Winston-Salem and Triad North Carolina

[scifan57]

In Canada any philanthropic and charitable activities by tobacco companies are prohibited by law so you'd never see anything like the activities of R.J. Reynolds in Canada.

 

[giradman]

In Canada any philanthropic and charitable activities by tobacco companies are prohibited by law so you'd never see anything like the activities of R.J. Reynolds in Canada.

Well, legal then here, but a 'thorny' issue, especially in those decades early in my medical career while an intern at the medical center in Winston-Salem - this was in 1971 when 'smoking vs. human disease' was really coming to the forefront - remember the C. Everett Koop efforts back then; I can still recall my 'Pulmonary Rotation' and many of my patients were being treated for emphysema due to smoking - as this issue became more powerful and as Reynolds declined, much money that went into the community to support arts, festivals, and a local Seniors Golf tournament disappeared - now, the most important contributor to our local economy is the health care industry by far. Dave

 

[giradman]

Winston & Salem Merge in 1913 to become the hyphenated town of Winston-Salem

The towns of Salem and Winston were duplicating many communal and civil activities which could be easily incorporated into one city government w/ unification of services at reduced cost - after a failed attempt at the end of the 19th century, the two towns were 'united' in 1913 - an excellent video was made on the 100th anniversary of this merger (see pic below) - almost an hour in length and available on PBS HERE - check the link, if interested - works on my laptop. Dave

The two municipalities that would eventually become Winston-Salem came from two strikingly different backgrounds. The town of Salem traced its lineage back to 1753, when it was established by Moravian Bishop August Spangenberg. Winston, named for Joseph Winston, was created in 1849 as the county seat for newly formed Forsyth County.

In 1879, the two towns attempted to unite through legislation passed by the General Assembly, but the use of the name of “Salem” as the city’s new name forced the citizens of Winston to withdraw their support. In years following this first attempt at unification, the local post office was renamed “Winston-Salem” to reflect the closeness of the two communities.

In 1913, a second effort was made to unite the two communities through legislation and another referendum was taken to the voters of both municipalities. This second attempt proved successful, and Winston-Salem was formed in May of that year (Source).

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[giradman]

Reynolda House - RJ Reynolds Estate he never enjoyed - now a Museum of American Art

Reynolda House was opened in 1917 in the country at the time - occupied by Katharine Reynolds and her family (show in a previous pic); RJ Reynolds was dying from pancreatic cancer and never enjoyed the house - being in the country, an entire area of out buildings served the main house - these are now called Reynolda Village (see the aerial map) - now mostly shops & restaurants.

Reynolda House is now a local museum of American Art (as shown below) - the property can be toured and has a small but excellent collection of art works by American artists - in addition, there is a new Babcock wing which has a gallery for traveling exhibits (we've seen many w/ a Grant Wood exhibit opening soon) and also a nice performance hall for musical presentations. If in Winston-Salem, a MUST visit for the beauty and historic interest. Below some pics of the outside & inside of the house - art work is on the walls of the various rooms - three levels can be visited. Dave

Reynolda House Museum of American Art displays a premiere collection of American art ranging from the colonial period to the present. Built in 1917 by Katharine Smith Reynolds and her husband R. J. Reynolds, founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the house originally occupied the center of a 1,067-acre (4.32 km2) estate. It opened to the public as an institution dedicated to the arts and education in 1965, and as an art museum in 1967. The house holds one of the country's finest collections of American paintings. It is located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (Source).

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[giradman]

Reynolda House - Just Some of the Works of Art!

Reynolda House is a beautiful place but not that large - the art work is hung on the walls throughout the numerous rooms - despite the 'limited' number, the works presented, their quality, and the reputation of the artists are impressive - below is just a sampling of what there is to see - many more are on exhibit. Dave
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[scifan57]

Reynolda House - Just Some of the Works of Art!

Reynolda House is a beautiful place but not that large - the art work is hung on the walls throughout the numerous rooms - despite the 'limited' number, the works presented, their quality, and the reputation of the artists are impressive - below is just a sampling of what there is to see - many more are on exhibit. Dave
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It's a beautiful house. It's too bad R.J. Reynolds never got to enjoy it.

