Towns

THE MORAVIANS AND WACHOVIA

BY KENNETH G. HAMILTON^*

[Vol. 44 (1967), 144-153]

The founding fathers of the United States chose for its official motto a Latin phrase, E pluribus unum, thereby asserting their faith that out of the former thirteen American colonies they would forge one single, truly united nation. Similarly every commonwealth which forms a part of this nation is in its turn made up of many communities, each with individual characteristics whereby it enriches the life of the whole. That fact has provided the guidelines for this paper. It will endeavor to stress some of the distinctive features of Winston-Salem, a community, which in its formative years, at least, certainly was in many ways unique in North Carolina. It will also suggest how the community thus fashioned has made its contribution through the years to the state of which it is a part.

Many persons are familiar with the series of volumes published successively by the North Carolina Historical Commission and the State Department of Archives and History under the title Records of the Moravians in North Carolina. They will agree that Winston-Salem has an almost embarrassing wealth of archival material for the historian to draw upon. The manuscripts date back to the very beginning of this city, then called “Salem,” and portray a unique settlement in the rolling hills of the Piedmont district.

This community was set apart from others from its very inception. It did not originate like so many of its neighbors through the coming together of numbers of people, chiefly strangers to each other, who located at a given spot without prior design and then formed a town out of the varied elements which were available to them.

January 6, 1766, marked the actual beginning of Salem. But at least as early as November, 1750, leading Moravians in Herrnhut, Germany, had weighed the pros and cons of establishing a colony in North Carolina on land which John, Lord Carteret, Earl of Granville, had offered to sell them on advantageous terms. Before deciding to do so, however, the church fathers commissioned their chief representative in America, Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg, to explore the territory in question to determine whether he could find as much as 100,000 acres of land suitable for their purposes. Ultimately Spangenberg chose an area in what is now Forsyth County. At his suggestion the Moravians named their tract “die Wachau”—or “the Meadowland of the Wach”—because they thought its watercourses made it resemble an ancestral estate of the Zinzendorfs in Austria. The name became anglicized as “Wachovia.”

On August 7, 1753, the deeds to this large tract were signed in London, and on the seventeenth of November that same year the first Moravian settlers came to North Carolina. Before they left Pennsylvania detailed plans had been evolved for parceling out most of Wachovia to members of the church who, it was hoped, would be able to win a livelihood by farming. In the center of the area, however, a town was to be built, where crafts and trades would be cultivated and business fostered. Nearly thirteen years passed following the arrival of the first colonists before the authorities of the church agreed on a site for the central community. In the interval drafts had been made and rejected and a final plan for the new town adopted, before an ax bit into the first tree on its site. The direction of the streets, their various widths, the size of the individual town lots, provisions for a central square, around which the most important community structures were to cluster—all had been agreed upon in the period preceding work on the first house in Salem. Here then was an authenticated instance of town planning in the 1760’s.

Not merely the physical form of the projected community had been predetermined, but steps had been taken to assure that all activities would be carried on in it which the church considered basic to its welfare. The cultivation of religious life had been provided for as a matter of course, but also the presence of artisans to labor in essential crafts, together with other individuals dedicated to the schooling of the children of the settlement; a doctor to care for its health; also men capable of directing the musical activities of the community, a phase of its life upon which the early Moravians laid exceptional stress. Thus Salem owed the first facet of its unusual character to its status as a church-related community.

Furthermore—and this obviously was a most important matter—even after the community came into being, when by death or for any other reason it lost an individual who possessed some specialized skill, the church could draw upon its membership in Pennsylvania or Europe to fill the vacancy thus created.

