Welcome to Winston-Salem

For photos follow this link:


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102722&id=510568119&l=4a28dbf0ee

I am, it transpires, living in a museum. I knew my apartment was in the old part of town and had noticed that people who work here often wander around in period costume and demonstrate olde worlde crafts, but according to the website the Historic Town of Salem is in fact a bona fide museum. To explain, Winston-Salem used to be two separate towns, Salem being the part which the Moravians (Protestants who came over from what is now the Czech Republic) founded in 1766. Winston was founded in 1849, and grew into an important tobacco town when RJ Reynolds founded his first factory here, the home of Camel cigarettes. In 1913 the two towns were officially joined, but in what was Salem (now referred to as “Old Salem”) most of the original buildings have been preserved or restored, and it is in this “living history” district that I currently reside. For those northerners reading, imagine living in the middle of the American equivalent of Beamish (midlanders, think the Black Country Museum). There are tinsmiths, blacksmiths, shoemakers, gunsmiths, bakers and carpenters actually practicing their trades while interacting with visitors and dressing like the original Moravian settlers, and all on or around my street.

Living in Old Salem is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It really is very pretty (see pictures) and peaceful, and safe. There is also an excellent bakery 2 doors down from my house which sells traditional delicacies like Moravian cookies and sugar cake; a dense bread-like cake soaked in sugar syrup and topped with, well, sugar. Nothing to complain about there. On the other hand, it is a bit weird living in eighteenth century Americana-land, even if there are cars driving around and downtown is only a 10 minute walk away. Surreal is probably the best word to describe it. July 4th was a particularly trippy affair, as I stepped out of my house to be greeted by a reading of the declaration of independence, uniformed infantrymen firing muskets, horse-drawn carriages clip clopping past the house and women in large skirts playing games with wooden hoops. There was also a brass band playing “My Country Tis of Thee,” an American patriotic hymn (so I’m told) which confusingly has the same tune as God Save the Queen. I would’ve protested at such flagrant plagiarism had I not just heard the declaration of independence for the first time and realised that July 4th probably wasn’t the best day to be asserting British national pride. Turns out the Americans were really cross with us back then.

Shortly after I moved in I joined the numerous American tourists wandering around my live-in museum and learned the following fun facts which may or may not come in handy at pub quizzes:

1. George Washington spent 2 nights in the tavern on my street in 1791
2. The tin coffee pot at the end of my street is reportedly the largest in the world (see photos)
3. The Moravians in Old Salem were the first people in the US to celebrate 4th July
4. Moravians celebrate special religious occasions with a lovefeast, a service of prayers and hymns which also involves drinking coffee, eating sweetened buns and lighting candles.
5. The first ever Krispy Kreme store was in Winston-Salem, and the donuts were made using potato flour, which is an old Moravian custom
6. Just round the corner you can visit the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Art. For an exhibition of furniture from a very limited time period and geographical area tis surprisingly interesting…