 

[giradman]

It's a beautiful house. It's too bad R.J. Reynolds never got to enjoy it.

We've always liked walking through that house - seems so livable - agree about RJ - he was 30 years older than his wife, Katharine - what is just as sad is that she died @ 44 y/o - married again and on giving birth to a second baby at her age, she had a post-partum blood clot (I suspect a pulmonary embolism) and passed away leaving her other children by RJ Reynolds to be taken care of by close relatives, but that's another story. Dave

 

[giradman]

Libby Holman & the Mysterious Death of Z. Smith Reynolds in Reynolda House!

Zachary Smith Reynolds (1911-1932) was the youngest child of RJ Reynolds - he was more commonly called Z. Smith Reynolds or Smith, and was an amateur aviator (see quote below from previous link). Smith became enamored w/ the singer, actress, and Broadway star Libby Holman (1904-1971); they married at the end of 1931 (see second quote below).

In his bedroom in Reynolda House after a party, he suffered a gunshot wound to his head; his wife was present but whether he was shot by Holman or himself remains a mystery (see third quote below); he died that night at the age of 20 years - a trial was not held - he is buried in the Salem Cemetery (see headstone below).

"Reynolds' siblings underwent a prolonged fight to receive their share of Reynolds' estate, after which they established a trust in his name that provided for his namesake foundation, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. As a result, many things in the Winston-Salem, NC area are named for Reynolds. The local airport (Smith Reynolds Airport) and the main library at Wake Forest University are named in his honor." (link above) - Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, if interested.

Just a few pics below - years ago we took our daughter-in-law to tour Reynolda House - she knew the Z. Smith Reynolds story and visited the bedroom. Dave

P.S. there are many books on the Reynolds family - one that I would recommend is The Gilded Leaf, co-written by one of RJ's grandsons, Patrick Reynolds; first edition published in 1989.

Reynolds was an avid aviator. Smith bought a S.56C amphibian biplane built by American Aeronautical Corporation in Port Washington, New York under license from Italian manufacturer Savoia-Marchetti in the spring of 1931, it was customized for him to have a single seat and extra fuel capacity as he planned to fly it around the world. After a couple of aborted starts, Reynolds began a long-distance flight (London to Hong Kong) in December 1931 right after his marriage to Holman. She was touring the United States in a road production of Three's A Crowd, reprising her Broadway theatre role. His solo flight was not really publicized and he was completing the ocean portions via boat. His flight journal survives. One of only two surviving S.56C aircraft is on display at the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The aircraft is on long-term loan from Reynolda House.

Smith Reynolds married Libby Holman on November 29, 1931. Reynolds had asked Holman to marry him while still married to Cannon and had reportedly told her he would kill himself if she refused his offer. Holman, although a celebrated Broadway actress, gave up her career to preside over the Reynolds estate, Reynolda House. They threw many parties there. After Reynolds' death, Holman gave birth to his son Christopher Smith "Topper" Reynolds three months prematurely on January 11, 1933 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the baby weighed 3.5 pounds. Topper Reynolds died in August 1950 at age 17 in a climbing accident on Mount Whitney.

Reynolds died under mysterious circumstances from an automatic .32 caliber Mauser pistol shot through his head on the early morning of July 6, 1932 at his Winston-Salem, North Carolina estate known as Reynolda. His wife Libby Holman Reynolds was pregnant with their child. Reynolds' boyhood friend Albert "Ab" Walker had stayed over after the party, and he reported that he heard a gunshot from downstairs and immediately afterwards Holman ran to the balcony and shouted, "Smith's killed himself!" Walker said he found Reynolds bleeding and unconscious upstairs, with a bullet wound in his right temple; he was pronounced dead four hours later at 5:25 am on July 6.

The death was originally ruled a suicide, but a coroner's inquiry subsequently ruled the death a murder. Both Walker and Holman were considered suspects in his death and were both indicted for first-degree murder of Reynolds—Holman for the murder itself and Walker as an accomplice. The murder attracted national attention. Reporters printed allegations that Holman had conducted an affair with Walker. Reynolds' uncle William Neal Reynolds told the district attorney that the family supported dropping the charges; the prosecutor eventually did so for lack of evidence, and no trial was ever held. Zachary Smith Reynolds is buried in the Salem Cemetery in Winston-Salem.

