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.
Currently all general meetings are postponed until the library allows indoor group meetings. The following are flyers from previous meetings. We will alert the public as to when we will be capable to resume the meetings.
Anyone 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.
Tuesday
May 17, 2016 at 6:30 pm
Crossties and Locomotives:
Norfolk Southern’s Past, Present and Future
Infinite Possibilities
Photo courtesy of Forsyth County, NC
Public Library Collection
Mr.Durwood Laughinghouse, Norfolk
Southern's Resident Vice President for North Carolina, will
present a brief history of the
company from its origins as the South Carolina Canal and Rail
Road company in 1830 to its current endeavors and future
initiatives.
Tuesday
March 22, 2016 at 6:30 pm
Regenerative Medicine The Past and Future of Medicine
Dr.
Tracy Criswell, professor at the Wake Forest University
Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM), discussed the
historical development of organ transplantation, regenerative
medicine and tissue engineering. She will also provide an
overview of the science being performed at WFIRM and its
potential for changing modern medicine.
Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering techniques have the
potential to revolutionize modern medicine. Regenerative
medicine was born out of the desire to close the gap between
patients on a waiting list for organ transplantation and the
limited availability of donors. WFIRM is a leader in the field
of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine with more than
30 tissues being grown in the lab and several tissues on track
for Phase 1 clinical trials.
Tuesday
January 19, 2016 at 6:30 pm
Benjamin Forsyth
Who was he? Why does it matter?
State
P
Jerry
Rutledge made a presentation on Lt. Col. Benjamin Forsyth. He discussed the early years of Benjamin Forsyth, including
his connections in Stokes and Forsyth Counties; the extensive
military record of Benjamin Forsyth; and his death and burial in
upstate New York. Jerry grew up in Germanton and attended Stokes
County Schools. He graduated from the University of North
Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1966 with a BA in History. He
graduated from Law School in Chapel Hill in 1969 and then served
four years in the Marine Corps as a JAG officer. After working
with the North Carolina Attorney General's office in Raleigh and
serving as an Assistant District Attorney in Stokes and three
adjoining counties, Jerry opened his law office in Walnut Cove
in 1978. Jerry's interest in local history has led him to make
three trips to upstate New York to visit Champlain, the burial
place of Benjamin Forsyth.
Tuesday
September 15, 2015 at 6:30 pm
History of Hanging Rock State Park
State
P
Hanging Rock State Park
Ranger, Jason Anthony presented “From Gilded Age to Great
Depression: A History of Hanging Rock State Park and the
Surrounding Areas”.
The world changed a lot in the early decades of the 20th
century.8,000 acres in central Stokes County went
from a golden age of resort tourism and weathered the greatest
depression in our nation’s history to become one of the most
beautiful and popular state parks in North Carolina.
Saturday, July
25, 2015
3 - 7 pm at the WAHS house
3058 Church Street, Walkertown, NC
Silent Auction and Potluck Dinner
Bidders had a variety of valuable items to bid on while enjoying
great company and a delicious meal in the air conditioned WAHS
Center & Museum. All proceeds supported the WAHS’s
mission.
Tuesday, July 2015
6:30 pm at the Walkertown Public Library
Soprano Laura Ingram Semilian in Concert Excavated Echoes from 1800s America
Soprano Laura Ingram Semilian presents a program of excavated
echoes from 1800s America, with songs ranging from Appalachia to
the American Frontier, the Civil War, and more. Her CD of
historical songs, recorded in Nashville with producer/engineer
Ron “Snake” Reynolds, will be released this Spring. An
innovative performer with enthusiasm for research and uncommon
repertoire, Laura holds the MA in history from Wake Forest
University and the MM in opera performance from UNCSA. She won
first place in the Southeastern Region's Metropolitan Opera
competition. Laura's other recent performance projects include
her vocal settings of poetry by Will Alexander and George Quasha,
soundscapes for avant-garde films, and programs of works by
Hungarian composers and ethnographers Béla Bartók and Zoltán
Kodály.
Musicians joining Laura for this performance include Luke Payne,
guitar; Jon Cornatzer, banjo; David Crawford, mandolin; and Tim
Harrison, bass.
Tuesday, May
19, 2015
6:30 pm at the Walkertown Public Library
Soprano Laura Ingram Semilian in Concert Excavated Echoes from 1800s America
Soprano Laura Ingram Semilian presents a program of excavated
echoes from 1800s America, with songs ranging from Appalachia to
the American Frontier, the Civil War, and more. Her CD of
historical songs, recorded in Nashville with producer/engineer
Ron “Snake” Reynolds, will be released this Spring. An
innovative performer with enthusiasm for research and uncommon
repertoire, Laura holds the MA in history from Wake Forest
University and the MM in opera performance from UNCSA. She won
first place in the Southeastern Region's Metropolitan Opera
competition. Laura's other recent performance projects include
her vocal settings of poetry by Will Alexander and George Quasha,
soundscapes for avant-garde films, and programs of works by
Hungarian composers and ethnographers Béla Bartók and Zoltán
Kodály.
Musicians joining Laura for this performance include Luke Payne,
guitar; Jon Cornatzer, banjo; David Crawford, mandolin; and Tim
Harrison, bass.
