Old Salem

We headed to Old Salem in Winston-Salem, NC today. It is an old Moravian settlement. The weather was pretty icky with lots of rain but we still had a nice time. The price was right as each fall they put on a Homeschool Day with reduced rates.

A sample of Vogler House. I love sleigh beds.

The kids enjoyed some of the activities. Right here they are making what I think was called a Fraktur. It is basically a label for a book. It states who did the book. After they make the label, they went to another area to make the actual book. Folded papers punched with an awl and then linen string was used to bind them. The third portion was going to the last area where they used a quill pen to write in their book. These books were used as journals or diaries.

They had outside activities too. I don't remember what this is called but it was a very common toy in the 19th century. You try to keep the wheel rolling by hitting it with the stick. Pooh had fun with this one.

Not so much with trying to get the ball in the cup. The nice thing was that he didn't get upset about not being able to do it. He handled that well. After many attempts, he just decided he was done. He tried a lot longer than I thought he would. He's just not getting the coordinating down right.

I think Tigger managed to get his in on accident. LOL Plus, his was a tiny one with a very short string. He was quite proud though.

19th century fire fighters. Hmmm, nice but I daresay the building would still be in ruins at the end. There were kids and adults standing under the spray too. If you really look, you can see that the employees are dressed in period costumes. They are like that in all the houses.

We saw some guinea hens hanging out. They started calling loudly to each other for about 30 seconds. That was pretty cool to hear. Loud, but cool.

Tigger at the entrance to the toy museum. They have a fabulous toy museum here. Antique doll houses, circus trains and animals, boats, airplanes, dolls, etc.

We also saw a 20 minute puppet show that was based on Aesop's Fables. It was really cute! The Moravian Bakery was also rewarding. Sugar cake! Mmmmmmm.

Can't wait for the next time around! There were more places we didn't get to visit this year and each year is a different 'theme'.