The mission of the Walkertown Area
Historical Society, Inc. is to research, organize and preserve
the history of Walkertown, North Carolina and the surrounding
areas. This society will seek to communicate the story of
Walkertown's rich history.Meetings are open to anyone interested in attending.
Anyone with an interest in
Walkertown is welcome to attend the historical society meetings. You do
not have to be a member. General membership meetings are normally held
on the third Tuesday of every other month (January, March, May, July,
September & November) 6:30 pm at the Walkertown Library
located at 2969 Main St, Walkertown, NC 27051.
The WAHS Board meets at the WAHS
Center, 3058 Church Street, on the second Tuesday of every month
at 5:30 pm. Members are welcome and encouraged to attend the board meetings.
If you'd like to get more involved with WAHS, please email us at WalkertownHistory@gmail.com
or call 336-497-1183.
Future Meetings
Previous Meetings
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
6:30 pm
One hundred years ago, the Daughters of the American
Revolution left for us a legacy of patriotic
commemoration—Daniel Boone’s Trail. During
1912-1915, the Daughters in North Carolina, Tennessee,
Virginia, and Kentucky erected 45 metal tablets across
four hundred miles to honor the life of Daniel Boone and
to mark for future generations his path through the
Appalachian Mountain barrier, a path that enabled
America’s Western Movement. The idea for such a
trail sprang from the creative mind of the industrious
Mrs. Lindsay Patterson of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
A patriotic public gathered to dedicate each marker, and
newspapers eagerly wrote accounts of local ceremonies
including the joint ceremony at Cumberland Gap attended
by thousands.
But the world did not stand still during this project,
and the effort of the DAR took place against a backdrop
of the Progressive Era, including presidential
elections, campaigns for equal suffrage and women’s
right to vote, war in Europe, and the opening of the
Panama Canal. This is a story that has been too
long forgotten, one resurrected now from the pages of
century-old newspapers, the records of the DAR, and a
diligent search across the countryside to find the 27
surviving markers and to discover what happened to the
18 which have disappeared.
Randell Jones, shared this story which
he documented in his book, 2012 Kentucky History Award
winner, Marking Daniel Boone’s Trail. Mr.
Jones is also author of the award-winning book In
the Footsteps of Daniel Boone and award-winning
companion CD, On the Trail of Daniel Boone.
Additional information available at
www.DanielBooneFootsteps.com.
This presentation was funded by a grant from the North
Carolina Humanities Council.
Tuesday January 15, 2013 6:30 pm
Katharine
and R.J. Reynolds Meet the author, Michele Gillespie
In her book, Michele
Gillespie provides a sweeping account of how R. J.
and Katharine succeeded in realizing their American
dreams. Join us as she discusses this fascinating
couple.
From relatively modest beginnings, R. J. launched
the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, which would
eventually develop two hugely profitable products,
Prince Albert pipe tobacco and Camel cigarettes. His
marriage in 1905 to Katharine Smith, a dynamic woman
thirty years his junior, marked the beginning of a
unique partnership that went well beyond the family.
As a couple, the Reynoldses conducted a far-ranging
social life and, under Katharine's direction, built
Reynolda House, a breathtaking estate and model
farm. Providing leadership to a series of
progressive reform movements and business
innovations, they helped drive one of the South's
best examples of rapid urbanization and changing
race relations in the city of Winston-Salem, North
Carolina. Together they became one of the New
South's most influential elite couples.
Upon R. J.'s death, Katharine reinvented herself,
marrying a World War I veteran many years her junior
and engaging in a significant new set of
philanthropic pursuits.
Katharine and R. J. Reynolds reveals
the broad economic, social, cultural, and political
changes that were the backdrop to the Reynoldses'
lives. Portraying a New South shaped by tensions
between rural poverty and industrial transformation,
white working-class inferiority and deeply
entrenched racism, and the solidification of a
one-party political system, Gillespie offers a
masterful life-and-times biography of these
important North Carolinians.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012 6:30 pm
Postcard courtesy of Louise and
Wayne Biby
Springs of Stokes County
Steve Shelton lives in Danbury with his wife of 39
years, Olivia. A retired high school band director
(South and North Stokes) with a long interest in
local history, Steve has given multiple
presentations to the Stokes County Historical
Society on a variety of local subjects, and has led
historical tours in and around Danbury for the
society and various school groups.
For the past twenty years Steve has collected
postcards from the mineral springs, Piedmont,
Moore’s and Vade Mecum, and from Danbury proper.
