WS Chronicle

Since its founding in 1950, Old Salem Museums & Gardens has been protecting the core of the town of Salem’s Historic District by buying properties, restoring buildings and landscapes, and then selling them back into private ownership. This type of revolving preservation effort is at the core of Old Salem’s mission and stewardship of the over 100-acre landmarked district. In the 70 years since its founding, Old Salem Museums & Gardens has been involved in 240 land and home purchases and sales.

Beginning in the early 1980s, Old Salem began a strategic initiative to acquire a series of properties located along Walnut Street, Marshall Street, Poplar Street, and Broad Street. The primary purpose of the purchase of these properties was to control the development around the Historic District and foster residential connections to the West Salem neighborhood, which abuts Old Salem. By purchasing these properties and placing deed covenants on any properties sold, Old Salem has created a residential connector to the Historic District and helped control commercial development in the neighborhood. Also, in the early 1980s, Old Salem sold property to the developers of Tanner’s Run, a residential development located on South Marshall south of Brookstown Avenue that was built in 1985. Additional lots were sold in the mid-2000s and were developed into the townhouses along South Marshall Street and Poplar Street between West and Walnut Streets.

After an extensive strategic review of the Marshall Street Corridor by a board of trustees’ committee, the next phase of this preservation effort is to begin. Old Salem Museums & Gardens’ Board of Trustees approved the Phase 1 sale of an L-shaped area of land comprised of three contiguous pieces of property west of Marshall Street (located on the corner of West Walnut Street and South Poplar Street) at the May 1, 2020 board meeting. The properties to be sold are non-interpreted and do not contain any public facing venues. Old Salem will include deed covenants with the sale of these properties, which, among other things, will restrict their use to residential development.

Old Salem will be sending out a Request for Proposal (RFP) to a wide variety of realtors in the area this week.

Proceeds from the sale of the property will be used for a preservation fund to continue Old Salem’s 70-year stewardship of Old Salem’s physical environment, as well as improve the visitor experience. 

“Since its founding, Old Salem has been fully committed to being good stewards not only of the Historic District, but also our surrounding neighborhoods in the South Ward,” stated Hayes Wauford, chair of the board of trustees.“ By the use of deed covenants, we are able to ensure that the properties around the Historic District will be developed in a way that is consistent with the residential nature of the areas around Old Salem. With the improvements and modifications to the Strollway, including the new Strollway pedestrian bridge, access and connection to downtown Winston-Salem will be improved and the area around Old Salem will become more and more connected to the city that surrounds it. We hope that the sale of the land will be a significant enhancement for the quality of life for the area.

“The purchase and sale of properties within, as well as outside the Historic District, has been part of an ongoing, long-term strategy for Old Salem,” Wauford continued. “In fact, since Old Salem’s inception in 1950, Old Salem has been an organization that takes the long view of stewardship. We are excited that the sale of these properties west of Marshall Street is a continuation of this long-term strategy.”

Old Salem has been closed since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Old Salem will re-open when it is safe to do so for its staff and guests. In the meantime, efforts have been concentrated on producing bread and vegetables for local food banks, as well as creating innovative digital programs and educational resources, including the Old Salem Exploratorium, the MESDA Summer Scholars Series, THINGS: A Global Conversation, and the Southern Pathways project. Please visit oldsalem.org to learn more.