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[giradman]

Reynolda House - Grant Wood and the American Farm

Today, Susan & I visited Reynolda House to see the current art exhibit, Grant Wood and the American Farm, which opened in early September and ending December 31 - quotes below from the link given; for those interested, a more detailed description HERE.

Grant Wood (1891-1942) was an American artist who was born in rural Iowa; although best known for his paintings (the most famous shown below, i.e. American Gothic), he worked in a number of media, including lithography (a dozen or so were hung for this exhibit), ink, metal, wood, etc. The exhibit includes various works of arts from a dozen or more artists w/ one section dedicated to Wood - artists dating from the 19th century up to near the present are represented. The images below show just some of the dozens of art works represented, all were present (plus much more) except American Gothic, which is in the Art Institute of Chicago (I've seen that painting many times).

SO, if you might be passing through the North Carolina Triad in the next three months, then a visit to Reynolda House is recommended (admission to the house includes the Grant Wood exhibit). Dave

The family farm occupies a central place in American identity. Many of the country’s founders, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, extolled the virtues of farmers and farm life.

Jefferson wrote in 1785, “Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands.”

This attitude permeated American culture, from literature to journalism to painting. Grant Wood and the American Farm will trace the evolution of this notion over a period of a hundred years, from 1850 to 1950. It will give particular attention to the Regionalist artist Grant Wood and other artists from some of the nation’s top collections including Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam, Thomas Hart Benton, Arthur Dove, Charles Sheeler, and Andrew Wyeth.

This examination of the American farm is particularly appropriate for Reynolda House Museum of American Art because our history provides an early example of the passion for “farm to table.” The Museum occupies the center of a former 1,000-acre estate created in the early years of the 20th century by Katharine Smith Reynolds, wife of tobacco magnate Richard Joshua (R.J.) Reynolds.

Katharine Reynolds’s vision for the Reynolda estate included a large vegetable garden and a model farm intended to demonstrate the most progressive techniques in farming, dairying, and animal husbandry. Grant Wood and the American Farm was organized by Reynolda House Museum of American Art, which is its only venue.

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[giradman]

The National Park Service has expanded Old Salem’s National Historic Landmark District

Great article today in the Winston-Salem Journal, our local paper - the Old Salem Historic District has been tripled in size by the National Park Service - the original district's timeline was from the founding of Salem in 1766 to 1856 w/ the incorporation of the town. The current expansion brings the area to 1913 when the twin cities merged to become Winston-Salem (lot of history of the city in my previous posts in this thread).

A number of houses, historic neighborhoods, and buildings currently in use (hotels/motels, shops, restaurants, etc.) are now included in the historic district - just 3 pics below w/ descriptions: 1) Poplar Street neighborhood; 2) Brookstown Inn; and 3) Railway Center - a nice restaurant is located where outdoor dining is available where the umbrellas are located - most of the 'new' area is residential and/or commercial property, but I suspect some additional attractions, like a house tour or two, will likely appear. Dave

P.S. Kind of stopped my discussion in the early 1930s w/ the death of Z. Smith Reynolds - there is much more to describe, so should continue in the near future!

The National Park Service has expanded Old Salem’s National Historic Landmark district, tripling its acreage and increasing the number of time periods considered significant. The Old Salem Historic District was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1966 and updated in 1978. The district initially covered 62 acres. Under the expansion, it now encompasses 193 acres with the Interior Department’s action and includes sections of the nearby Happy Hill community, the city’s oldest black neighborhood (Source).

Salem’s original National Historic Landmark designation encompassed the period from 1766 to 1856, the founding of Salem to when the N.C. General Assembly incorporated Salem. Now, that period has been extended from 1766 to 1913, when Salem merged with the town of Winston. That’s when Salem ceased to be a municipality. The second significant time period starts in 1948, when what was then Old Salem Inc. began its efforts to preserve and restore the community. The period ends in 2010, with the completion of the reconstruction of the Shultz-Cooper House at 411 S. Main St. The house was restored to its 1840 appearance (Source).

