Events

The Moravian Market filled Main Street with artisans whose lovely handcrafted items expressed Moravian customs and traditions.

The November Raffle for a Christmas Carousel.

The Annual Event. Each year, Old Salem Visitors Centers opens its doors for an afternoon celebrating Wachovia Historical Society, its accomplishments during 2025  and plans for 2026. This years event focused Wachovia Historical Society’s establishment of the Adam and Maria Spach Historic Park. The importance of this early settlement, established at the same time as Salem, was the topic for 2025 keynote speakers, Michelle DeLapp and Jimmy Snyder.  Displays of artifacts found during archaeological digs at the historic park were on display in the lobby along with Moravian crafts by artisans participating in December’s Moravian Market.  The Reagan High School Chamber Music Players performed, a reminder that Moravians composed some of the earliest chamber music in America. They were followed by Sarah and Michael Wood who captivated the audience with unique interpretations of traditional music performed on flute and violin.The Annual Event closed with the presentation of the Archie K. Davis Award to Verna Spainhour Brewer for her many contributions preserving the heritage of immigrants to Bethabara, Bethania, and nearby settlements and the establishment of an original cabin in King, NC where many come from around the country to celebrate Heritage Day, featuring fellowship and speakers on regional history.

Dr. Craig Atwood, Herrnhut. As Director of the Center for Moravian Studies in Bethlehem, PA, Craig was successful in the quest to have Herrnhut declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. His recent completion of a history of the Moravian Church from 1457 to the present allows Craig to focus on Herrnhut with rare insight, bringing together the events and people that led to Herrnhut’s founding and the Moravian challenge to old world order.

August 9th open to Home Moravian Membership and Wachovia Historical Society Membership: no ticket 

Presenters: Dr. Craig Atwood, Betsy Overton Hill, and Samantha Mandel.

Ready for a little travel? Dr. Craig Atwood and Betsy Overton Hill will preview an extraordinary journey following the footsteps of the early Moravians. This trip is specifically planned to trace the legacy of Moravian forebearers. From the early foundation of the Moravian faith in John Huss’ Prague to the Commenius Museum to the fields of Kunvald and Herrnhut, everyday will combine rich Moravian culture with the landscape of Central Europe.

Questions and suggestions? Let us know about speakers you want to hear and topics you want to explore. Contact Victoria Remishofsky at one of the following:

Email: ortonacademy@gmail.com        Text or phone: 828.258.3499.

8 a.m. Music in the Salem Square opens this yearly morning observance of the first Fourth of July Celebration. Come hear selected readings and history of events in Salem leading up to our independence.

Dr. Tom Sears introduces members to the Early Physicians of Wachovia. Dr. Sears profiles the personalities, methods of healing, and challenges of the well trained physicians who helped establish the Moravian settlements in Wachovia as places of healing.

Tom Denegre’s breathtaking photography and well-chosen maps showed the innate Moravian design and ability of Salem to support growth and expansion in trade, manufacturing, and social agriculture, serving it’s entire region of the Piedmont. Salem First explored an often overlooked history of Salem’s establishments: hotels, merchants, bookstores, toy shops, confectioneries, jewelers, candle-makers, clock makers, chair makers, shoemakers, gunsmiths, cooper-smiths, tailors, tine plate workers, blacksmiths, tanners, skin dressers, saddler and harness makers, coopers, potters, wheelwrights, portrait painters, bakers, printers, apothecaries, tobacconists, milliners – all supported and developed in Salem by 1835 with a mere population of 700 inhabitants. Click here to view the presentation: https://wachoviahistoricalsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Salem-First.pdf

Martha Hartley, Director of Moravian Research, leads members on a walk tracing the urban creeks and springs that are the visible reminders of the vital ecosystem that was vital to the development of Salem. Her Wachovia Waterways in Salem takes guests to visible remains of the once essential springs, creeks, and rivers that are largely overlooked.

Presenter Sabrina Garity opens up the Moravian Archives for an exclusive tour emphasizing the maps and work of Moravian Surveyors whose diverse talents and personalities insured the success of the Wachovia Tract settlements.

