6 Best Sights in Winston-Salem, Central North Carolina

Set in a wooded 183-acre wildlife preserve, this was the site of the first Moravian settlement in North Carolina. The reconstructed village showcasing the mid-18th-century community includes the original 1788 Gemeinhaus congregation house, a colonial homestead, and well-maintained medicinal gardens. God's Acre, the first colony cemetery, is a short walk away. Children love the reconstructed fort from the French and Indian War, and hiking trails head off into the hills around the settlement. Brochures for self-guided walking tours are available year-round at the visitor center, where interpreters in period attire help bring this bygone era to life.

Founded in 1766 as a backcountry trading center, Old Salem is one of the nation's most well-documented colonial sites. This living-history museum, a few blocks from downtown Winston-Salem, is filled with dozens of original and reconstructed buildings. Costumed guides demonstrate trades and household activities common in the late-18th- and early-19th-century Moravian communities, and an interactive audio tour tells the stories of the Native Americans, enslaved Africans, and European settlers that lived here. The preserved streets and buildings of the old town are still a functioning community that includes the campus of Salem College. Be sure to stop at Winkler Bakery, where you can buy bread, the pillowy, best-selling sugar cakes, and scrumptious Moravian ginger cookies, baked in traditional brick ovens.

Don't miss "America's largest coffee pot," a 12-foot-tall vessel built by Julius Mickey in 1858 to advertise his tinsmith shop. After surviving two separate car collisions, it was moved to its present location at the edge of Old Salem in 1959.

This unique museum on the southern edge of Old Salem showcases the furniture, painting, ceramics, and metalware used in the area through 1820. The bookstore carries hard-to-find books on Southern culture and history.

The front yard of this home, built by Camel cigarette founder R. J. Reynolds and his wife, Katharine Smith Reynolds, seems to extend to the horizon. It's the first of many moments of grandeur at the 1917 dwelling that's now an art museum filled with paintings, prints, and sculptures by Thomas Eakins, Frederic Church, and Georgia O'Keeffe. There's also a costume collection, as well as clothing and toys used by the Reynolds children. The home is adjacent to the 134-acre Reynolda Gardens that include flower fields, wooded trails, and a nursery. Next door is Reynolda Village, a collection of shops and restaurants that fill the estate's original outer buildings.

The always-changing exhibits at this tucked-away museum near the Wake Forest campus showcase artwork—including large-format sculpture displays—by nationally and internationally known artists. The attached historic Hanes House has been renovated with contemporary designer furnishings comfortable for attending a Fireside Chat, reading an art magazine, or just enjoying the view of the grounds outside.

Once land claimed for Queen Elizabeth by Sir Walter Raleigh, this park's amenities include golfing, boating, hiking, fishing, horseback riding, and a large swimming pool with waterslides. There is also a dog park, campground, and an arboretum filled with plants native to the Carolina Piedmont. The Tanglewood Festival of Lights, one of the largest holiday-lights festivals in the Southeast, runs from mid-November to early January.