Town Of Salem example essay topic

As we walked down the shady streets of Old Salem, we were able to experience that feeling of going back in time. Old Salem has been preserved just as the town father's planned the original space. The recreation of the town was amazing. There are people who are dressed from that time period and act out how things would have been during their time. There is a bakery, where you can taste all of the wonderful cakes that are still cooked in the original brick oven. The original town was built to teach and provide an outlet for the crafts, skills, and manufacture of saleable products.

Old Salem is an authentic restoration, which begun in 1950, by the Moravian community that was started in 1766. The Moravians are a Protestant faith started in the 1400's in the province of Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic. After its formation in Bohemia, in 1457, the unity flourished throughout Bohemia and Moravia until the counter-reformation and the Thirty Years War destroyed all but a remnant of the church and forced its members into hiding. The church was then revived in Saxony in the early 1700's. For both religious and political reasons, the Moravians soon began forming congregations in other countries.

Moravians purchased 98,985 acres of land in North Carolina in 1753. One of the towns that the Moravians built was "Salem", which was founded in 1766. The town grew and prospered till the mid 1800's, at which time, the town of Salem sold land to the county seat of Winston. In 1913, these two towns merged to become Winston-Salem. The town of Salem was intended for several purposes. First, it would be the seat of governance for all of the settlements.

Secondly, it would be a center of trade and industry. Thirdly, it would be a vital link between the southern Moravians, those in Pennsylvania, those in Herrnhut, Germany and others. And fourthly, it was meant to become a utopian community, controlled by the church, in which each member should feel called by God to live in this special place. Until the mid-1800's the church governed every aspect of community life, both spiritual and economic.

All of the land within the town belonged to the church.! The church controlled who lived within the town's limits and what could be built upon the lots. The church leaders had a plan to build, and to establish roads. The first houses that were built were shared among all the residents. In 1771 more common buildings were built such as a tavern, a store, a bakery, and the first homes for a family. There were homes built for single brothers to live in as well as a home for single sisters to live.

Moravians lived a very simple life. They based their daily activities around religion. Moravians did not believe in war. They chose not to participate in activities of violence. To keep their men from going to war, they paid high taxes and were forced to provide many crafts and goods to the cause. These settlers established small shops making and selling products such as clocks, rifles, coffee pots, locks and dishes.

The church owned a tannery, a pottery, a mill, a community store, and Salem Tavern. The women worked hard to keep house and maintain a garden. A housewife's work involved cooking, gardening, washing and ironing, making soap and butter, preserving food, cleaning, sewing, tending to the children and the livestock. Then children were expected to do their chores and go to school. The Moravians were strong believers in education. The outskirt towns, Bethabara and Beth ania were a later settlement that was for agriculture.

In the 1950's the small town of Salem was being threatened by commercial growth. At that time, a nonprofit organization was chartered to restore and maintain this historical town. Today, it is a living historical town that continues to display the activities of the 1800's. People may visit this town and relive the ways of earlier years. After visiting Old Salem, we began to realize just how much things have changed since that time period. Moravians were portrayed to be very peaceful and loving and hard working.

As compared to today, people just don't put as much of an effort toward things as they did. They had to work for everything they had, and seemed to appreciate it a lot more.