Old Salem Museum & Gardens

Old Salem Museum & Gardens Review

Founded in 1766 as a backcountry trading center, Old Salem is one of the nation's most well-documented colonial sites. This living-history museum, a few blocks from downtown Winston-Salem, is filled with dozens of original and reconstructed buildings. Costumed guides explain household activities common in the late-18th and early-19th century Moravian communities. Tours include a stop by the 1861 St. Philip's Church, the state's oldest-standing African-American church. Old Salem also has a great bakery and a restaurant. Don't miss the "world's largest coffeepot," a 12-foot-tall vessel built by Julius Mickey in 1858 to advertise his tinsmith shop. After surviving two separate car collisions, it was moved to its present location at the edge of Old Salem in 1959.