Another thing my friend Karen and I share is our love of books. Between the two of us, we could have our own mini Library of Congress. So when Karen noticed this bookstore, it didn’t take much to get me to go inside. In fact, I think she just said, "Ooh books," and along I came!

The building was erected in 1867 and served as the Elias Vogler store. It was later altered in 1930 to be in the Colonial-Revival style and served as a store. Vogler was a prominent businessman, architect, artist, and mapmaker. He was a member of the first Board of Commissioners and was the second Mayor of Salem. The business went bankrupt in the 1870. Today, the Moravian church runs it.

Upstairs, when you first enter, is very similar to Blums’ gift shop. The typical tourist stuff is found here. There are plenty of crafts, pottery, more of the Moravian cookies, very expensive silk ribbon pillows, T-shirts, postcards, a whole room of reproduction toys and modern-day junk for kids, gardening supplies, etc.

But it is downstairs where Karen and I found our treasure trove. Almost the whole bottom floor is dedicated to books. They have a children’s section for wee readers. Most of the books here are also local and about Southern culture. You can read more extensively about the Salem families and the history of Winston and Salem, cookbooks, and tour guides for NC. But since a church runs this, I was very surprised to find a huge section devoted to local and Southern ghost-story writers. Indeed, North Carolina boasts quite a few ghost-story writers. Needless to say, a place that dates back this far is bound to have a few ghost stories attached to it. Now, besides vampire stories, I also love ghost stories and have a huge collection of ghost-story books. I seemed drawn to haunted places, which is probably why I love Charleston and Savannah so much. Here you will find books by two great local authors, Nancy Roberts and Daniel Barefoot (who is also a senator!). I have a number of books by both, and they are very incredible writers. You can readily find their books at your local store or online at www.amazon.com. I also picked up an incredible book Ghost Stories of Charlotte by Stephanie Burt Williams. For any lighthouse fans, I also found Ghostly Lighthouses by Sheryl Monks, which has some wonderful stories. In fact, Sheryl was in the store only a few weeks later signing her book.

This place is definitely one of my favorites and worth checking out. They do accept credit cards. They are open from 9m to 5:30pm and are open on Monday. You do not need an Old Salem ticket to enter.