Old Salem is the original Moravian settlement, a working historic district about a mile south of downtown Winston-Salem. Costumed interpreters run more than a dozen restored buildings as a living museum — the gunsmith, the printer, the shoemaker, the apothecary — and they actually demonstrate the trades rather than just standing next to them. The Moravians were unusually meticulous about record-keeping, so the recreations are based on the original household inventories.
Allow most of a day to do it justice. The combined ticket includes the Single Brothers' House (one of the oldest surviving German half-timber buildings in America), the tavern, and the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA), a serious collection of southern furniture and silver. Finish at the Winkler Bakery for a sugar cake or lovefeast bun baked in the original wood-fired oven.