Salem Earthware in the Kitchen: Salem artisan Demmie Stuart creates a unique event highlighting the everyday cookware used and sold by the Moravians in Salem’s early years as a commercial town. She also takes guests step by step athrough a Moravian recipee as s they prepare tarts using Moravian molds.

The Moravian Market on the Square. Christmas shopping at its finestwith Moravian themed articles for everyong.

November raffle: handcrafted  Wood Moravian Star

October 27. WHS Annual Event with keynote speaker Dr. Ulrike Wiethaus speaking on her recently released book Moravian Americans and Their Neighbors.

September 1. The Mysterious Guildford Limner. Sally Gant, Director of Education Emeritus at MESDA, discusses her ongoing research on a traveling portrait artist known only as the Guildford Limner.

Spangenberg’s America. Dr. Craig Atwood, author of over 50 articles and books, sheds a spotlight on August Gottlieb Spangenberg’s American plan, which  established the energetic network of successful Moravian colonies

WHS members are invited to Moravian Home Church’s re-creation of the United States’ first Fourth of July observance.

June 2. The Salem Band. Donna Rothrock, Salem College Archivist, founder/conductor of the Salem Trombone Choir, and lifelong Moravian Musician, delights WHS with vignettes that tell the story of the oldest band in America.

Peter Oliver, Visionary. Presenters Tara Logue and Jordyn Jones explore Peter Oliver’s connections to the Wachovia Moravians and offer an opportunity to see this world through the eyes of a freedman.

Cherokee Girls at Salem.  Presenter Anna Smith, a Cherokee Nation Citizen and Scholar, celebrates the Cherokee girls who attended the Salem Girls’ School and their essential role in strengthening the friendship between the Cherokee Nation and Salem Moravians.

Here to Stay. MESDA opens its doors to Wachovia Historical Society members for an exclusive event, tying together the development of Moravian pottery, furniture, needlework, paintings, and guns—all examples of the industrious Moravians’ ability to fuse inspiration with everyday items. Johanna Brown, Moravian Decorative Arts Curator, connects these ideas with examples displayed in MESDA’s Furr Decorative Arts Museum with a tour.

A Tale of Two Journeys The incredible journey of the 1766 migration from Bethlehem, PA, to Bethabara, NC, taken on foot and wagon by eighteen Moravian sisters and older girls, is vividly brought to life. Presenters Virginia Hart, Martha Manning, and Katherine Watts tell the story of these intrepid women and their connection to the development of Salem Academy and College.

Moravian Market on Main Street: Vendors with all things Moravian on Main Street in front of the Firehouse welcome and charm you with handcrafted gifts.

Launching our Raffle for a pyramid tree

Join us for the Annual  Event at the Visitors Center, Old Salem, at 2:30 p.m.

Presenters Johanna Brown, Moravian head of Decorative Arts, Martha Hartley, Head of Moravian Research, and  Christie Williams, Director for Creative Corridors, join hostess Amy Taylor North to connect you with Peter Oliver (1766 – 1810).

Mary Tribble opened her home in Old Salem for A Conversation with Mary Tribble.

Mary’s home was built in the same year that Mary’s ancestral grandmother, Sally Merriman Wait, made a decision that ultimately led to the founding of Wake Forest University. This home contains the foundation for many of Mary’s interests. It was formerly the home of Frank Horton, founder of MESDA and Mary’s first boss. Mary worked as a field representative for Frank, tracking down significant findings for the museum. Mary’s love of historical research led to her first book, Pious Ambitions, a reconstruction of Sally Wait, a substantial figure in North Carolina history. Mary shared her acquired skills in archival research, and her guest speakers, Tanya Zanish-Belcher, head of Archives at Wake Forest University, and Peggy Smith (Great Houses and Their Uses), made for a lively and informative talk on research and its rewards. Mary’s tour of her home included its 1950s bomb shelter. This was an entertaining event.

Wachovia Historical Society members, family, and friends met in Salem’s shady Square to celebrate together. A dessert table for swapping sweet treats accompanied the annual Salem Band’s Fourth of July Concert.