His presentation will tell the story of the springs,
using the postcards as the springboard for the
discussion. Of particular interest is the story of
Vade Mecum Springs and its connection to John Sparks
and the Sparks Circus. Steve’s collection includes
several rare, thought-to-be “one of,” photo and real
photo cards.
Saturday September 22, 2012
Photo taken at a Marshall/Ebert family
reuion
Fourth Annual WAHS Potluck Picnic&
Silent Auctionwas a huge success. Thanks to donors and participants we enjoyed
wonderful food and fellowship
and raised over $900 in the silent auction to support the WAHS
mission.
Tuesday July 10, 2012
A History of Oak Grove Moravian Church
Celebrating 125 Years, 1887 - 2012
MatthewAllen,
pastor of OakGroveMoravian
Church, presented an interesting history of the church with
photographs. Mr Allen is a native
of Kernersville, graduate of Glenn High School, UNC Chapel
Hill, and Moravian Theological Seminary. He has been a
pastor since 1998 serving Pine Chapel Moravian Church
1998-2002 and has been pastor ofOakGroveMoravian
Church since April 2002. He recently celebrated his tenth
anniversary atOakGrove.
His avocational interests are history and music.
OakGroveMoravian
Church traces its origins to 1887 when Richard Westmoreland
and James Lineback formed a Sunday school for neighbors who
were of the Moravian faith. Meeting at first in a vacant
log cabin owned by Douglass Day, the members consecrated a
church in May 1888 built on land donated by Joshua Sell.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Do not toss out your Grandmother's letters;
the merits of reading someone else's mail presented by acclaimed
author Emily Herring Wilson
TheNew York
Timescalled
Emily Herring Wilson'sTwo
Gardeners: Katharine S. White and Elizabeth Lawrence—A
Friendship in Letters(2002)
"one of the finest gardening books published in years." Wilson
is also the author of an acclaimed biography of Elizabeth
Lawrence entitledNo
One Gardens Alone(2004).
While editing correspondence between Lawrence and Katharine
White, she discovered several hundred letters from Lawrence to
Ann Preston Bridgers, which inspired her to compileBecoming
Elizabeth Lawrence: Discovered Letters of a Southern Gardener.
In this presentation, Emily Herring Wilson will discuss the art
of letter-writing, with a focus on the letters of Elizabeth
Lawrence, master garden writer and letter writer, as well as
selected letters from other women writers, including Flannery
O’Connor, Elizabeth Bishop, Virginia Woolf, and Anonymous.
What makes a good letter for the reader? For the writer?
What do we learn from letters? What is concealed?
Why? How have letters changed since the advent of the
typewriter, and even more so with the popularity of email?
Ms. Wilson is a winner of the North Carolina Award and the
Caldwell Award and is a MacDowell Colony Fellow. She lives and
gardens in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Two Gardeners: Katharine S. White and
Elizabeth Lawrence—A Friendship in Letters(2002)
Tuesday March 20, 2012
6:30 pm
Walkertown History Book WAHS members Wallace Baird and Libby
Adams gave a slide presentation on our new Walkertown
pictorial book in the Arcadia Publishing "Images of America"
series. The book features 200 photos of Walkertown
people, places and artifacts documenting the Walkertown area's
history.
You may order your book now by emailing us at
WAHSfunds@gmail.com or
calling 336-497-1516. Cost is $22 per book. If mailed,
shipping cost is $3 for one book.
They are also available at the Walkertown Family
Pharmacy, Webster Brothers Hardware, Freeman Eye Associates and regular WAHS
meetings and our open house events at 3058 Church St. WAHS greatly
appreciates the hard work and long hours put in by the Book Team (Libby
Adams,
Ann & Tom Hamilton, Wayne Biby,
Nancy Farnham, Jane Morris, Jean
Maxcy Linville, Sarah Welch, Wallace Baird and Susan Miller) and
the generosity of individuals who allowed us to use their photos.
This book will be a beautiful addition to your library and a
source of reference for your family. The number of books on
hand will be limited so get yours soon!
________________________________________________________________________ Tuesday January 17, 2012 6:30 pm
Battle of the Guilford Courthouse Although the British held the field and claimed
victory at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, that battle set in motion
the events that would lead to the British surrender at Yorktown just a
few months later.
Ed Southern, editor of Voices of the American Revolution in the
Carolinas, will talk about what led the two armies to meet when and
where they did, and the battle's effect on the American Revolution.
