Celebrate Historic Preservation Month with events around the county

Historic Preservation Month is being observed in May with lectures, walking and trolley tours of historic sites, the unveiling of two new local historic markers and more.

Events began May 2 with the first of four guided “Trail Mix” walking tours in Bethania with a trek along Bethania’s historic Orchard Trail. This trail walk will be repeated May 13 at 9 a.m. Trail walks along the Reuter trail are scheduled for May 16 at 1 p.m. and May 27 at 9 a.m.

The Forsyth County Historic Resources Commission will unveil a historic marker at 3 p.m. May 7 for the Samuel and Sarah Stauber Farm at 6085 Bethania-Tobaccoville Road. A historic marker about the Brothers Spring and the African School in what is now Happy Hill Park will be unveiled at 1 p.m. May 20 at the park. The unveiling will be followed by a tour of the Happy Hill neighborhood by Cheryl Harry, the director of African-American programming for Old Salem.

On May 18, the Commission and the Black History Archives of Winston-Salem will host a trolley tour of the historic residences along East 14th Street. Trolley tours will also be held May 20 along the old streetcar routes in Winston-Salem, and of the expanded Old Salem National Historic Landmark.

And on May 25, the Commission will hold an architectural tour of downtown Winston-Salem at noon, beginning at Mission Pizza Napoletana, 707 N. Trade St.

Also on May 25, Preservation Forsyth will present its 2017 Preservation Awards at 6:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 520 Summit St. Margaret Smith, a retired Wake Forest University professor, will be the featured speaker.

Also during Historic Preservation Month:

• Old Salem will hold “lunch and learn” programs at noon on Wednesdays in May in the James A. Gray Auditorium in the Old Salem Visitors Center, 900 Old Salem Road.
• Historic Preservation Month Event in Clemmons May 6th and 13th from 8:30a.m. – 12 noon at the Clemmons Village Hall (3715 Clemmons Road) Learn about the history of E. T. Clemmons “Hattie Butner” stagecoach at open houses in the village hall (taking place at the same time as the Village of Clemmons Farmer’s Market.)
• MESDA, 924 S. Main St., will hold a program on the evolving “period” room at 2 p.m. May 12. Admission is $20.
• The Kernersville Historic Preservation Society will hold a tour of St. Paul’s pre-Civil War black cemetery at 6 p.m. May 15 at 711 S. Main St., Kernersville; and on May 23 Korner’s Folly, 413 S. Main St., Kernersville, will present Benjamin Briggs, the executive director of Preservation Greensboro, speaking on historic preservation at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $5.
• Soprano Laura Ingram Semilian will sing songs from the 1800s at 6:30 p.m. May 16 at the Walkertown Branch Library, 2969 Main St., Walkertown.
• Reynolda House Museum of American Art will host a free tour of the Reynolda House grounds and gardens at 2 p.m. May 19.
• The Rural Hall Historic Train Depot and Railroad Museum will hold an open house and family day from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 20 at 8170 Depot St., Rural Hall; and the Rural Hall Historical Museum will hold an open house from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 20 at 145 Bethania St., Rural Hall.
• Bethania will host a lunch and learn on “Bethania: Wachovia’s First Planned Community,” at noon May 31 at the Bethania Visitors Center, 5393 Ham Horton Lane, Bethania.
• Salem College will host presentations by its historic preservation and public history students at 6 p.m. May 9 in the Club Dining Room of the Refectory, 601 S. Church St.

For more information about Historic Preservation Month events go to CityofWS.org/HRC or contact Michelle McCullough at 336-747-7063.

To view a downloadable calendar of events, click HERE.

Historic Preservation Month activities are presented and coordinated by Preservation Month Partners, a collaboration of the Forsyth County Historic Resources Commission, Old Salem Museums & Gardens, Preservation Forsyth, Reynolda House Museum of American Art and the Town of Bethania.