a last look

September 26, 2007

a last look

In my early grade school years I attended a small private school called Moravian Academy in Bethlehem, PA. Bethlehem was initially a Moravian settlement and going to school in the heart of the city introduced to the Moravian traditions and church that helped form the area. I learned to love the old world feel of downtown (so much so that I eventually got married there). I was transported back in time by a city boasting cobblestone streets, brick buildings and the scent of beeswax candles. I learned about the world as it once was as re-enactors, committed to bringing education to the young, walked around in the plain dress of the Moravians and taught us about their way of life. I attended the simple workship services (so different from the Byzantine Catholic upbringing I had received thus far), participated in the love feasts (looking forward with childish delight to the cookies and cider and the lighting of candles) and every Christmas I eagerly anticipated the glowing "Moravian Star" - the Star of David - that would appear in every window, hang from every Christmas tree branch, and glow brightly as the star over Bethlehem once did.

The first time I wandered into Old Salem my childhood, this childhood, came flooding back to me. I had wandered into another Moravian settlement, so reminiscent of home at a time when I longed to be there, and it almost moved me to tears. I was utterly surprised that here was a replica of my childhood home, so similar and yet in a state so far from the one where I'd been raised. Here again were the familiar Moravian stars, the beeswax candles wrapped in red, the ginger cookies and apple cider, the cobblestone streets and plain dress. In Winston Salem I felt entirely at home at a time when I needed it desperately. And for that reason I come back every year, walk the streets and am reminded of the places I'd left behind.

I spent a lot of time trying to capture the old Salem and the new Salem in these photos. There are a lot of them, but I hope you enjoy them!

Wake Forest University
Wait Chapel