• By Sue deGuzman
• Posted Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Hear the Tale of Two Journeys from Bethlehem to Salem at Lewisville Historical Society Presents ...

In 1766, 18 Moravian girls with two men journeyed by foot and wagon through the backwoods from Bethlehem, Penn. to Bethabara, N.C. These young ladies became the backbone of the Single Sisters and Older Girls’ choirs in Bethabara and Salem. One of the girls also became the first teacher of the Little Girls’ School, established in 1772, which became what is now Salem Academy and College.

As the 250th anniversary of the founding approached, Salem Academy and College alums organized a 29-day, 500-mile reenactment of the journey from Bethlehem to Salem. On Sept. 9, Martha Manning, Virginia Hart, and Katherine Knapp Watts will speak about the two journeys and the importance Moravians placed on educating women and girls that continues today at Salem Academy and Salem College. We hope you will join us!

Lewisville Historical Society Presents ... is a bimonthly program of the Lewisville Historical Society and the Lewisville Branch Library. It is free and open to the public. Participants do not need to be members of the society to attend.

A short business meeting of the society is held before the featured program. Light refreshments will be served. For more information, contact the Lewisville Branch Library at 336-703-2940 or the Lewisville Historical Society at 336-766-5842.

Lewisville Historical Society Presents A Tale of Two Journeys: a presentation about two fascinating 500-mile walks, 255 years apart
Monday, Sept. 9 at 6 p.m.
Mary Alice Warren Community Center
7632 Warren Park Drive, Lewisville, NC 27023

All Forsyth County Public Library programs are free and open to the public.

Caption for above map: A map of the most inhabited part of Virginia containing the whole province of Maryland with part of Pensilvania, New Jersey and North Carolina as drawn by Peter Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson's father) and Joshua Fry in 1751 and published by Thomas Jefferys in 1755. This map can be viewed in full (along with its archival record) and enlarged on the Library of Congress website.

Salem Square on the campus of Salem Academy and College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Oct. 26, 2021 on the final day of the reenactment of the journey from Bethlehem to Salem. Image provided by Virginia Hart.

From left: Salem Academy and College alumnae Martha Manning, Virginia Hart, and Katherine Knapp Watts. Image provided by Virginia Hart.