Salem about the year 1840

Salem about the year 1840 circa 1840 Artist unknown Salem, North Carolina Watercolor and ink on paper Wachovia Historical Society (P-312)

Salem about the year 1840
circa 1840
Artist unknown
Salem, North Carolina
Watercolor and ink on paper
Wachovia Historical Society (P-312)

Although not intended as a companion to Christian Daniel Welfare’s paintings, this hand-drawn plan shows the organization of the town from a different perspective.  It includes features not clearly represented in Welfare’s paintings, such as the African-American log church and the strangers’ graveyard at the far end of Church Street (to the left).  Note the Salem Cotton Factory on the far right with four identical houses for non-Moravian mill workers.  The smaller mill just to the right of the Cotton Factory is the Fries Woolen Mill, built by the early Salem industrialist Francis Fries in 1840.