Hidden Town, with presenter Martha Hartley. Martha Hartley is the director of the Moravian Research and co-chair of the Hidden Town Project at Old Salem. Martha remains uniquely suited to lead this small group on a conversational walking tour, considering Old Salem’s biracial community. This story includes African-born and derived people, free and enslaved as founders and builders, their descendants, and the post-Emancipation African American population to the present day.

Keynote speaker Dr. Ed Hill and Bethabara, the House of Passage.

Dr. Ed Hill addressed reclaiming the original site of Bethabara, the House of Passage, during the 1950s and 1960s under the guidance of the renowned archaeologist Stanley Stone. Bethabara’s original sites had been buried under six feet or more of dirt as part of efforts to use the land as farmland. Tour guides Andrew Craver and Dr. Stuart Marshall led groups to examine the sites recovered under Stanley Stone’s guidance. They discussed the methods Stone used for Bethabara’s return to its historical significance and the recovery work still to be done.

Michelle Lawrence’s The Remarkable Women of Early Salem

Presenter Michelle Lawrence, head of Salem AcademyHistory Department, traced women’s contributions to Salem’s development. Her talk includes Elisabeth Oesterlein’s early classes for girls through the education of slave girls and Cherokee girls taught at Salem’s Female Institute (now Salem Academy and College).

Dr. Jay Lester: The Shaping of North Carolina

North Carolina’s map authority, Dr. Jay Lester, examined how maps and surveys formed the boundaries of North Carolina with references to 18th-century British attempts to use maps to lay claim to areas they had no right to. Jay also shared his map collection as part of a tour of his home in Old Salem. In the Anna Johanna Vogler House, Judy Lester added much to entertain guests with the ownership history of the house over the past two centuries.

Barbara Strauss, Follow the Music 

2022 Archie K. Davis Award winner Barbara Strauss shared her 50-year love for Moravian music and the musical discoveries she uncovered while cataloging the music stored in the Moravian Music Foundation Archives with this Follow the Music  Adventure.

December 3: Moravian Market and the Hanging of the Garlands

November: Jerome Bias: Exploring the Influences on Salem Furniture Makers

October: Tailgate party: a chance for all event participants to reconnect before the Annual Event

September: A walking tour of Bethania’s vibrant Main Street and recent research

August: Historical and cultural context for events leading to Salem’s founding

July: The traditional Home Moravian Church celebration of peace on Salem Square,

June: celebrating Salem’s contemporary art

April: Narrative of the final group of Moravians who walked from Pennsylvania to Bethabara in preparation for the founding of Salem

March: A walking tour showcasing the renovations and restorations that preserved Old Salem’s historic district.

Medical Readers’ Theater Performance

On April 8, 2018, Wachovia Historical Society and Old Salem Museums and Gardens partnered to present a Medical Readers’ Theater performance of “A Face of Stone” by William Carlos Williams.

The short story tracks the evolution of a complex physician/patient relationship in which a busy physician takes an instant dislike to a young immigrant couple who brings their infant to the office for a check-up. The readers and the narrator for the performance were medical students and emeritus faculty from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Society board member Dr. Gene Adcock moderated the program and facilitated the discussion after the performance. The 23 attendees, including the performers, participated in a provocative and insightful conversation after the performance. Dr. Tim Kute shared this response, “I thought that the presentation gave everyone a feeling of how medicine was practiced at that time. One could see the prejudices but also the feelings that taking care of people was very important to the doctors. It was also nice to visit the doctor’s house and examine what he had to work within his practice.” Following the discussion, participants were treated to a tour of The Moravian Way of Health and Healing in the Doctor’s House (pictured above left).

Each of us is concerned about health, our own and others. Stories such as “A Face of Stone” reflect real-life settings that we can contemplate and relate to. The Medical Readers’ Theater setting provides a safe and encouraging space for performers (readers) and the audience to exchange thoughts and feelings about the issues embedded in the story. On April 8 both physicians and “laypeople” shared individual perspectives and appreciated the opportunity to exchange ideas.

Winston-Salem has a wealth of historical and medical resources that tie together the past and the present. The Medical Readers’ Theater concept encourages anyone to perform and initiate thought-provoking conversations that focus on issues pertinent to the physical, spiritual, and psychological aspects of health and healing 200 years ago and today.

