Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Someone at the hospital wondered why John and I hadn't been to Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  I asked John what was IN Winston-Salem, and he said they said there was a huge mall there.  Oh, wow.  I hate shopping, but John wanted to go, so off we went.

When we got close to Winston-Salem, we asked Miss GPS for POI (Points of Interest), then "Tourism," and found "Visitor Center."  So we asked her to take us there.

They highly recommended a walking tour of Old Salem Museum and Gardens which was just around the corner and down the hill.  It is blocks and blocks of original structures and populated by period dressed folks doing period things.  They also assumed we would want to see Reynolda House, R. J. Reynolds home built in 1917, and Reynolda Village.  It seems Winston-Salem is a major arts area, too.  (Yea!! There's more to do than shop!!)  The Visitor Center itself used to be an old cotton mill, and it was cool itself.

Winston-Salem, NC Visitor's Center

I love the chains that go from the overhead beams to the balcony support beams.  So cool...  I LOVE old architecture.  (I would bet these buildings are a whole lot better built than what they're putting up today.)

John wanted to have lunch first as it was nearing noon, so I asked Miss GPS for POI, Restaurants, "any" (as opposed to Mexican, Asian, Italian, etc.)  Up pops one of John's favorites, Golden Corral, so off we go.

Just as we get there we see a sign for "Historic Bethabara Park."  The Visitor Center folks had given us one of the guide magazines, and I looked up that place.  Seems it is the REAL old Salem, the one built out of the wilderness "full of bears, wolves, Indians, and outlaws" by a small group of Moravians in 1753.  (NOW we're talkin'!  This is before the Civil War!  This is before the American Revolution!  This is French and Indian War time!!  Woo-hoo!  Can you say, Jackpot!  History is awesome!)

We eat, go around the corner, down the hill, and we're there.  First thing I see is a place marker:

(For those of you who are trying to read this on your iPhones:) 

1753 Great Philadelphia Wagon Road

The most heavily traveled in Colonial America

passed near here, linking areas from The Great

Lakes to Augusta, GA.  Laid out on animal and

Native American Trading & Warrior Paths.  Indian

treaties among NY, PA, VA and the Iroquois 

League of Five Nations in 1685 and 1722 opened

Colonial Backcountry for peaceful settlement 

along this road of the Piedmont.

This just keeps getting better 'n better!

Across the road is the settlement, between the road and a creek.  (Folks always tried to build close to drinking water...)  We park and walk across the road to the reconstructed 1761 Moravian Medical Garden - "the earliest known examples of well-documented colonial gardens of their kind."

"This reconstruction reflects Christian Triebel's carpenter skills and the existence of the Bethabara saw mill."
 Look at the notching and wooden pegs.

I love this grape arbor.  Moravian's were German-speaking Protestants - I'd bet they drank wine.

Down the road a tad was the Bethabara Visitor's Center - oops.  Closed for the winter.  Will re-open in February (Hey!  That's next week!)  But there's still LOTS to see in a self-guided way.

I've seen a bunch of wagons, but I've never seen one like this... and the pavilion it was under was beautiful, too. 

Look at those arched, laminated beams!  (This, of course, was built recently - but I'd bet the Moravian's could have done it, too.

There is so-o-o-o much more to share with you - but you'll have to come back tomorrow.  Ta-ta for now!