Tuesday November 15, 2011 6:30 pm
Professor Richard E. Eller will present a
program on Piedmont Airlines.Mr. Eller is Professor of History and Chairman of the Department of
Social Sciences at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory,
NC.He
is the author ofPiedmont
Airlines: A Complete History, 1948 – 1989and
has produced a documentary on Piedmont Airlines which will be
shown in the Fall of 2011 on UNC-TV.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
3rd Annual WAHS
Potluck Dinner & Silent Auction Our
3rd Annual WAHS Potluck and Silent Auction
was a great success. We enjoyed great food and company. Guests
perused our collection of historic items displayed in the house.
Thanks to businesses and individuals who donated items and silent
auction bidders, we raised over $600.
Thank you!
Tuesday, July 19,
2011 Kernersville
natives, Michael Marshall and Jerry Taylor, will present
"Remembering Kernersville"
which is the title of their recently published book. Kernersville, North Carolina, grew up
around the intersection of two humble colonial roads and now boasts a
history spanning more than 230 years. It was here that George Washington
visited William Dobson's tavern in 1791 and the Great Storm of 1893
nearly decimated the fledgling town. Local authors Mike Marshall and
Jerry Taylor recount the tale of the 1912 fire that destroyed what had
once been Kernersville's largest tobacco factory, and they bask in the
glory of the resort at Dunlap's Mineral Springs, a local hot spot during
the Roaring Twenties.
Mike graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UNC-Chapel
Hill, where he received both a BS and an MS degree in physics. He is
also a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law. His
thirty-three-year professional career as a navy civilian scientist
included a dozen years as head of the Navy Laboratory History and
Archives Program. He also worked as an assistant to the director of Penn
State University's Applied Research Laboratory.
Jerry graduated from the Indiana Institute of Technology with a BS
degree in electronics engineering. His career included three years in
army electronics, followed by thirty years as an engineer with IBM.
Both men have an avid interest in genealogy and local history, and their
research has been featured in several newspaper and magazine articles.
They are also active in a number of genealogy and local history groups,
and both have served on the boards of the Kernersville Historic
Preservation Society and the Forsyth County Historical Association. In
2009, they collaborated on their first book for The History Press,Wicked
Kernersville: Rogues, Robbers, Ruffians & Rumrunners.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
History of the Local Tobacco Industry WAHS member, Clarke Stephens, discussed
the our area’s tobacco industry and display related artifacts from the
early 1800’s - 1950.
Clarke graduated from Walkertown High School in 1959, was employed at
RJR Tobacco Company for 37 years, is an avid tobacco memorabilia
collector and lives in Walkertown, NC with his wife, Della. He is a
charter member of the Piedmont Tobacco Memorabilia Collectors Club.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Historian and author, Randell Jones,gave a presentation based on his
book, “In the
Footsteps of Daniel Boone”
which won the 2006 Willie Parker Peace Book Award. Market
hunter, frontier guide, wilderness scout, master woodsman,
expert marksman, Indian fighter, militia leader, surveyor, land
speculator, judge, sheriff, coroner, elected legislator, merchant,
tavern keeper, prisoner of war, Spanish syndic, husband, father - Daniel
Boone led one of the fullest and most eventful lives in American
history. More information at
www.DanielBooneFootsteps.com.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Author Molly Rawls will gave a presentation on the subject of her new
book, “Old Salem &
Salem College”,
a postcard history. Ms. Rawls is a Winston-Salem native, a local
history enthusiast, and a postcard collector. Using postcards
from her personal collection and images from individual
collectors and community archival collections, Rawls has
compiled a visual history of Old Salem and Salem College.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Bruce Frankel, Director of Korner's Folly in Kernersville, NC
will give a presentation on "the strangest house in the world".
http://www.kornersfolly.org/
View and download meeting flyer here.(If you are unable to open this file, click
here to
download free Adobe Reader software). Saturday,
September 18, 2010 Silent Auction & the Annual WAHS
Potluck Picnicat the WAHS Center, 3058 Church
Street.We enjoyed a beautiful
evening at the WAHS Center and raised $609 at the silent
auction to support WAHS's work to research, organize, preserve
and share our local history.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 Historians, authors and founding members of the Lewisville
Historical Society, Darla Johnson and Merrikay Brown presented
"Lewisville, North Carolina: A Photo History Journey".
Lewisville Historical Society members collected photographs from
their archives and area residents to create Images of America:
Lewisville.
Editor Merrikay Everett Brown came to the area in 1984, has
managed the Lewisville Branch Library for 25 years, and was the
first president of Lewisville Historical Society. Editor Darla
Morgan Johnson has Lewisville family heritage as well as career
experience as a public library manager, nature educator and
metadata specialist with DigitalForsyth.org.
