Despite having lived in North Carolina since 1979, I had never ventured out to Old Salem. And since 2000, I have lived only about an hour from the place. My husband is the guitarist for a local band, and for about the past year or so, he has been quite busy on the weekends playing. Come Sunday, he is usually tired from playing and having quite a long day and even longer night. So I decided to take advantage of this time and started getting out to local places I had been waiting to see. I decided a visit to Old Salem was in order, and my friend Karen and I decided to use our paid Memorial Day holiday to pay a visit to Winston-Salem.
Karen and I have been friends for several years now, having once worked at the same travel agency. We both love history and old historical places. She arrived that morning and off we went, stopping in at a Denny’s to get some breakfast for the energy we would need for the day ahead. It was a pleasant drive allowing two friends the chance to catch up.
After getting lost, despite following the directions to a T, we made our way to the parking lot. Pulling in and seeing the lot almost deserted, we started to fear that we had been mistaken and the place was closed. But we noticed a few people going in the visitor center, so we went on in. We walked around and watched the movie before crossing the covered bridge and entering the village. Now, I have no idea where all the cars were parked, but there were plenty of people strolling around.
It was a perfect spring day for our venture. We found ourselves strolling around, enjoying all the beauty of this incredible place. We thoroughly enjoyed touring the houses and checking out all of the old antiques. We had a wonderful time in the bookstores. Our meal at the Old Salem Tavern was divine. And no one should come to Old Salem without stopping by Winkler's Bakery.
It was just a pleasure strolling around and enjoying being in the company of a good friend in such an incredible place. I did not realize until we arrived that people still live here and this is still a thriving community. We ran into quite a few locals who were out walking around and always inquiring what we thought of their lovely village. I can understand why people are so proud of this place. While stopping for a moment and enjoying sodas at the Old Salem Soda shop, we ran into a local who had been walking her dog since her dog just enjoyed the place! Since she wanted to go inside for cool beverage, it gave us a chance to play with her dog for a few minutes while she was inside. Karen and I both are animal lovers, too. Before too long, we realized all too soon that our day had come to an end. Soon, we were heading back out to the parking lot, talking about how much fun it had been and making plans to return in October for Haunted Old Salem.
As we climbed back into the car, we invariably turned our topic to creature comforts. Inevitably, one usually finds that, after touring such a place, we start to idealize this less-stressful way of life. We find ourselves thinking how things must have been when times appeared to be simpler. And we are usually discussing this in our heated or air-conditioned car as we returned to our equally heated and air-conditioned house.
While times seemed simpler back then, it is when you tour such wonderful places that you realize things were not as simple as they seem. Most of us take our modern-day creature comforts for granted. Most of us seem to forget that we have modern appliances, dishwashers, cars, and even indoor plumbing and bathrooms. I don’t know about you, but I quite prefer having my bathroom next to my bedroom. Back then, going to the bathroom was an ordeal, confirmed by a plaque on one outhouse we saw that stated someone had died when they went to the outhouse, bitten by a spider! So, okay, maybe things were not as simple, but folks seemed happy then. Just think, one day people will look back at our lives and think we had it hard!
Take the time out of your busy schedule to visit these wonderful historical places. These places have been preserved to remind us of another place and another time. It gives us a glimpse into the lives of our forbearers. For families, it is a wonderful family activity sure to please everyone. It will also remind you that, hey, maybe it is good to have our modern-day creature comforts!