Tuesday, March
17, 2015
6:30 pm at the Walkertown Public Library
Archeological Investigations of
the Saura Indians in Stokes County Presented by Dr. Stephen Davis
Dr. Stephen Davis will
present the results of archaeological investigations
conducted by the University of North Carolina at sites in Stokes
County that were occupied by the Saura Indians in the 1600s and
early 1700s. These sites are known historically as Upper
Sauratown, and excavations there were conducted over 11 summers
between 1972 and 1988. Dr. Davis was personally involved with
the fieldwork in 1972-1974 and in 1988. The Upper Sauratown
investigations are important to our current understanding of
native North Carolinians at the time of European contact and the
consequences of that contact.
Dr. Stephen Davis, (A.B., University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill 1974; M.A., University of Calgary 1976; Ph.D., University
of Tennessee 1986) is currently Research Archaeologist and
Associate Director of the Research Laboratories of Archaeology
and Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is editor of the North Carolina
Archaeological Society’s journalNorth
Carolina Archaeology, and he has served as editor of the
scholarly journalSoutheastern
Archaeology(1991-1993),
as chairman of the North Carolina Archaeological Council, and on
several other professional boards and committees.
His archaeological research interests focus on early Native
American history of the American South, the impact of European
colonization on the native peoples of North Carolina, settlement
systems and man-land relationships, and digital visualization
and analysis in archaeology. Dr. Davis has authored or
co-authored numerous articles, monographs, books, and other
works related to these interests. He has been a principal
investigator on research grants from the National Science
Foundation, the National Geographic Society, and the North
Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
6:30 pm at the Walkertown Public Library
Taverns In
Early America More Than Just A Place To Get The Spirit
While early American taverns are generally
associated with the spirited drinks they served, they often
played a wider role in the social life of the surrounding
community, offering a place for local citizens to meet and catch
up on the latest news, gossip and politics. Some also provided
post services and acted as stage stops where travelers could
eat, rest and tend to tired horses.
Kernersville natives Mike Marshall and Jerry Taylor will give an
illustrated presentation that will focus on taverns that served
the central Piedmont in the 18th and early 19th centuries with
emphasis on Dobson's tavern in Kernersville visited by President
George Washington in 1791.
Both Mike and Jerry have an avid interest in genealogy and
history and their research has been featured in several
newspaper and magazine articles. They are also active in
genealogy and local history groups, and have authored three
local history books, Wicked Kernersville: Rogues, Robbers,
Ruffians and Rumrunners, Remembering Kernersville, and
Kernersville: True Tales of Murder, Mayhem and Mystery.
Click here to
download/print a pdf file of the meeting poster.
Tuesday,
November 18, 2014 6:30 pm at the Walkertown Public Library
History of Boy Scouts of America in Walkertown
presented by Wesley Hutchins
Walkertown native Wesley Hutchins, will
present “The History of the Boy Scouts of America in
Walkertown”. Mr. Hutchins has been the Chief of the Walkertown
Fire Department for 11 years. He is a former Scout Master, is a
current committee chairperson, serves on the Old Hickory Council
Eagle Scout review board and is a member of Morris Chapel United
Methodist Church. He is currently employed by Forsyth
Technical Community College.
Click here
to download/print a pdf file of the meeting poster.
Tuesday,
September 16, 2014 6:30 pm at the
Walkertown Public Library
Faith and Identity in the Upcountry
presented by Dr. Douglas R. Porter
Dr. Douglas R. Porter’s presentation will
focus on the relationship between religion and dissent
(particularly opposition to slavery and the Confederate cause)
in the upcountry region during the antebellum and Civil War
eras. The area in and around Forsyth, Guilford, Surry and Yadkin
counties were well known during the American Civil War and are
of particular interest to Dr. Porter.
Dr. Porter, who is from Mount Airy, NC, received his M.A. in
History from North Carolina State University and his Ph.D. in
United States History to 1877 with minors in American Religious
History and Africa & African Diaspora from the University of
Mississippi. He is currently the Historic Sites Manager for the
City of Raleigh.
Saturday, July 19 3 - 7 pm WAHS
Center, 3058 Church Street
Sixth Annual WAHS Silent Auction
& Potluck Dinner
All proceeds will support the society’s efforts to
research, organize, and preserve the history of Walkertown and
the surrounding area. We thank the auction donors and bidders
for their support.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014 6:30 pm at the Walkertown Public
Library
North Carolina's Oldest
Roads presented by Tom
Magnuson
What geographic factors determine where a path, trail or
road wends its way across North Carolina? What physical
factors dictated transportation and settlement patterns
in Colonial times in the Old North State? This
presentation touches on the geology and geography of
pre-modern byways, the flora and fauna needed for
travel, and the environmental and geopolitical factors
determining where we live to this day.
