Wachovia, North Carolina

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the banking corporation see Wachovia.

Wachovia (Pronunciation: wah-KO-vee-yah) was the area first settled by Moravians in what is now Forsyth County, North Carolina, including the present city of Winston-Salem. The name is the Latin form of the German "Wachau," the name of a lush green region along the Danube River which the settlers felt the land resembled.

In 1752 a group of Moravians from the Christiansbrunn Agricultural Settlement in Pennsylvania purchased 98,985 acres (400 km² or 156.67 mi²) in middle/western North Carolina, from John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville. This land was named [[die Wachau,]] in Latin "Wachovia", in honor of the family estate of Count Zinzendorf, Moravian patron and bishop.

The first settlement in Wachovia was at Bethabara, founded 17 November 1753 by fifteen Moravian brethren. Bethabara was originally conceived as a temporary settlement, and its name signified house of passage. During the French and Indian War (1754–1763), a wooden stockade was built and Bethabara became a place of refuge for settlers from the area. Later settlements included Bethania (1759), Salem (1766), Friedberg (1769), Friedland (1772), and Hope (1775). Salem served as the chief town and administrative center of the area. The early settlements were all German-speaking Moravian settlements. The congregation at Hope was the first "English" Moravian church in the area, and the first non-Moravian town was Winston, founded in 1849 as the county seat of Forsyth County. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, maker of Winston and Salem cigarettes, was founded at Winston in 1875. The towns of Salem and Winston merged as Winston-Salem in 1913. Bethabara now lies within the city limits of Winston-Salem as well.