Due to such advantages Salem—this name too had been selected in Europe—enjoyed from its earliest period an unusual degree of self-sufficiency within what was soon to become the state of North Carolina. Handwrought fixtures of wood or metal, tools, pieces of furniture, guns, musical instruments, and many other items fashioned by early Moravians in Salem can still be found there, where they were preserved and treasured through the years. The church diary records that when President Washington visited in Salem in 1791 he inspected the industries and other establishments of the town and expressed his pleasure especially at the way in which the waterworks were utilized. Indeed, early Salem was able to supply a wide area about it with the products of its crafts, particularly its pottery. The Moravians also played a part in meeting the medical needs of the whole countryside. After the turn of the eighteenth century Salem offered educational benefits to non-Moravian children—mainly girls. These latter were cared for in a boarding school, established in 1802.

Yet another quality distinguished Salem in its early years: its people were one in their religious beliefs and objectives. To say this is not to attempt to deny that strong religious forces were evident in the life of other North Carolina communities of this period. But Salem came into being as a closed Moravian settlement. In matters of the faith its founders without exception were united by common religious views. They called each other “brother” and “sister,” and these were no empty terms. To live as a brotherhood of men and women who sought to have their lives conform to the will of their Saviour in every respect had been the main motive for their acquiring so large a tract in the New World and for their locating their town in its center. Thus they hoped to be free from all interference in their chosen way of life, a privilege they had sought for in vain in Europe.

To promote and deepen devotion, the community was organized into so-called “choirs” or divisions. Each group—children, older boys, older girls, single men, single women, married couples, widowers, and widows—had separate leaders, separate devotional exercises, separate instruction, though united congregational worship also had its recognized place in the activities of the community. The single men, the single women, and in some years the widows too shared as much of their daily affairs as possible, each group occupying a “choir house” of its own. When death called away a member of the community, his body was laid to rest with others of his choir who had preceded him, not with members of his family. This practice, incidentally, is still followed in the Moravian God’s Acre and constitutes one of the few choir customs still to survive. Another is the announcement of the death of each member of the congreation by the church band’s playing three chorale tunes, the second of which indicates the choir to which the deceased had belonged.

For many years those who lived in Salem made little distinction between civil and ecclesiastical authority. The church directed all of the affairs of the community. The people wanted it so, and their leaders saw to it that careful observance of all church regulations was maintained. Quite naturally such a community laid itself open at many points to misunderstanding on the part of its neighbors because of its dissimilarity to them. In particular the conscientious scruples which the Moravians of the early period cherished against bearing arms or taking oaths could readily be misinterpreted. This was even more true of another guiding principle which they maintained—that of obeying every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake in so far as their consciences would allow. It requires no great effort of the imagination to realize how strangely foreign the Salem community must have seemed to the rest of North Carolina in the 1770’s. The demand for political independence from Great Britain, which was surging through the thirteen colonies like a ground swell, was unknown in Salem. The Moravians took little interest in politics. Moreover they owed to Great Britain gratitude for important benefactions; and since many of their brethren lived within the borders of the empire and others labored as missionaries of the gospel in distant British colonies, they purposely sought to avoid any actions which might endanger their position.

Yet another characteristic of Salem set it apart from the rest of North Carolina for a long period. In all important decisions affecting its life and development this community was subject to final control by the central boards of the Moravian church in far-off Germany. At first Salem followed Herrnhut’s guidance with implicit trust. This was quite natural. After all, in the early years the great majority of the residents had come from Germany via Pennsylvania or Maryland. They continued to speak German in their homes, their businesses, their church. They brought distinctive German architecture to this part of the state. They cultivated German thoroughness in their crafts and German methods in their schools. Many of the local leaders had been trained in the Moravian institutions of the fatherland. Moreover they sincerely believed that the instructions which they received from their brethren in Germany represented in fact the will of their divine Lord. This conviction was based upon the boards’ practice of submitting their problems to the lot before determining upon any specific course of action. They did this as a rule in one of two ways. In the first, the alternatives open to the church would be set down on slips of paper, one of which was then drawn after earnest prayer for God’s overruling. Or, the answer could be sought to a single question by drawing one of three slips of paper. In that case the first would bear the word “yes”; the second, “no”; the third would be blank. Drawing the blank was generally interpreted to mean that the time was not yet ripe for any decision in the matter.

