Architecture

Old Salem Visitor Center, 900 Quondam Salem Road

Constructed 2003 – (No Ticket Required)

The Quondam Salem Visitor Center is the get-go stop for visitors. Here you can purchase your admission tickets, receive visitor orientation and event information.

It is also home to a Souvenir Shop, the Wachovia Coming together Room and the James A. Grayness Auditorium which houses the 1800 David Tannenberg Organ. Occasional displays of historic objects from our collection are on view at the center.

The Heritage Bridge, 900 Old Salem Route

Synthetic 1999 (No Ticket Required)

The bridge is a recognizable part of the Old Salem Museums & Gardens landscape forming a gateway to the Old Salem Visitor Centre. This heavy timber frame span was designed past noted preservation engineer David A. Fischetti to mimic historic bridges from the 19th century. The bridge leads visitors from the Company Center to the celebrated commune.

Frank L. Horton Museum Center, 924 South Main Street

Opened 1965 (Volume shop, library, and offices open up without a ticket.  Admission ticket required for MESDA self-guided galleries and Behind-the-Scenes Tours.)

The Horton Museum Center is home to the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA). Named for long-term Old Salem Director of Restoration, MESDA founder, and decorative arts inquiry pioneer Frank Horton, the edifice is located at the south end of Main Street in the historic district. In improver to the MESDA, this building besides houses the Old Salem Museums & Gardens Inquiry Eye and Library.  The building was originally a Kroger grocery store, but numerous additions and alterations (the most recent in 1994, when the building size was doubled) take changed information technology into a premier museum facility.

St. Philips African Moravian Church, 911 South Church Street

Constructed 1861 with 1890 addition; restored 2004 (Access Ticket Required)

Historic St. Philips Church is the oldest African American church even so standing in the state of North Carolina and ane of the earliest in the entire country. Congenital for the African American congregation, the church matched most of the other churches in the expanse built at the same time with the big brick, Greek Revival way. The church was expanded in 1890 with the need to add more classroom infinite downstairs and in a higher place in the balcony. The church building extended out into the graveyard, which later caused structural issues on the front end walls.

The congregation moved out of the building in 1952, and the church sat vacant until restored for use as role of Old Salem Museums & Gardens tours. The steeple, which had been removed in the 1920s was part of the exterior restoration. The original pews and other details are back in place inside the edifice.  It was from the pulpit of this brick church that on Sunday, May 21, 1865, a Union Cavalry Chaplain announced liberty to the enslaved community in and effectually the town of Salem, now Winston-Salem.

African Moravian Log Church, 913 South Church Street

Synthetic 1823; reconstructed 1999 (Admission Ticket Required)

Built using funds from the Female Missionary Social club and with logs raised past the African American members, this was an important role of the early African American community. Built of white oak logs, some weighing upwards to two tons, it was a substantial building that survived every bit a Freedman'southward Hospital and later equally a residence.

Reconstructed with a modern interior, it offers orientation to the St. Philips Heritage Center through mixed media exhibits, as a meeting space for activities, and African American genealogical research.

Timothy Vogler Gun Store, 913 South Main Street

Constructed 1831; restored 2002 (Access Ticket Required)

The Timothy Vogler Gunsmith Store demonstrates the fine artistry of Gunsmithing, including a working forge for metal work, woodworking, and tooling. It interprets the important merchandise of Gunsmithing as it was practiced past several individuals in Salem.

After being used by Timothy Vogler as a shop until the 1890s, while living in his neighboring house, this edifice had been enlarged and modified for use as a residence. This free-standing merchandise store was restored and returned to its original size and appearance.

Salem Tavern Museum, 812 South Chief Street

Constructed 1784; restored 1965 (Access Ticket Required)

The Salem Tavern dates to 1784 when information technology was rebuilt in masonry subsequently an earlier wooden tavern burned to the basis. Parts of the basement walls are from the original 1775 Tavern edifice.

The Tavern was an of import facility for the town of Salem. Leaders decided to place the Tavern on the outskirts of boondocks to avoid the influence of "strangers" on the town as much as possible; nonetheless, a tavern was necessary for the town to prosper. Food and lodging were needed for the customers that Salem leaders hoped to bring in for their stores and craftsmen.

The Tavern was owned and operated by the Moravian Church who selected a married couple to run the facility. Information technology was of import that the couple could run a successful business as well equally set a good case of the Moravian community. In add-on to the couple, the Tavern required several workers. A hostler and female workers were commonly part of the workforce. An enslaved African American family also lived and worked in the Tavern in 1791.

Many important meetings took place at the Tavern, and several important guests stayed there. Salem'south most famous company stayed here in 1791. President George Washington, touring the southern battlefields of the Revolutionary War, spent 2 nights in Salem, attending a service, studying the waterworks organisation, and speaking to the townspeople.