Tom Magnuson is the founder and CEO of the Trading Path
Association (TPA), a non-profit organization committed
to finding remnants of the Contact Era in the southeast
and protecting them from accidental destruction. Prior
to founding the TPA, Magnuson enjoyed an unconventional
high-tech career, first in the integrated circuit
industry and government service and later in the
software business. By education a military historian who
received his master’s degree from San Jose State
College, Magnuson stumbled on the importance of the old
roads and the TPA’s methods of finding them while
studying military geopolitics more than 25 years ago.
www.TradingPath.org
This program was made possible through the support of
the NC Humanities Council.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014 6:30 pm at the Walkertown Public
Library
Archaeology,
Religion and Race in Moravian Salem presented by Dr.
Leland Ferguson
Dr. Ferguson will give an illustrated presentation of
archaeological investigations in and around St. Philips
Moravian Church in Old Salem. Excavations revealed the
hidden gravestones and obliterated graves of Salem’s
original Strangers’ Graveyard and the graveyard used for
enslaved African-Americans after Wachovia’s white
Moravians embraced racial segregation. The position and
plan of this graveyard was determined by a combination
of evolving racist attitudes and compromised protestant
piety. Preservation work at old St. Philips played a
role in encouraging racial reconciliation between the
present-day St. Philips Congregation and Salem
Congregation as well as the apology for slavery by the
Southern Province of the Moravian Church.
Leland Ferguson is Distinguished Professor
Emeritus of Anthropology
at the University of South Carolina, and has been a
practicing archaeologist for more than forty-five years.
He is the author of Uncommon Ground: The
Archaeology of African America, 1650-1800 and
God’s Fields: Landscape, Religion and Race in Moravian
Wachovia which recently received the 2014 James
Deetz Book Award from the Society for Historical
Archaeology. Dr. Ferguson holds degrees from North
Carolina State University and the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a 1960 graduate of
Walkertown High School.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014 6:30 pm at the Walkertown Public
Library
Old Walkertown - Late 20's and
early 30's
Walkertown native, Mr. Ivey Redmon,
presented “Old Walkertown - late 20’s and early 30’s.”
A veteran of World War II, Mr. Redmon will also discuss some of
his battle experiences. He is a graduate of Walkertown High
School, class of 1941. The Town of Kernersville recently honored
Ivey by naming the city’s sports complex the Ivey M. Redmon
Sports Complex (formerly Beeson Park, 788 Beeson).
Tuesday, November
19, 2013 6:30 pm at the Walkertown Public
Library
Anthropology for
the People presented by Dr.
Stephen Whittington
As
Director of the Museum of Anthropology at Wake
Forest University, Stephen Whittington works
with his staff and students to engage the public
through exhibits and educational programs about
other cultures. He takes a similar approach to
his archaeological research in the Mexican state
of Oaxaca.
Dr. Whittington is Adjunct Associate Professor
of Anthropology at Wake Forest University. He
was Director of the Hudson Museum at The
University of Maine from 1991 until 2002. He has
directed archaeological projects in Mexico and
Honduras and has analyzed ancient human skeletal
remains in Honduras and Guatemala. He is
currently Regional Representative for the
Southeast on the board of the Association of
Academic Museums and Galleries and is a member
of the Public Education Committee of the Society
for American Archaeology. Previously, he was
Treasurer for the Southeastern Museums
Conference and Vice-Chair of the Maine State
Museum Commission.
Saturday September 21,
2013 4 - 7 pm, WAHS Center, 3058 Church Street
Potluck Picnic & Silent Auction
raised $958 to fund our mission.
On Saturday, September
21, 2013, we enjoyed wonderful food and fellowship at the WAHS
Center and raised $958 in the auction which will be used to
facilitate the WAHS mission. Thanks to those who gathered donations,
prepared the WAHS house, cooked food, donated and bid on auction
items.
We appreciate your support!
Tuesday July 16, 2013
6:30 pm at the Walkertown Public Library
Historian and author,
Phyllis Roberson Hoots, presented Murders in a Family
Tree from Germanton and Walkertown to Kernersville.
We recognized local family names such as Southern,
Marshall, Roberson, Hastings, Samuel and Waggoner as
Phyllis recounted the circumstances of three murders
involving a love triangle, card playing, drinking and
hangings. These murders are of particular interest to
Phyllis since she is related to the victims and/or the
murderers in all three cases.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Riley Baugus represents the best of old time American
music. Over the years, whilst working as a weldor and a
blacksmith by day, Riley played with many old time
string bands, including the Old Hollow String Band and
the Red Hots. His self-produced recording, "Life Of
Riley" showcases his masterful banjo playing and rich
singing voice.
One fateful day, Riley got a call from Dirk Powell who
was involved in the music direction for the Academy
Award-winning film "Cold Mountain". Dirk had convinced
the producers that they needed Civil War era banjos made
in the Carolina hills, specifically Riley’s handmade
banjos and Riley’s authentic acapella ballad singing
voice. A whirlwind Hollywood experience ensued,
culminating in a place on the star studded "Great High
Mountain" tour.
From there, Riley has made his own path, building
in-demand instruments and performing at festivals all
over the world. In 2008, he contributed to the Grammy
award winning Album Of The Year, "Raising Sand", the
multi-million selling album by Alison Krauss and Robert
Plant. Two years later, Riley's banjo playing was
featured on Willie Nelson's Grammy nominated recording
"Country Music".
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
reunion
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
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