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[giradman]

Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017 - Moravian Easter Sunrise Service in Old Salem - 245th Year!

This Sunday morning, the Moravians (plus many 'guests') celebrated the 245th Easter Sunrise Service, the oldest in the USA. This celebration started in 1732, the year that George Washington was born - Susan & I may have attended one of these services back in the 1970s, cannot remember (we've been to Old Salem, so many times) - but an important continuing tradition for the Moravian Church here.

Need to continue this thread - kind of stopped in the early 19th century - plenty more has happened - Dave

The first Easter Sunrise Service recorded took place in 1732 in the Moravian congregation at Herrnhut in the Upper Lusatian hills of Saxony. After an all-night prayer vigil, the Single Brethren -- the unmarried men of the community -- went to the town graveyard, God's Acre, on the hill above the town to sing hymns of praise to the Risen Saviour. The following year, the whole Congregation joined in the service. Thereafter the "Easter Morning" or "Sunrise Service" spread around the world with the Moravian missionaries. The procession to the graveyard is accompanied by the antiphonal playing of chorales by brass choirs (Source).

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[suenc]

Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017 - Moravian Easter Sunrise Service in Old Salem - 245th Year!

This Sunday morning, the Moravians (plus many 'guests') celebrated the 245th Easter Sunrise Service, the oldest in the USA. This celebration started in 1732, the year that George Washington was born - Susan & I may have attended one of these services back in the 1970s, cannot remember (we've been to Old Salem, so many times) - but an important continuing tradition for the Moravian Church here.

Need to continue this thread - kind of stopped in the early 19th century - plenty more has happened - Dave


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We’ve never been to the sunrise service (we’re not “morning people”) but I appreciate the lovely traditions of the Moravians. At Christmas they have a Love Feast church service in which the congregation shares buns and sweet coffee.

 

[giradman]

Dorothea Lange Photo Exhibit at Reynolda House - Just Returned!

Today, Susan & I went to the Dorothea Lange Exhibit at Reynolda House - first two quotes below from her Wiki bio, emphasizing two important aspects of her photographic career, i.e. the Depression era of the 1930s and the Japanese relocation camps in western USA during WW II - in addition, photos from many of her contemporary colleagues were also part of the presentation - below pics of Lange and the excellent documentary available on Amazon; also a number of the photos we saw at the exhibit - the 'most famous' is the Migrant Mother from 1936, probably one of the most iconic 20th century American photographs - see the third quote for more. Dave

Dorothea Lange (1895 – 1965) was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange's photographs humanized the consequences of the Great Depression and influenced the development of documentary photography. With the onset of the Great Depression, Lange turned her camera lens from the studio to the street. Her photos during this period were reflected in much of John Steinbeck’s writing in The Grapes of Wrath. Her studies of unemployed and homeless people, starting with White Angel Breadline (1933) which depicted a lone man facing away from the crowd in front of a soup kitchen run by a widow known as the White Angel, captured the attention of local photographers and led to her employment with the federal Resettlement Administration (RA), later called the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Working for the Resettlement Administration and Farm Security Administration, they brought the plight of the poor and forgotten – particularly sharecroppers, displaced farm families, and migrant workers – to public attention. (Source)

In 1941, Lange was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for achievement in photography. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, she gave up the prestigious award to record the forced evacuation of Japanese Americans from the West Coast, on assignment for the War Relocation Authority (WRA). She covered the internment of Japanese Americans and their subsequent incarceration, traveling throughout urban and rural California to photograph families preparing to leave to the first of the permanent internment camps.To many observers, her photograph of Japanese American children pledging allegiance to the flag shortly before they were sent to camp is a haunting reminder of this policy of detaining people without charging them with any crime. Her images were so obviously critical that the Army impounded most of them, and they were not seen publicly during the war. Today her photographs of the internment are available in the National Archives on the website of the Still Photographs Division, and at the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. (Source)

