Winston-Salem, NC...From a slightly different point of view
For me, writing about Winston-Salem is personal. As we say down South, it’s where I was born and raised. Though I haven’t lived there since the mid-70s, it will forever be one of my favorite places to visit – but, not because it’s my “hometown.”
Located on the I-40 and US 52 corridors, Winston, as it’s referred to by locals, has to be one of America’s most beautiful cities. Each time I return, I enjoy driving streets with names like North Stratford, Country Club, Buena Vista, Reynolda, Kent, Pine Valley or Robin Hood Road. Those streets are lined with beautiful homes and estates built with money earned working for the families whose names are synonymous with the city’s history; Reynolds, Hanes, Gray, or Fries, Vogler, and Zinzendorf.
In 1766, Salem was settled by Moravian families that migrated down from Pennsylvania. Winston was founded as an industrial tobacco and textile community in 1849. The two communities merged in 1913. Throughout the city a visitor will find streets and buildings bearing the names of the founding families of both towns.
I can remember as a child “going to town” on the bus with my grandmother each Saturday morning. Then, it was a thriving downtown with a myriad of shopping opportunities like all downtowns offered in the early 1950s. Popular local merchants, Bocock, Stroud & Co (great toy department); Brown, Rodgers, & Dixon (great sporting goods department); Planters Peanuts; and of course, Krispy Kreme Donuts were among my favorite. It was a time before the advent of shopping centers and malls, when everyone, regardless of social status shopped downtown.
Like most of America’s downtowns, Winston-Salem has undergone transitions over the years. Fortunately, many of its beautiful early buildings remain and have been joined by new ones that compliment them. Today, modern hotels and office buildings have replaced the old Robert E. Lee, Carolina, and Zinzendorf Hotels and trendy restaurants attract visitors and local residents, alike. With the conversion of former tobacco warehouses and early 1900s high rise office buildings to fashionable downtown condos, the future of my hometown’s downtown looks even brighter.
Winston-Salem has always been the “town” where regional residents came to work and to shop. Today it is also a thriving art and cultural center, and ideal destination from which to conduct hub and spoke tours of the region. The city’s best known attractions, Historic Bethabara Park and Old Salem, home of the region’s settlers; Reynolda House Museum of American Art, home of tobacco magnate, Richard J. Reynolds, and Tanglewood Park have been joined by The Southeast Center for Contemporary Art, Old Salem Children’s Museum, Reynolda Village, Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem, and Winston Cup Museum, to name a few. A myriad of new wineries, NASCAR racing shops; and attractions within an hour by motorcoach, make the city even more attractive as an overnight destination for hub and spoke itineraries.
Daniel Lobb of ABA member, Allways Tours, located in Winston-Salem, summed it up. “Our city and region have so much to offer tours. For years the Yadkin Valley was known for tobacco farming. As tobacco fields have been retired, they have been converted to vineyards. Today there are numerous ‘must see’ vineyards in this area. Grapes are not new to North Carolina; Sir Walter Raleigh discovered Muscadine grapes when his ships landed on the Outer Banks; but wineries are relatively new to our area. The Hanover Park Vineyard, started by two retired art teachers, is a prime example of Yadkin Valley wineries. There a tour can walk the vineyards, picnic under the old oaks, taste the wine; and sometimes even pitch in and help with the work. Something else that operators need to know is that Stephan Dragisic of the Winston-Salem CVB is the best to work with. He knows his product and is committed to making every tour a success.”
In addition to historic attractions, gardens, and wineries, Winston-Salem offers a myriad of annual events which itineraries can be built around. Two annual holidays that attract visitors from throughout the country are Christmas, when your itinerary can include a Moravian Love Feast and Candlelight Service; or Easter, for the Moravian Sunrise Service at God’ Acre in Old Salem. I have many warm and lasting memories of Winston-Salem; so will those on your tours.
My hometown is a Carolinas’ tour treasures and great year-round destination. Unlike some destinations in the region that have been quick to tell me they are “not in the bus market,” Winston-Salem is proudly motorcoach friendly. Discover it, if you haven’t already!
Dick
PS. NO tour itinerary of Winston-Salem is complete without a stop at Winkler’s Bakery in Old Salem, Dewey’s Bakery in the Thruway Shopping Center on South Stratford Road, or Mrs. Hanes Moravian Cookies. Make a stop at either and you will thank me!
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