This Place Matters!

Historic Preservation Month 2008

Bethania High School
Seidel Street, Bethania

Bethania High School was originally built as the Pythian Lodge in the early 20th century. A second floor was added to accommodate a large number of students when it was converted to a school. However, students were transferred to the Old Town School in 1924. During the Great Depression, the building was converted into the Bethania Congregation House for community programs and meetings. The building became a place of worship in the 1940s when Bethania  Moravian Church was destroyed by fire. The Bethania Historical Association, which organized to prepare for Bethania’s 200th anniversary in 1959, began rehabilitating the building in 1985. The building’s holdings are invaluable and include curricula and programs of the first graduating class, musical instruments, tools, clothing, maps, photographs, volumes of genealogies, memoirs, and first-edition books. A pictorial history of Bethania from 1759-2006 has just been completed and more than 1,900 school children visited Bethania this past December.

Nominated: Bethania Historical Association 

Kernersville Depot
104 East Bodenhamer Street, Kernersville

The Kernersville Depot is the second oldest depot in western North Carolina and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It is a plain one-story mortise and tenon building sheathed in board and batten siding. Decades had gone by without any regular maintenance or care for the building. Barbara Bull and members of the Kernersville Downtown Preservation and Development Council have led the effort to improve this important feature of Kernersville’s history. This project is an example of true community effort with many local organizations and individual volunteers helping out. The depot was moved from Norfolk Southern Railways’ right-of-way, its foundation rebuilt, and the building cleaned and painted. This effort has taken over ten years and the inside of the depot continues to be restored. A caboose, clock tower, flag, mural, and landscaping have been added to the site, making it an even more welcoming place.

Nominated: Kernersville Downtown Preservation and Development Council, Inc.   

104 E. Bodenhamer St (Before)

104 E. Bodenhamer St (After)

Single Sisters House
627 South Church Street, Winston Salem

The Salem Single Sisters House, built in 1785 and enlarged in 1819, was the residence and workplace for the unmarried women of the early Salem congregational community. Among the many successful enterprises of the Single Sisters was a school for girls, founded in 1772, which is known today as Salem Academy and College. It is the oldest building in the nation dedicated to the education of women and the oldest building on a college or university campus in North Carolina. By 2002, the Single Sisters House needed numerous repairs and maintenance; the City fire marshall declared the building hazardous and closed it to habitation. With assistance from Senator Richard Burr and U.S. Representative Mel Watt, the College was awarded a “Save America’s Treasures” grant from the National Park Service. Salem Academy and College was able to restore the building for multiple uses, including a Welcome Center, Office of Admissions, reception areas, classrooms, offices, and a museum.

Nominated: Salem Academy and College; Dr. Susan E. Pauly, President; Gwynne Stephens Taylor; Chair, Board of Trustees and Project Manager; Jane Carmichael, Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations; Anna Gallimore, Director of Administration and Project Manager; Frank L. Blum Construction Company; Marianna Thomas Architects 

Single Sisters House (Before)

Single Sisters House (After) 

Single Sisters House (After)