I’ve lived in NC since 1989 and thought I’d been pretty much everywhere in the State or had at least heard about what there is to see. But I’m still finding new things.
This week a couple friends and I went to Winston Salem.
We stayed at the The Historic Brookstown Inn, which is right next door to Old Salem. It’s a very interesting hotel. It is built in an old textile mill and the rooms have Pine floors, brick walls, exposed wood beams, and our room was huge.
There was room for a dining room table, a couch, two double beds with room left over. The layout for the hotel is very interesting spaning two buildings with a charming courtyard.
In the back yard of the hotel is this beautiful log cabin.
The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts
I’ve been to Old Salem before so just looked around at the architecture, and visited The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA). I’d heard of it but not visited. My companions and I all have an interest in NC pottery so were impressed with their collection. The pieces in this collection, especially the ones in the Moravian Collection, are beautifully decorated. I was interested to learn how the Moravians came to the area. Winston-Salem was founded on November 17, 1753 when fifteen Moravian Brethren arrived after walking from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. They were also called United Brethren. My Grandparents went to a United Brethren Church and I never knew the connection.
Reynolda House and Gardens
Our next stop was at Reynolda House and Gardens. How did I not know there was a huge garden there? I’ve been at both the house and the village, I guess I never drove between the two.
We missed most of the spring flowers but it was still nice. I especially loved the kitchen garden.
The shops are housed in buildings which once supported the 1,067 acre estate of the R.J. Reynolds family. These buildings were modeled after an English Village and included dairy barns, a cattle shed, school, post office, smokehouse, blacksmith shop, carriage house, central power and heating plant as well as cottages to house the family’s chauffeur and stenographer, the village’s school master and the farm’s head dairyman and horticulturist. The last photo below is a piece of art made of soles from shoes.
Richard Joshua Reynolds was a key player in the industrialization of the New South. He established his own plug tobacco factory in Winston, in 1875 and was incorporated in 1888 as the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.
What I really enjoyed reading was that Katharine had equally as much drive as her husband, she’s the one that put together the self-sufficient country estate. Her husbands fortune paid for it all, but she did all the work and her name alone was on all of the deeds.
Reynolda was part of a national trend known as the American Country House movement through which affluent Americans created estates for healthy living outside of cities.
A lady in a fabric shop in the village told us to go to the donut shop where they make donuts to order, and The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art. Both were winners!
The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art
A big surprise for me was SECCA. It was built in Founded in 1956 and located on the scenic James G. Hanes estate in Winston-Salem, the 8800 foot gallery was added in 1976. It is at the end of a residential street in a beautiful setting. They were hanging a show by LA photographer David Gilbert. His work is so unusual!
SECCA has also recently become associated with the NC Museum of Art.
Körner’s Folly in Kernersville
While I would rather live in the Renolda House I was most fascinated by Körner’s Folly in Kernersville. I’ve driven by it several times and was curious about it but never researched what it was.
This was the highlight of the trip for me!
Körner’s Folly was built by Jule Gilmer Körner. It is his architectural wonder and home, which was built in 1880 to display his interior design portfolio. After sitting empty for years and about to be demolished, a group of 26 people got together and purchased it. Through the years as money becomes available, it is being renovated. There are 22 rooms with some original furnishings and artwork, cast-plaster details, carved woodwork, and elaborate hand laid tile. a winding maze of doorways and staircases that span three stories and seven levels. You can take a self-guided tour, with story boards that you follow throughout the house. It is fabulous!!
I would love to have seen it when it was full of the items he was selling to his clients. Then just two blocks away a sign made me make a quick uturn. I thought I knew about every Botanical Garden in the region, not so it seems.
Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden
Paul Ciener, who owned a car dealership, loved horticulture. He toured great gardens around the world, studying the plants and garden styles.
Dreaming about building his own in Kernersville.
Since his death in 1998, The Welcome Center, Horticulture Center and garden space on 5 of 7 acres have been completed.
My favorite part was the long, curved, espalier created from ginkgo trees.
When fully developed over the coming years, the garden will feature: amphitheater, woodland, more than 25 individually styled garden areas, event spaces, wetlands, greenhouse and a horticultural operations complex.
It’s a beautiful spot.
Shangri-La Stone Village
I love quirky things so I’m so surprised I never heard of this before. It was created by retired tobacco farmer, Henry Warren, over the last 9 years of his life. He was working on building a hospital in he Shangri-La Village when he died in 1977. There are 27 completed buildings with a theater, a gym, a hotel, and even a tall water tower.
The buildings are made from concrete, stone, and thousands of arrowheads, and lots of funky items he got at flea markets. The rock came from his own land and I’m curious where the thousands of arrowhead came from. It’s located at 11535 NC Highway 86 Prospect Hill, NC.
Another successful quick trip! Where to next? Michigan in the middle of the summer.