In 1859, Lewis Case Laugenour invested his wealth, which he
acquired during the California Gold Rush, into establishing a
town called Lewisville in Forsyth County, NC. In the late
1700s, the surrounding area was visited by frontiersmen,
Colonial soldiers, and pioneers journeying down the Great
Philadelphia Wagon Road. By the late 1800s, Lewisville had
become a bustling stopover for travelers who utilized
campgrounds, the tavern and the trading post to rest for the
journey on to Winston and Salem.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 Tom Hamilton, WAHS Archives Chair, discussed projects of the WAHS
Archives Committee and Nathan Walker gave a tour of the website and new
members-only online Gallery Archive.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tom
Magnuson, President of the Trading Path Association presented "Moving Into the Carolina
Backcountry", a discussion of the
historic trading paths in North Carolina.
This program was made possible through the support of the NC Humanities
Council.
Tom Magnuson received his BA (1972) and MA (1977) in History from San
Jose State University. Tom is a member of the Historical Society of
North Carolina, he is currently a visiting scholar at the University of
North Carolina Institute for Southern Studies, and he is a member of the
North Carolina Humanities Forum through which he gives public lectures
on colonial transportation in Carolina. In the seventies he worked in
the integrated circuit industry and for the Navy's Special Projects
Office (SSPO), and after post-graduate work at the Naval Post Graduate
School (1977) and Duke University (1978-1982), where he studied doctrine
development processes, he spent much of the eighties and nineties doing
organization design and nurturing start-up ventures. In 1998 he turned
an avocational interest in piedmont history and geography into the
Trading Path Association. As founder and current President, Tom is
responsible for making this venture a success. www.tradingpath.org
January 19, 2010
Authors Mike Marshall and
Jerry Taylor discussed the subject of their book, Wicked
Kernersville: Rogues, Robbers, Ruffians & Rumrunners.
November 17, 2009
Click here to view/download meeting
flyer pdf.
(If you are unable to open this file, click
here to download free Adobe Reader
software). Writer and
historian, Ed Southern, presented, “The Race to the Dan: The Retreat
that Won the Revolution” will look at both the military aspects of
Nathanael Greene’s race to safety across the Dan River, just ahead of
Cornwallis’s pursuing British Army, and at the impact of Greene’s
campaign on the civilian population of the parts of North Carolina he
passed through, including what is now Forsyth, Stokes, and Rockingham
Counties.
Some of Mr. Southern's works are
"Voices of the American Revolution in the Carolinas" and "The Jamestown
Adventure: Accounts of the Virginia Colony, 1605 - 1614". Both of these
books can be found at www.Amazon.com.
Ed Southern
September 15, 2009
Volunteers from StoryLine
gave a presentation
at our September meeting. StoryLine is a volunteer-led effort to collect
and share the stories of everyday people in Forsyth County. The project
was initiated to honor the rich diversity of voices throughout our
community and to celebrate our history, hopes and common humanity. The
stories are collected via the Story Bus, a mobile recording studio that
to community events, churches, diverse neighborhoods, schools and other
venues. More information at
www.StoryLineProject.org.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
View and download meeting flyer here.(If you are unable to open this file, click
here to
download free Adobe Reader software).
Covered dish (potluck) picnic at the Walkertown
Community Park. We had a great turnout, lots of food and wonderful weather for our gathering at the park.
Short
video by photographer Melinda Robinson Wall follows.
May 19, 2009 Wayne Biby, a Walkertown Area
Historical Society Director, presented "Sharing Walkertown's
Past" which included an interesting slide presentation.
"Unintended Consequences of Spending the Simmering
Summer of '65 (1965) in Walkertown" presented by Larry E. Tise.
Mr. Tise is Wilbur and Orville Wright Distinguished Professor of
History at East Carolina and author of "A House Not Made With
Hands, Love's Methodist Church, 1791 - 1966". Click here
for more information on Larry E. Tise and his books.
January 20, 2008
Click here to view or download meeting flyer.
(If you are unable to open this file, click
here
to download free Adobe Reader software.) Molly Rawls spoke on
"Winston-Salem - Then and Now", which is the title of her new
book.
WAHS Directors, July 2008
Left to right: Harold Warner, Enos Jumper, Wayne Biby, Jane
Morris, Joanne Neal & Wallace Baird.
Sharon Lane checking out one of five
displays featuring some historical sites of Walkertown.
Getting acquainted at the first WAHS
meeting July, 2008
Walkertown Area Historical Society
WalkertownHistory@gmail.com
P O Box 1183, Walkertown, NC 27051-1183
Phone: 336-497-1183