The building reflects the special concerns of the residents, such as no front windows on the chief level and so that activities inside would not be visible from the streets. It had a larger lot to accommodate the barns and facilities needed for the visitors. This building was likewise the start built by stonemason Johann Gottlob Krause, who constructed most of Salem'southward largest and most important masonry buildings in the subsequent xx years.

The Joiner'south Workshop (J. Blum House), 724 South Main Street

Constructed 1815; partially restored 1980 (Access Ticket Required)

Built by John Christian Blum, the business firm served as Salem'south showtime print shop. Having been a tavern keeper with his wife, Maria, for the starting time five years of their spousal relationship, they built this house, and at that fourth dimension Blum became the local agent for Cape Fear Bank. He suffered a catastrophic fire of the banking concern funds that bankrupted him, just his family continued to live in the firm. In addition to local newspapers, in 1828 he began printing the Farmers and Planters Annual, which continues today every bit the local Blum's Almanac. The original building was simply a story and a half tall and was raised to 2 stories by his sons after J. Blum's death when they were finally able to repurchase the family homestead.

Shultz Shoemaker Shop, 712 S Master Street

Synthetic 1827; restored 1978 (Access Ticket Required)

Every bit Salem grew and prospered, the boondocks'southward leadership allowed small-scale buildings to exist constructed adjacent to larger individual homes as a place of business organisation.

Later operating his shoe-making business from his home for eight years, Samuel Shultz built a separate shop next door. In 1827 he began making shoes and a few other leather items from this shop.

J. Vogler Business firm, 700 Due south Primary Street on the Foursquare

Synthetic 1819; restored 1955 (Access Ticket Required)

John Vogler and his new wife Christina Spach moved into the house when information technology was finished. John was a silversmith and was active in Salem's community through service on church boards and leadership in the Dominicus School motility. John and Christina had three children, Lisetta, Louisa, and Elias.

When y'all visit the Vogler house the year is 1840. Lisetta is grown and married. Elias is a teenager existence schooled in Pennsylvania and returning home again. The nature of John's business has changed with time as Salem, and the entire nation moved toward a market economy with mass-produced goods. The Vogler House features the family unit's public and private living spaces forth with John's shop and a scullery housing a bake oven and smithy. Many furnishings are original to the Vogler family unit.

The house was architecturally seminal as one of the starting time to follow emerging American national styles in Salem, most residences to that signal had been based on traditional Germanic forms and plans. The roof lost the iconic 'boot' at the eaves, the facade is symmetrical, and there is a pedimented hood over the front door, with a painted clock face reflecting his merchandise as a clock repairer.

T. Bagge Merchant & The Potter'south Workshop, 626 South Main Street

(Access NOT required for T. Bagge Merchant Retail Shop. Admission ticket is required for the Potter's Workshop.)

Synthetic 1775; exterior restored 1955

Congenital as a store to serve the whole community, the building had been converted into a residence by the early 20th century with a raised roof and restyled. Congenital of rubble rock but covered in apartment stucco with faux joints, it again appears as if it were made from cut stone.  T. Bagge: Merchant is nevertheless the 'community store,' but at present for Old Salem Museums & Gardens. This historic shop offers visitors a unique opportunity to buy distinctive merchandise from tradesmen, craftsmen, and select vendors. T. Bagge also offers a large array of educational children's toys and books.  One-half of this building at present houses our Potter's Workshop where yous can see our

Marketplace-Fire Engine House, On the Square

Synthetic 1803; reconstructed 1955 (No Ticket Required)

The Market place-Burn down Engine House was built on Salem Foursquare to provide a marketplace for fresh meat, which the local doctor had determined was necessary to supplement all the salted meat the residents were eating. The other one-half of the building was used to store the burn equipment essential to the boondocks'southward programme to forbid and manage fires. The boondocks had been using burn down equipment since 1785 after a fire had destroyed the first Salem Tavern. The fire visitor is thought to be the beginning one of its kind organized in North Carolina.

The market portion serves as a laissez passer-through to the Foursquare, while the burn down house contains an showroom about fire fighting.

Unmarried Brothers Firm, 600 Southward Main Street

Synthetic 1769 with 1786 add-on; restored 1964 (Admission Ticket Required)

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Moravians lived by the choir system, where members with similar life experiences (age, gender, marital status) worshiped together. Some of these groups even lived together. In Salem, the choir for unmarried men, the Single Brothers' Choir lived together in this building. Across the square was similar housing for the Single Sisters' Choir.

The Unmarried Brothers' House was congenital in two sections. The right-manus side is the oldest, built in 1769 with one-half-timbered construction. Every bit Salem grew as a town, so did the Single Brothers' choir. In 1786, the all brick expansion was added.

