Old Salem Museums & Gardens — Attraction in Winston-Salem

Today we visited here with my children's school. I went here as a child in elementary school and loved this field trip. Today I was extremely disappointed with how our visit went. While there not only did my group experience rudeness from staff but several groups did as well. We went to get our coolers and when asking for a cart to assist getting them outside, a staff member very rudely told us she refused to let us use it to take outside to where our children would be eating. We opted to not use any of their carts with the rudeness. The second altercation happened at The School for Boys. My daughter has special needs and this was a very vital field trip for her. We weren't even sure if she would make it the first hour. When it came time for them to write with the quail pens, my daughter had asked for my help. The actress very rudely states that no mom's can help, to where I had to loudly announce that she had special needs. Her response, well if you would have just said that. I should never have to announce anywhere that she has special needs, not everyone with a disability has a visible one. She also was rude with any adult at the table. That was with other groups as well. May I ask why we paid to come on the field trip with our children? May I ask when did kindness leave the staff at Old Salem? We also had let them know we were meeting back at 2:00 pm at the main entrance for the kids to shop, once back we were loudly told that they were closed but would grace us with 2 minutes for the kids. I purchased the things for my children to where my daughter was waiting as two students were still inside and I didn't want to leave them there alone. The woman who had been rude before ushered my daughter outside quickly because she was done and they wanted her out. My daughter had to be with me the entire time due to her epilepsy and POTS. If she had a seizure or passed out I was the only one there to help her, which she has had several occur the last two weeks. I yelled at the staff for that occurrence. There was another school there that we did see that was a little wild. Please do not take your frustrations out on our school or our children. I am proud of how our children, staff and parents represented our school. I am saddened a place I was so excited to bring my children too was a very sad experience for myself today. Please train your employees on hospitality. Please tell them to understand that at times people with disabilities are not visible. Learn kindness, understand field trips are back, kids are coming back into places. We paid to be there, we paid to enjoy our experience, not to be treated...

I go to Wake Forest and had never been to Old Salem. My parents and I went on Friday, October 7th, and it was an amazing experience. If you are at all interested in Moravian culture or just Southern history in general, I recommend visiting. The town and gardens are absolutely beautiful and extremely well-preserved. We bought tickets ($20 for adults and $12 for students/children), but you do not need to buy tickets if you just want to walk through the village. The tickets just allow you to enter the buildings and see demonstrations to learn more about Moravian culture. We personally went into the Potter's Workshop and the Miksh House, which were both very cool and helped us better understand life in the town of Salem. The workers were incredibly nice and knowledgeable, answering any questions we had! There are a few buildings that will be opening later in October, including the Joiner's Shop/Blum House and the Single Brothers House, which would be very interesting to see. There is also a bakery in the town, which sells Moravian cookies and some delicious baked goods. Old Salem Museum also houses MESDA, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts. I previously went to MESDA for one of my classes in college and worked on the Hidden Town Project that was started by Old Salem itself (definitely check it out if you can - it is an amazing project that seeks to shed light on the lives of enslaved individuals living in and around the Winston-Salem area). I also highly recommend visiting MESDA if you have time - they have some amazing...

Old Salem Museum is definitely one of the best museums in Winston-Salem. I visited there on weekends. It's close to Wake Forest University so it's convenient for students to visit. You only need to drive for fifteen minutes to get there. The ticket price is $20 for everything in the museum. The gateway to the visitor center of the museum is very interesting. It's a wooden bridge. Walking through it was enjoyable. I checked the web and found that "This heavy timber frame bridge was designed by noted preservation engineer David A. Fischetti to mimic historic bridges from the 19th century." Among all the exhibits, I love those displayed in the MESDA’s Whitehall Gallery. It is a great collection of many ancient maps of the Early American South. The dedicated maps were displayed in the glass cases. There were also detailed labels beside each object. The atmosphere of this gallery is very good. Besides the exhibits, I also like the interior decoration in the room. Also, it's worth mentioning that the cafeteria and the Winkler Bakery were nice. The foods were so good. I also walked around in the Moravian Gift Shop. Overall, I highly recommend people come to Old Salem. You will have a...