The picture that did more than any other to humanize the cost of the Great Depression almost didn’t happen. Driving past the crude “Pea-Pickers Camp” sign in Nipomo, north of Los Angeles, Dorothea Lange kept going for 20 miles. But something nagged at the photographer from the government’s Resettlement Administration, and she finally turned around. At the camp, the Hoboken, N.J.–born Lange spotted Frances Owens Thompson and knew she was in the right place. “I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother in the sparse lean-to tent, as if drawn by a magnet,” Lange later wrote. The farm’s crop had frozen, and there was no work for the homeless pickers, so the 32-year-old Thompson sold the tires from her car to buy food, which was supplemented with birds killed by the children. Lange, who believed that one could understand others through close study, tightly framed the children and the mother, whose eyes, worn from worry and resignation, look past the camera. Lange took six photos with her 4x5 Graflex camera, later writing, “I knew I had recorded the essence of my assignment.” Afterward Lange informed the authorities of the plight of those at the encampment, and they sent 20,000 pounds of food. Of the 160,000 images taken by Lange and other photographers for the Resettlement Administration, Migrant Mother has become the most iconic picture of the Depression. Through an intimate portrait of the toll being exacted across the land, Lange gave a face to a suffering nation. (Source)

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[suenc]

Dorothea Lange Photo Exhibit at Reynolda House - Just Returned!

Today, Susan & I went to the Dorothea Lange Exhibit at Reynolda House - first two quotes below from her Wiki bio, emphasizing two important aspects of her photographic career, i.e. the Depression era of the 1930s and the Japanese relocation camps in western USA during WW II - in addition, photos from many of her contemporary colleagues were also part of the presentation - below pics of Lange and the excellent documentary available on Amazon; also a number of the photos we saw at the exhibit - the 'most famous' is the Migrant Mother from 1936, probably one of the most iconic 20th century American photographs - see the third quote for more. Dave






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Amazing photographer! As one who shakes the camera and ends up taking pictures of dead trees or my own feet, I truly appreciate her artistry.

 

[giradman]

Tropical Storm Michael Hits the Triad w/ Flooding, Fallen Trees, & Electrical Outages

Well, I've been off the grid and off the internet for nearly 2 days, so now back as of about noon today. After completely missing any effects from Hurricane Florence last month, we were less fortunate w/ the downgraded tropical storm that began as Hurricane Michael - we lost power about 2PM on Thursday - my APC UPS backup kept us on the internet for about 6 hours, then went down - I had plenty of lights, batteries, and a battery-radio and charged battery packs to keep our iPads going - Susan was able to cook two dinners on our gas stove (starters run off electricity but can be lit w/ a match or torch) - we had minor puddles in the basement (still have to take out some soaked small rugs) - no fallen trees. After power restoration, we checked our two refrigerators and decided to toss out some thawed out meats (probably only a $100-$150).

Many others in the Triad Area (Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem) were not so luck - trees on houses, cars, etc., flooding especially those near rivers and creeks - the prolonged electrical loss will certainly impact on a LOT of food being tossed. Below are some quotes as to rain (about 5-6"), winds (up to 50 mph), electric outages, about 150,000+ in the two main cities, and a few deaths in North Carolina - a video and pics showing the flooding in Tanglewood Park (western Forsyth County) and at the Bermuda Run Golf Course, both adjacent to the Yadkin River. Dave

Tropical Storm Michael delivered human misery Thursday throughout Winston-Salem as the storm dumped nearly 5 inches of rain on the city and packed wind gusts reaching 44 mph, according to the National Weather Service. The storm unleashed its fury in Forsyth County from about 1 to 2 p.m., said Brandon Dunston, a meteorologist with the weather service in Raleigh. “That’s when we had the strongest winds on the back side of (the storm’s) circulation,” Dunston said. (SOURCE)

The impact of Tropical Storm Michael continues in the Carolinas, with 3 deaths in North Carolina, 428,000 people without power in both states, ongoing flooding and more than a dozen school districts closed. On Friday morning, the death toll from the storm was updated to 11 across the southeast, including five in Virginia, according to a tweet from the Virginia Dept. of Emergency Management.Power outages included more than 145,000 in the Greensboro area and 41,000 in the Charlotte metro area, reported Duke Energy.Michael weakened to a post-tropical cyclone late Thursday and moved away from Virginia out into the Atlantic Ocean Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center. (SOURCE)

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