Audio walking tour
Winston-Salem Audio Walking Tour
Threads of Time: Where Moravian Roots Meet Modern Innovation
- Stops
- 32
- Core walk
- 32 of 32 stops within 1.5 mi of the center
- Farthest stop
- 1.3 mi from the center
- Start
- Old Salem
Listen free
Thirty-two stops walk Winston-Salem through Moravian history, tobacco wealth, and Art Deco ambition. Old Salem (settled by Moravians in 1766) opens the route; Salem Square, Home Moravian Church (1771), Single Brothers' House, C. Winkler Bakery, Salem Tavern, Salem Town Hall, Salem Moravian God's Acre, Salem Academy and Salem College (both 1772), and the Zevely House carry the Moravian core. Across downtown, Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, the New Winston Museum, and the S. J. Nissen Building anchor the industrial pivot. The 18-story Nissen Building, 8 West Third Street (Winston-Salem's first steel-frame skyscraper), the Art Deco Reynolds Building, BB&T Financial Center, Winston Tower, 100 North Main Street, and the RJR Plaza Building rise above downtown. R. J. Reynolds Memorial Auditorium (Charles Barton Keen design), Richard J. Reynolds High School, the Stevens Center, Forsyth County Courthouse, and Winston-Salem City Hall gather the civic blocks. The Sosnik-Morris-Early Commercial Block (Thalhimer's), the Gilmer Building, the Pepper Building, Kaleideum, St. Philip's Moravian Church, and Goler Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church close the walk.
Highlights
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Reynolds BuildingArt Deco lines climb 314 feet at the Reynolds Building, 51 East 4th Street in Winston-Salem. Feel the weight of its history: completed in 1929 at a cost of $2.7 million (about $36.3 million in 2016 dollars), it rises 21 floors and contains 313,996 square feet (29,171.2 m2) of space.
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Old SalemNotice Old Salem, the historic district of Winston-Salem first settled by the Moravian community in 1766. Here a living-history museum interprets the restored Moravian community; the nonprofit organization that began this work took shape in 1950, though some private residents had restored buildings earlier.
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Salem College
Women have studied at Salem College, the private liberal arts college in Winston-Salem rooted in the Moravian community of Salem, since 1772. On April 22, 1772 the “Little Girls’ School” was founded, and that origin makes this institution the oldest female educational establishment that is still a women’s college and the oldest women’s college in the United States.
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100 North Main Street
Locals call 100 North Main Street the Winston Weiner, Phallus Palace, or simply The Penis Building, though its formal names are Wells Fargo Center and, originally, Wachovia Center. Rising 460 feet (140 m) with 34 floors, this tower served as the corporate headquarters of Wachovia bank from 1995, the year of the tower's erection, to 2001, when the corporation merged with First Union and moved its headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Richard J. Reynolds High SchoolOld Gold and Black are the colors of Richard J. Reynolds High School, now a magnet school for the visual and performing arts. This public high school in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools was named for R. J. Reynolds, founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and opened here in 1923.
All 32 stops
- Old Salem (Old Salem)
- Salem Square (Old Salem)
- Home Moravian Church (Old Salem)
- Single Brothers' House (Old Salem)
- C. Winkler Bakery (Old Salem)
- Salem Tavern (Old Salem Historic District)
- Salem Town Hall (Winston-Salem)
- Salem Moravian God's Acre (Old Salem)
- Salem Academy (Old Salem)
- Salem College (Salem)
- Zevely House (West End Historic District)
- Wake Forest Innovation Quarter (downtown Winston-Salem)
- New Winston Museum (Winston-Salem)
- S. J. Nissen Building (Winston-Salem Tobacco Historic District)
- Nissen Building (Winston-Salem)
- 8 West Third Street (Winston-Salem)
- Reynolds Building (Downtown Winston-Salem)
- BB&T Financial Center (Winston-Salem)
- Winston Tower (Winston-Salem)
- 100 North Main Street (Winston-Salem)
- RJR Plaza Building (Winston-Salem)
- R. J. Reynolds Memorial Auditorium (Silver Hill)
- Richard J. Reynolds High School (Silver Hill)
- Stevens Center (downtown Winston-Salem)
- Forsyth County Courthouse (Winston-Salem)
- Winston-Salem City Hall (Winston-Salem)
- Sosnik-Morris-Early Commercial Block (Winston-Salem)
- Gilmer Building (Winston-Salem)
- Pepper Building (Winston-Salem)
- Kaleideum (downtown Winston-Salem)
- St. Philip's Moravian Church (Old Salem)
- Goler Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (Winston-Salem)
How it works
Open on your phone
No download. Works in Safari or Chrome.
Start walking
Head toward any historic stop. No fixed route.
Audio plays itself
Walk within range of a stop and the story begins.
Three stops free. No account needed.
Gear for walking Winston-Salem
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