Wachovia

Thomas (1994) tells us of the methods practiced by the Moravians; inclusion being amongst the top of the list. Through their inclusion, and their exclusion of outsiders, the Moravian leadership continued to set Salem apart from that of the other settlements of Wachovia (Thomas, 1994, p. 18). At the time, Salem was run through the aspects of the Moravian church, creating a structured community. Through this the congregation of people was divided into nine groups better known as choirs (Thomas, 1994, p.18). Thomas (1994) helps us to better explain the choirs by providing the basis upon which choir you were put in and the significance of choirs. He relays to us that the choirs are what formed the basic social construction of the church. To be placed in a choir, one would be looked at in terms of  gender, age, and marital status. The following are the categories in which Thomas (1994) provides the names for: Single Brethren, Single Sisters, Married Persons, Widows, Older Boys, Older Girls, Little Boys, and Little Girls. It was through these choirs, the Moravian church would put its beliefs into practice within personal lives, as well as reinforce gender roles within the society of Salem (Thomas, 1994, p. 18). It was through these choirs that, even though there were little children in 1772, two schools were able to be brought to life. Since boys and girls could not attend school together, two schools had to be formed.(Fries, 1949, p. 36). The boys school was helped in the home of the master carpenter, Christian Triebel, and the one for young girls was held in a room in the Gemein Haus, with Elisabeth Oesterlein (Fries, 1949, p. 36). The boy’s school would stand through the winds of time, until that of the formation of public school system in the city of Winston; the girls school, otherwise known as the infant school for girls of 1772 would withstand time and become Salem College (Fries, 1949, p. 36). 

The Moravians were set apart through several ways. One we have already seen would be through their strict religious beliefs, and how those beliefs crafted and molded society. Another way the church dictated the society was through their housing allotments. Housing was used to shape the utopian environment of Salem through their goal of making sure residents were close enough together, to be supervised by the leaders of the church; leaders such as the ministers and congregation officers (Thomas, 1994, p.18). In congruence with the construction of housing, was the overall design for the layout of Salem. Salem was modeled after European towns, and that of the Moravian settlements in Pennsylvania (Thomas, 1994, p.19). The square, which still exists to this day, is what Thomas (1994) describes as the central square or center point of the town. 

As already noted, the church was very much in control of the town, as well as the people who inhabited Salem. Besides the location of the church, the strict mandates on where one lived and the social choir they were apart of, the church monitored what and who came into Salem and what went out. Outsiders were rarely granted admission into the Moravian society, and were never buried amongst side of the people (Thomas, 1994, p. 21). This type of restriction from the outside was also seen through the ability to be bilingual, in that the settlers spoke both German and English. German was spoken, in that it is the official language of the Moravian Church, and is what the majority of services were in (Thomas, 1994, p. 22). Thomas (1994), helps us to see that this ability to be bilingual offered a two-fold strategy in that it offered restriction on interaction and eased communication with community leaders. The Moravians were quick to use the language differences to exclude outsiders, and to keep a sense of internal control over the community.

The Moravian church secured Salem’s place in society through their success within the region as the market center (Thomas, 1994, p. 26). As Thomas (1994) better explains, through trade and control of the church, the town of Salem was able to thrive and become successful. Today, Salem remains still as a focal point of the piedmont the region maintains a sense of nostalgia that separates it from all other societies alike.