Old Salem!!

So Taylor and I decided on taking a mini "vacation" to Old Salem, NC for the weekend.  We don't really get much time together since our schedules are so different, so it was so nice to get away for a little while.  Now, I realize that Old Salem isn't really the most popular tourist destination, but I went there for a school trip when I was little living in Raleigh and have the best memories...mostly of hot cider and fresh ginger cookies.  And it is fall...so why not a cute little Moravian town with hot cider and ginger cookies?

Well, we got off to a late start Friday afternoon and figured we would just book a hotel once we got to Winston-Salem...not knowing that this was parents weekend for 1. Highpoint University, 2. UNC Greensboro, 3. Wake Forest...you get the idea.  Every single hotel and cute B&B was booked in town!!!  Taylor to the rescue!  He found this hotel on the outskirts of town with a total of 2 rooms available for the night!  (There was apparently a Thomas the Tank Engine show or something so the hotel was packed full of people kids).  It was located on a vineyard, but because it was so late, we couldn't enjoy the scenery :(  

Our hotel room: they hooked us up on the 4th floor so we wouldn't have kids running above us :)

Our view out of the hotel room in the morning.  The vineyard mansion is in the upper right corner.

We drove to Old Salem around 10 that morning only because I wanted as much time in the day as possible to walk around and be a tourist.  Well, Old Salem is not as big as I remember...and we were only there till 2 (after visiting every building and lunch)!  I would just like to take this opportunity right now to say that the weather was amazing PERFECT.  No humidity, 75, and sunny...pure bliss.  

Look how cute all of the houses are!!!  I would love to live in something like this :)

I would just like to say that the people of Old Salem drive fantastic automobiles!  And if you can't tell, it's an Outback.

Ye Olde Towne Gunsmith
Yes, he was literally making a rifle...how awesome!

Two handmade rifles

Taylor looks so excited about the rifles...so much more fun to come!  Haha

This is the Inn that George Washington stayed at at some point in time...he could've sat in one of those chairs!  Probably not, but it's nice to think about it :)

Apparently there is a story to these beds: (men and women would not sleep together with other men and women) A man would come to the inn and ask for a bed.  If he paid enough, he might get lucky and be able to sleep in the single room by the innkeeper.  If he couldn't afford that option, he would pay for a bed...however, he might wake up in the morning to another (or several) man/men sleeping in the same bed!  

This is where pigs were slaughtered, dried, and salted :( (I'm pretty sure that the dark stains on the wood is blood) In the other parts of the cellar, wine was made and stored as well as extra food and supplies for the winter.  

I don't think I can express enough how wonderfully warm and delicious this part of the inn was...(obviously in the kitchen now).  Behind me there were rows of stringed hot peppers hanging on the wall.  Spices and edible plants lined the tables.  Oh, did I mention the fresh made bread that was also sitting on the tables.  No wonder the inn keepers room was beside the kitchen!  Smart people.

Waiting (patiently!) to get some Moravian grub (i.e. homemade French Onion soup and iced cider).  It was sooooo good!

Yay food!

I don't think Beck's is Moravian.  But he was happy :)

Printing Press...I don't think I would like to have this job.

We sat in a choir room for a bit.  This woman explained why boys and girls were kept separate in choirs.  Everybody woman/girl has a ribbon that denotes her status (child, teenager, young single woman, young married woman, married woman, widow).  Apparently, your choir was essentially your family.  You grew up with them and you were even buried with them (not your spouse or biological family).  Anyway, this woman had a white ribbon that tied her bonnet (widow) and she played the organ for us.  In the back there is a wooden handle which is actually a pump; in the "olden" days, a strong lad would pump air to the organ when it was being played.  It was exhausting to think about.  

There were lots of little rooms like this (I call them "craft" rooms): yarn/wool dying, spinning, pottery, leather making, shoe making, wood working, etc. The silversmith was my favorite (see pic below).  He was in the process of making spoons (but the picture is of pre-made "stuff", my favorite being the cookie cutters!).  I can't imagine having to be in those rooms in the middle of summer next to a fire doing manual labor all day!  

Photo op during the absolutely beautiful day..sorry I couldn't resist!

Mush mush :)

Now this was where they were making fresh sweets (i.e. cakes, pastries, cinnamon swirls as seen in the picture).  I wanted to reach over the rope and grab a roll.  Ahh!  It was so tempting!  We didn't get any swirls or rolls or whatever, but we did get some Moravian ginger, maple, and pumpkin spice cookies :)  

Ye Olde Apothecary
This was one of the neatest places that we went to.  There was only one doctor in town (his wife was one of the two midwives).  This room was totally devoted to medicine with all sorts of jars and plants and mixes (etc.).  He would usually run to someones house if they needed help and there was no anesthesia (well, they did have opium but I think that was for after the surgery).  Speaking of surgeries, the person in need was either held down on the floor or a chair by his friends and family and the doctor was to preform the surgery as quickly as possible since there was no anesthesia.  This included broken bones, amputations, eye removal (we had a picture of that..gross).  

For example, this lovely device was applied to a persons head (like after a concussion).  The family would hold the poor lad down and the doctor would screw this thing through the skin and the skull CAREFULLY to release pressure.  They would have to be extra careful so not to remove part of the brain with the skull.  Other uses: screw holes in heads to release "demon spirits".  Some women with ppd or bi-polar disorders were treated...Oh how far we've come.

Well, that's it for our trip!  We did stop by the graveyard which was pretty neat.  The gravestones are all flat and level because in Moravian society, everybody is equal (I liked that part).  Hope you liked some of our pictures from Old Salem :)  I know...I'm an old fart.