The Unmarried Brothers lived, worshiped and ate in this building. Some brothers who were main craftsmen rented space in the building or the workshop backside to operate their merchandise. The Unmarried Brothers every bit a group also held a plantation and garden, operated a bakery, as well equally a brewery, distillery, tannery, and butchery (located backside the house toward Salem Creek).

Today yous tin meet where tradesmen worked, the Saal, or worship room, with an original Tannenberg organ, the Vorsteher's, or business director's, office, along with the kitchen and dining room.

Single Brothers' Workshop, 10 West Academy Street

Constructed 1771; reconstructed 1979 (Not open to the public except for pre-scheduled tours.)

The Unmarried Brothers' Workshop was built in 1771 to expand the infinite available for the tradesmen working in the Single Brothers' Business firm directly next. It consisted of 2 big log cribs, that had a half-timbered connector. The building was sold in 1819, and it was purchased by Matthew Reuz, whose family continued to utilize the building (although demolishing portions) until selling it back to the Church building in the 1890s. Completely demolished in 1921 and replaced an apartment building, the building was reconstructed in 1979.

The Single Brothers Workshop is home to our educational programs for groups of children on field trips. Though closed to walk-in visitors, the lower level of this building includes a pottery and a big cooking kitchen for easily-on activities throughout the year equally part of our Group Tours. Upper levels include large meeting spaces that tin can be rented for meetings or celebrations.

Boy's School, iii Academy Street

Constructed 1794; restored 1954 (Access Ticket Required)

This building was built to firm the school for boys in Salem; it was the first educational building built in Salem. The Salem Boys' School, started in 1771, was for local boys to go their primary teaching. Gottlieb Krause, the Moravian stonemason, constructed the edifice just supposedly had assistance from an afoot English-trained mason, William Grieg, who is attributed with showing Krause some new details, such as using a unmarried size of brick instead of having to make many different sizes as Krause had done on previous buildings.  In 1896 a new '2d' Boys Schoolhouse was built on Church Street beyond from the Vierling House and the school moved.  The building has been used as a museum continuously since that time, kickoff operated past the Wachovia Historical Lodge and since 1954 by Old Salem Museums & Gardens.

Dwelling house Moravian Church, 529 South Church Street

Synthetic 1800 (No ticket required; operated by Home Moravian Church building – sanctuary visitation schedule varies)

Before the church was built, members of Salem's Moravian congregation worshiped in the "Gemeinhaus," which was built in 1771 on the current site of Salem College'south Primary Hall. The church was supposed to exist built next to the Gemeinhaus and centered on the Square, only the Unmarried Sisters did not want to give up the empty lot which they had used as a bleaching dark-green for their laundry. So after much deliberation and consultation with "Lot," the church was built on its present location slightly north of the Square. (Although by 1805 the Single Sisters changed their mind and gave up the empty lot so that the Girls Boarding School could be built on the parcel.)  Today the church is open on a varying schedule for visitors. Members of the nowadays-day Habitation Moravian Church staff the sanctuary and times are posted on the front end door.

Single Sister'due south House, 621 South Church Street

Constructed 1786 with 1819 improver; rehabilitated 2005 (No ticket required; operated by Salem Academy and College – visitation schedule varies)

The Single Sisters' House is the primeval remaining building in the remarkable history of Salem Academy and College.  Construction of the house and work space to serve the Single Sisters' Choir was begun in 1785. The building had been delayed 1 twelvemonth due to the brick originally prepared for Sisters being used to rebuilding the Salem Tavern after it was destroyed past fire.

The Salem Female Academy had been established by the Single Sisters in 1772 using space in theGemein Haus(replaced by Main Hall in 1854) and this building. In 1805 a new building to the northward, the Girls Boarding Schoolhouse, was congenital for housing and additional classrooms for the boarding students.

In 1819 the Unmarried Sisters' Firm was enlarged to the south with an improver. In 1859 the building was partially rented to the Salem Female Academy, and and then in 1910, information technology was deeded to the school. It was used by Salem Academy and College until 1991 when it closed until the rehabilitation was completed in 2005 for its grand reopening.

Salem University and College,  620 South Church building Street

Primary Hall Construction 1856, built on site of 1771 Gemein Haus (Not open to the public)

Old Salem Museums & Gardens shares the Historic District with Salem Academy and Higher – the land'south oldest private establishment for women and girls.

Schools for girls were rare in the early Due south.  In Salem, Single Sister Elisabeth Oesterlein began a small-scale 24-hour interval school for girls in 1772.  By 1788, families across the South were asking if their daughters could come to Salem to receive an education.

In 1805, a girl'southward boarding school was constructed in Salem, and the first class had 30 girls from beyond the Due south.  Girls took classes in reading, writing, syntax, history, geography, music, cartoon and needlework.  In the late 1880s, the schoolhouse was canonical to offer a college education as well equally the traditional preparatory program.  It was the Single Sisters in Salem who were teachers and staff of the school for nearly of its early life.

