Piedmont Triad
We pinball through sights in Winston-Salem (Historic Bethabara Park, Reynolda House Museum of American Art, and Old Salem), High Point (home of the High Point Rockers and the World’s Largest Chest of Drawers), and Greensboro (Greensboro History Museum) — known collectively as the Piedmont Triad.
Bethabara Park
In 1753, at a spot situated at the northern end of what is now Winston-Salem, 12 men from the Moravian Church established a modest settlement they called Bethabara (Hebrew for "House of Passage"). The name not only paid homage to the site of the Baptism of Jesus; it reflected the group's intentions to create a temporary foothold in the area while they searched for a suitable location for a more permanent central village.The settlers had purchased 100,000 acres from Lord Granville, the last of the lines of Lords Proprietors to still own land in North Carolina granted by Charles II in the 1600s. The Moravians proved to be adept farmers, cultivating more than 50 types of herbs in their medicine garden. By 1766, following the French and Indian War, work began to build the town of Salem.
Reynolda House
Built in 1917 by Katharine and R.J. Reynolds -- founder of the namesake tobacco giant -- Reynolda House originally occupied the center of a 1,067-acre estate. Today, it contains a collection of American art from the colonial period to the present, with tours extending through the opulent home itself.Gregory Gillespie, Studio: Still Life, 1978
Robert Colescott, Famous Last Words: The Death of a Poet, 1989
Thomas Hart Benton, Bootleggers, 1927
A variety of targets await at the end of the shooting gallery.
Old Salem
Before leaving Salem behind for this trip, we stopped at Old Salem Museum & Gardens, the site the Moravians founded beginning in 1766 from their settlement at Bethabara.The museum is a collection of dozens of historic and restored buildings on S. Main St., with interpretive displays and hosts in costume giving talks on furniture-making, metalwork, ceramics, needlework, various arts, and more. A highlight is a bakery dating from 1807.
Sadly, we could only imagine the sights inside these buildings. It was Tuesday, and the museum was closed.
High Point Rockers
We drove to High Point, North Carolina, the lesser-known point of the Piedmont Triad, for two reasons: to see Truist Point, home of the High Point Rockers; and to get a look at that big ol' chest of drawers.I had felt bad about missing the Rockers on this trip. I had seen the team play at Gastonia on our Arrival night, but I hadn't made time to see a game here in High Point. Their social media made me particularly aware of it.
So we at least had to stop by the ballpark and pay our respects from outside the gate.
Described variously as being 32, 36, and 38 feet high, the world’s largest chest of drawers is well-situated in High Poin, a few blocks from the ballpark. The city’s domestic and international furniture makers produce most of America’s furniture, and it hosts the world’s largest furniture market twice each year.
Greensboro History Museum
After a short drive to Greensboro, we made our way to the Greensboro History Museum, housed in a building from 1903 connected to a Presbyterian church built in 1892.
The museum included a special exhibit called Pieces of Now, a collection of street art created during the 2020 protests over the killing of George Floyd.