In their willingness to be directed from Herrnhut, Salem’s attitude differed diametrically from that taken by most of its neighboring communities, in which men coveted self-determination and were quick to rebel against any hint of absentee control.

Finally, let me stress the fact that these unique features in Salem’s life persisted for an abnormally long time due to the exclusive character of the town. In a conscious effort to preserve their way of life the Salem Moravians relied chiefly upon three measures. First, the church kept ownership of the Salem land, leasing it to individuals at very moderate terms. The leases, however, were continued subject to their holders’ conforming to all regulations adopted by the church council. Those who persisted in refusing to abide by them had to leave the community. In such cases, or even when a lessee moved away of his own free will, he could sell the improvements which he had made upon the land only to some other Moravian who would be acceptable as a resident of the town. If such a purchaser could not be found, the church authorities were under obligation to take over the items in question at a fair price. A second regulation gave the church fathers paternalistic control over businesses and crafts within the town. To assure the heads of families the income they needed for the support of those dependent upon them, the number of individuals allowed to practice any given trade or profession was limited so as to have the supply of goods they produced or services they rendered conform to the local demand. On the other hand, in the interest of the community, prices and profits were also controlled. The third measure, which was intended to maintain the continuity of their way of life, curtailed personal liberty even more drastically. Young Moravians had to choose their life partners from among the membership of the church or from the limited number of friends whom the authorities judged to be qualified for membership.

The average American of our day, including the average American who belongs to the Moravian Church, would consider such controls intolerable. Paradoxically, however, the community which instituted them two hundred years ago saw in them a guarantee of the highest freedom, freedom to follow the precepts of God. Not so their children’s children. Slowly, but steadily, dissatisfaction and open disregard of the regulations increased. Finally, in 1856 the lease system was terminated by an overwhelming vote of the church council, and Salem ceased to be an exclusive Moravian center.

Some seven years earlier the church council had voted to sell land lying on the northern outskirts of Salem to the commissioners of the newly created county of Forsyth. The latter wanted to obtain this site for the county seat because of its central location. A community sprang up around the county buildings; in 1851 it received its name, “Winston.” The new town soon outstripped its neighbor in industry and banking, though it is an interesting fact that the earlier settlement also had pioneered in the manufacture of tobacco, textiles, furniture, and had established banking facilities of its own.

More and more rapidly Salem now became assimilated into the ways of the rest of North Carolina, thereby gaining much, but of necessity also losing much of its distinctive character. Friendly relations continued between the two neighboring communities. In 1913 they consolidated and formed the twin city of Winston-Salem, this to their mutual benefit. It goes without saying that Winston-Salem in 1966 owes much also to the earlier decades of Winston’s development, prior to the amalgamation of the two towns, but time does not allow a discussion of this subject.

There remains the second phase of my topic, that concerned with the question: “What contributions has Winston-Salem made, due to its distinctive characteristics, to the state of North Carolina?” What may be said in this respect of this city, as it looks back upon two centuries of significant development?

It has promoted education wholeheartedly. Salem Academy and College for Girls and Young Women traces its beginnings back to the day schools which the Moravians organized in their settlement in 1772, when schools were few in the land. Thirty years later the church authorities decided, in response to repeated requests, to establish a boarding school in Salem, which non-Moravian girls would also be encouraged to attend. R. D. W. Connor, in his North Carolina: Rebuilding an Ancient Commonwealth, 1584-1925, wrote with regard to higher education for women:

The Moravian Church led the way when, in 1802, it founded the Salem Female Academy. This institution occupied the field alone until the educational revival of the [eighteen] forties awakened the interest of the other churches in the problem.

The city is proud to be the home of two other colleges today. In chronological order—in so far as this community’s connection with them in concerned—they are Winston-Salem State College and Wake Forest College. The former was begun as the Slater Industrial Academy in 1892, when only two other communities provided the colored citizens of this state with an opportunity of gaining higher education. More recently, in 1956, Winston-Salem gave a warm welcome to Wake Forest College, when that outstanding institution moved to this city. Its medical school had been brought to Winston-Salem in 1941, a step which anticipated the transfer of the college by some fifteen years. Indeed, local climate appears to be favorable to education, since this city has provided the location for three significant experiments in modern techniques in this field, represented by the Governor’s School, the North Carolina Advancement School, and the North Carolina School of the Arts.

