moving forward with Phase II of the Adam Spach Historical Rock House Park. Quotations are being gathered for the park’s various elements, and grant applications will be submitted in the latter part of 2023. Construction on the park is…
The 127th Annual Meeting of the Wachovia Historical Society was held on October 18, 2022. It featured special music from the Lower Brass band, the presentation of the annual Archie K. Davis Award, and a program by Mr. Michael C. Hardy, an award-winning author, about Bishop Augustus Spangenberg.
October 19,2021, the Wachovia Historical Society was pleased to present the 2021 Archie K. Davis Award to Evva and Travis Hanes, the well-known proprietors of Mrs. Hanes’ Cookies. Here is the text of the award presentation, which was delivered by Mo and Martha Hartley, winners of the 2011 Archie K. Davis Award. It is a…
The 126th Annual Meeting of the Wachovia Historical Society was held last October 19, 2021 at Calvary Moravian Church. The meeting was livestreamed via You Tube and can still be watched online at your convenience at the following: www.youtube.com – Search “Wachovia Historical Society” Select the first video: Wachovia Historical Society – Annual Meeting…
With much excitement, members of Wachovia Historical Society watched in mid-March as the heavy equipment needed to clear the 6.27 acre Adam Spach Rock House site commenced clearing the undergrowth and dead trees from the site, making way for the upcoming archaeological study on the site. Since 1917, the WHS has discussed plans for a…
Some might say, “It’s a miracle!” Some might say, “The stars are aligning!” Whatever the perspective one may choose, the fact is that we are seeing events falling into place for the realization of a beautiful historic park at the Adam Spach Rock House property (see pictures at right) right outside the southwestern corner of…
Before the Industrial Revolution, merchants and artisans marked their shops outside by hanging symbols of their trade. While the custom survives in Europe, it is largely limited in the United States to places like Old Salem where the visitor can identify the signs of glover, gunsmith, and shoemaker. J. E. Mickey Shop at S. Main…
The recent discovery of a 3 x 6 ½” 1867 Moravian communion hymn book in the attic during the restoration of the Heinrich Herbst house in Old Salem is a fine example of the evolution of hymnals for different purposes. The selections in the newly found volume were probably taken from the 1851 hymnbook of…
The Young Men’s Missionary Society was organized in 1840 and began with specimens and information about natural history and cultural practices collected by a world-wide network of Moravian missionaries. This collection grew with the same kind of specimens and information from Salem and surrounding areas. Existing records show that at the time of the merger…
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…