The Society looks forward to hosting future Medical Readers’ Theater events and, perhaps, creating scripts of stories preserved in records of the Moravians in Salem. (Above, a “sick room” in the Doctor’s House.)

(This article, by Peggy P. Dodson, appeared in the Summer 2018 Issue of The Wachovia Tract.)

Saturday, May 16, 2015, was a beautiful day as a group of excited folks gathered at the Old Salem Visitors Center to learn about the last days of the Civil War in North Carolina. The tour was co-sponsored by the Wachovia Historical Society and Old Salem Museum and Gardens. Chris Hartley, a Society Board member, Civil War scholar, and awarded author, led the tour.

First stop, Shallowford Crossing. This ford had been used for years by Native Americans, hunters, Revolutionary War soldiers, and others. This was the ford that Union General Stoneman’s troops crossed in April of 1865 as they headed to Salisbury, their ultimate military objective. Along the way, the Union Calvary fought several skirmishes as it moved near the Mocksville and Cooleemee areas toward Salisbury.

Grant’s Creek was the site of a major battle just outside of Salisbury. At this location, Mr. Hartley explained the battle tactics that ultimately led to a hard-fought Union victory. The goals of this Campaign were to destroy the rail facilities and supplies at Salisbury and also to liberate and destroy the Confederate Prison. The Union troops destroyed supplies, capturing and burning enough of them to support a huge army. Supplies included small arms, artillery ammunition, uniforms, blankets, cotton, corn, rice, hams, beef, whiskey, etc. The troops also burned many Confederate facilities, hospitals, cotton factories, foundry, etc. It was said that the fires could be seen many miles away. A determined objective of General Stoneman was to liberate the Prison. Earlier, the General had been a prisoner of war and was freed in a prisoner exchange. To his dismay, the Salisbury prisoners had been moved to other prisons, except for a few who were feeble and sick. The Union troops burned the Prison.

After Salisbury was in Union hands, troops moved on Ft York. It was a Confederate Fort on the Davidson County side of the Yadkin. Ft York was probably designed and engineered by Confederate General P G T Beauregard. The earthen Fort sits high on a cliff above the Yadkin. It is on private property and, as a result, is amazingly unchanged after 150 years. The Fort consists of several artillery batteries connected by infantry trenches. The transverses in the trenches were also well defined. The purpose of Fort York was to protect the railroad bridge over the Yadkin. The Union troops fired rifles and artillery on the Fort for several hours and were met with superior fire from the Confederate artillery. As a result, the Union soldiers withdrew, the bridge was spared, which marked one of the last Confederate victories of the Civil War. At this site, we also learned about preservation efforts and plans from the Civil War Preservation Trust.

In Salisbury, the group visited the Rowan Museum, an 1854 Courthouse that survived Stoneman’s Raid. Many Civil War artifacts were on display. The tour included a visit to the National Military Cemetery in Salisbury. Here are rows of unmarked graves from this conflict. The group also visited the Confederate Prison located next to the Cemetery and the Guard House, which the Union soldiers did not burn.

The tour ended back in Old Salem at St. Phillips Moravian Church where a re-enactor of the Chaplain of the Army of Ohio gave a brief sermon and then read the May 21, 1865, proclamation that all slaves were free. This was followed by his encouragement to the freed people to be industrious and pious. The Service concluded with the Lord’s Prayer.

On July 4, 1783, the citizens of Wachovia celebrated our nation’s independence in what was the earliest documented observance of the day. Among the events in Salem was a performance of Freudenpsalm, or Psalm of Joy, compiled by Moravian composer Johann Friedrich Peter.

On July 4, 2014, Psalm of Joy was performed in Home Moravian Church by the Moramus Chorale and Orchestra. Sung in German to replicate the 1783 performance, this music thrilled the large audience.

The Wachovia Historical Society was pleased to co-sponsor this concert with Old Salem Museums & Gardens and the Moravian Music Foundation. This is another example of our commitment to the presentation, interpretation, and dissemination of the history of Wachovia and surrounding North Carolina.