Probably Winston-Salem is even better known for its industries and its banking activities. In support of this statement the fact can be cited that though it lies far from the world’s waterways the federal government granted it the status of a “port of entry” in 1916 because of the volume of its imports of tobacco. Tobacco, textiles, and electronics lead the list of the industries for which Winston-Salem is known. While perhaps none of these should be regarded as a direct outgrowth of Moravian Salem, yet definite continuity can be shown between other local industrial concerns and the early crafts. Moreover, may not the prosperity of this community and the good labor relations which it has generally enjoyed be considered a heritage of the day when hardworking, shrewd, but devout pioneers laid the pattern for this community in the heart of Wachovia? Ever since its founding the Moravian congregation has included this petition in its Sunday litany: “Bless the sweat of the brow and the faithfulness in handicraft business,” though this prayer has been slightly edited in the present form to read: “Bless the sweat of the brow and faithfulness in business.”

Today the Wachovia Bank and Trust Company is recognized to be the largest bank not in North Carolina alone but in the whole southeastern section of the nation. Its very name recalls its close ties with the past; and in fact, some of the leading personalities connected with the Wachovia National Bank, one of the present corporation’s predecessors, had had a part in earlier banking ventures in Salem.

Business activities, however, have not stifled the cultural interests of our community. Winston-Salem points with pride to the paintings of Daniel Welfare and the poems of John Henry Boner and to the creative talents of others as well. So it was fitting that a later generation should undertake to pioneer in the Arts Council movement. This city, however, may surely claim music as its most important contribution to the arts. Through the years the Moravians have preserved in their archives a great store of manuscript music, much of it composed locally by men like Johann Friedrich Peter and Johann Christian Bechler and first enjoyed by the residents of Salem, when dedication to the arts was quite unusual on this side of the Atlantic. Thanks to the relatively recent efforts of the Moravian Music Foundation this treasure store is becoming more generally available and more widely appreciated. Similarly, in 1950, the community’s interest in its past found concrete expression in the organization of Old Salem, Inc., an association dedicated to preserving and restoring the buildings and crafts, the streets and walks which picture so vividly those beginnings to which we in our time owe such a debt.

There remain two aspects of Winston-Salem which ought not to be omitted from even so brief a summary as this. Its residents have cultivated philanthropy on a generous scale. For more than forty years the United Fund drives, or similar city-wide campaigns under other names, have never failed to reach their annual goals. Moreover, as the city prospered, a number of foundations were created to promote the well-being not merely of this community but of other areas in the state as well. Philanthropy frequently is an outgrowth of religious faith. In view of the ideals which motivated the founders of Salem and dominated life within that community for so long a period, the generous spirit found in this city today can be regarded at least in part as a fruit of commitment to God and concern for the needs of others, needs which the church as such no longer is in a position to supply.

The characteristic of Winston-Salem which the early settlers of Salem in Wachovia would, however, surely have put first is its continuing witness to faith in a living God. This influence has reached far out beyond the city limits. No doubt the same could be said in varying ways of every other community which cultivates vital religion. Nevertheless at this point Winston-Salem’s contribution has been distinctive. Through two centuries this city has sponsored a deeply moving form of worship each Easter dawn. In it, year by year, a great assembly gives expression to the central convictions of Christian faith. The number of those who reverently participate in this service has swelled into the thousands. They come from every part of the state and from far beyond its borders. Modern science carries their witness on the air. Who can appraise the help thus given to generations of men and women in their spiritual needs! In view of this privilege and of many other benefits the citizenry of Winston-Salem has done well to designate the two hundredth anniversary of the founding of Salem in Wachovia as a “Year of Thanksgiving.”