Miksch Gardens and Business firm, 532 Due south Main Street

Construction 177; restored 1960 (Admission ticket required for the house and the garden)

The 1771 Matthew Miksch Firm is the outset single family home built in Salem.  Earlier this time, the First through Fifth Houses, located further north on South Main Street, had been constructed as shared living spaces for the first settlers of Salem.  The Miksch House was built of logs, although it was before long covered in clapboards and painted. By 1785 a small-scale improver was added to the rear of this firm.

Matthew Miksch was trained a gardener in Europe where he learned the skills to support his family past growing and selling vegetables, seeds, and young fruit copse.  He too processed and sold tobacco, and his wife, Henrietta, broiled and sold gingerbread.  He served as the forested and assisted master surveyor, Christian Gottlieb Reuter, with the survey of Wachovia.

Today the Miksch Gardens and House give u.s.a. a unique opportunity to explore the interconnectedness of the gardens, orchards, and yard with Maria Henrietta'due south domestic responsibilities.  The Seed-to-Soil Supper experience is the near intensive living history site in Salem.  Here visitors are immersed into the life-sustaining activities of the 18th century every bit they interact with the interpreters.  The seasons and weather are the defining forces that dictate the piece of work in the gardens, orchards, yard, and kitchen.

Winkler Bakery, 521 South Principal Street

Synthetic 1800; restored 1968 with 1818 rear porch (No Ticket Required)

In 1799, the church elders chose Thomas Butner to be the town'southward new baker. Brother Butner hired Gottlob Krause to build a bakery with a living area for his family. Unfortunately, Brother Butner seemed to prefer farming and shoemaking to baking so, in 1807, congregation leaders brought in a new baker, Swiss-born Christian Winkler, from Pennsylvania. He bought the Bakery and the dwelling house from Brother Butner in 1807.

Brother Winkler, his married woman Elizabeth, and their 6 children would live and work in this house for the rest of their lives. When Blood brother Winkler began suffering from asthma, his sons carried on the work of the baker. In the fall of 1827, the Winkler's second son, William, officially took over his father's business organization. William Winkler and his descendants resided and worked in the baker for generations afterwards, until 1926.

The dome bake oven at Winkler is typical of bake ovens used in Salem, both in public buildings such as the Tavern and the Unmarried Brothers' Workshop and in private homes such equally the Vierling House. The Baker'south oven is even so heated with wood as information technology was nearly 200 years ago.

The Herbst Firm, 511 South Chief Street

Synthetic 1821, restored 2003 (Admission Ticket Required)

This house, congenital by saddle maker Heinrich Herbst, was the get-go example of a porch-over sidewalk house congenital in Salem.  It was originally built straight on the sidewalk with a full cellar at street level, where a store was located for a time.  In 1890 the business firm was moved back from the sidewalk and underwent alterations to the chimneys, windows and doorway.  The house'southward second owner was Charles Breitz, the showtime mayor of Salem.

After all-encompassing archaeology and enquiry, the building was moved dorsum to its original location on the street in 2003 and restored to it's 1820's appearance.  The building now serves every bit the Herbst Horticulture Center – Garden & Seed Lab.

The Doctor's House, 463 Church Street

Constructed 1802; restored 1980 and again in 2017 (Admission Ticket Required)
 Formerly referred to every bit "Vierling House"

Built-in 18o2 by Dr. Samuel Benjamin Vierling for his burgeoning family and flourishing medical practice, the Doctor's House served every bit a residence for the Vierlings and so a succession of families until information technology was vacated in the 1970s. Old Salem Museums & Gardens restored and opened the business firm as an interpreted building in 1980, and an exhibition about medicine, surgery, and health in early Salem was added in 1984.

In April 2017, One-time Salem Museums & Gardens re-opened the restored Doctor'due south House with a new exhibition entitled "The Moravian Style of Wellness and Healing." This unique exhibition shows, for the first time, the Moravians' holistic approach to wellness and healing—a physical, spiritual, and psychological organization that developed over fourth dimension and was unequaled in America in the tardily 17oos and the early 18oos.  This exhibition is designed to engage the senses. Through an interactive digital game tabular array about medicinal herbs, tactile models of surgeries, a video of the night watchman making his rounds, a music interactive, and surgical and medical tools from Quondam Salem's Moravian collection, visitors can explore the ways that early Moravians provided wellness intendance, non merely to Salem residents but also to not-Moravians in the North Carolina backcountry.  The first floor focuses on Dr. Vierling, his large family, and his successful Apothecary Shop.

"The Moravian Style of Health and Healing" exhibition has been made possible in office by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the man effort. The Doc'due south House and exhibition will be open to the public gratis-of-accuse on Lord's day afternoons from 1–4:30 p.m. through 2018.