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Historic marker to be unveiled for St. Philips Moravian Church in Winston-Salem

A view of Salem circa 1865. Photo courtesy of Old Salem Museums & Gardens; Collection of Wachovia Historical Society.

Winston-Salem officials are preparing to unveil a historic marker commemorating the country's first and only African American Moravian Church. 

St. Philips Moravian Church was established in 1822 to serve enslaved people living in and around Salem, as the town was known at the time.

According to a news release, the congregation had been meeting at local farms before moving into the log church.

A marker commemorating the church will be unveiled at 3 p.m., Saturday, April 30.

Martha Hartley, director of Moravian Research at Old Salem Museums and Gardens, says the occasion is a necessary reminder that people of African descent have been part of the community's history since the establishment of the Moravian settlement.

"We have to remember that our history is not always readily visible, and this unveiling is certainly a testament to that, because who would have known that this place in an urban area was once a farm in the early 1800s, and was one of the outlying farms where these early services were held for the enslaved population around Salem," says Hartley. 

The gathering will be on the campus of Carolina University at the site where the congregation held its first service.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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