Seniors Enjoy Winston-Salem

This senior was watching Wake Forest in a baseball playoff game and was not sure where the University is located, so I looked it up. Thus, my next travel blog. Wake Forest University, founded in 1834, today has a student population of 7,600, who live and learn on a beautiful campus.

Wake Forest is in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with a 2015 estimated population of 241,218.  The city of Winston-Salem is a product of the merging of the two neighboring towns of Winston and Salem in 1913.

The Reynolds family, namesake of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, played a huge and dynamic role in the history and public life of Winston-Salem. By the 1940s, 60% of Winston-Salem workers worked either for Reynolds or in the Hanes textile factories.

Seniors Find City of Many Names

The Reynolds company imported so much French cigarette paper and Turkish tobacco for Camel cigarettes that Winston-Salem was designated by the United States federal government as an official port of entry for the United States, despite the city being 200 miles (320 km) inland. Winston-Salem was the eighth-largest port of entry in the United States by 1916.

The economy of Winston-Salem is varied and the city is home to several corporate headquarters and a nationally ranked Downtown. Winston-Salem is called the “Twin City” for its dual heritage and “City of the Arts and Innovation” for its dedication to fine arts and theater and technological research.

“Camel City” is a reference to the city’s historic involvement in the tobacco industry related to locally based R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s Camel cigarettes.

 Seniors Enjoy Old Salem

Salem was the name chosen by the Moravians’ late patron, Count Zinzendorf, which he named after the Canaanite city mentioned in the Book of Genesis. In 1849, the Salem congregation sold land north of Salem to the newly formed Forsyth County for a county seat. The new town was named Winston for a local hero of the Revolutionary War, Joseph Winston.

TripAdvisor invites senior travelers to look at their list of 62 things to see and do in and around Winston-Salem. They suggest a couple of highly popular museums: Old Salem Museum and Garden, and the Reynolds  House Museum of American Art. Both look very interesting to me. I noted that #5 on their list was taking a city tour on a Segway. Have you ever done that? Looks like fun.

Old Salem, celebrating 250 years, is a historic district of Winston-Salem. It played a historic role in early American History. It features a living history museum that interprets the restored Moravian community.

Events and festivals are on-going all year long. Seniors, set your GPS for Winston-Salem and enjoy all the amenities that this exciting city has to offer. -jeb