Moravians in North Carolina

Description
In this lesson students will explore groups that moved to North Carolina from other colonies.
Time will be spent discussing the influence the Moravians had on colonial North Carolina.
Students will also research the buildings that were a part of an early Moravian town.

Grade Level 4th grade

Learning outcomes

Students will:

Investigate groups of people who moved to North Carolina from other colonies

Pre-activities
Discuss with the students why some of the first colonists came to North America. Some colonists
arrived in the new land and then decided to move for different reasons. The Moravians were a
religious group that finally settled in North Carolina but first went to Georgia and Pennsylvania.
The Moravians left Georgia because the British and Native Americans were fighting and they
were going to be forced to fight too. They then established a city in Pennsylvania. Once in
Pennsylvania the Moravians were asked to come and settle part of North Carolina. They were
offered land by a proprietor named Granville. (You could connect the proprietor Granville to
Granville County.) The tract of land they were offered was called Wachovia. (You could connect
this to the bank Wachovia). The first two cities the Moravians established were Bethabara and
Bethania. The last and largest city established was Salem.

Activities
In the colonial records there are detailed descriptions of different buildings in Salem.
Divide the children into small groups for a total of eight groups. Give each group an index
card with the name of a building on it, the description of the buildings, and a large sheet of
construction paper. The students need to read the description and create a poster with information
about their building. If possible students could access the internet and find out more information
as well as seeing a picture. The Old Salem website listed in supplemental information provides a
virtual tour of the different buildings. The students could include a picture on their poster.
After the students have finished researching their assigned building they can share with the rest
of the class. During sharing it would be a good idea to have each student take notes about each
of the other groups buildings. Then after each group presented they would have a complete set of
notes about all of the main buildings found in Salem.
After students completed sharing discuss with the students what aspects of Salem are still a
part of our cities today. If time permits you could create a Venn diagram comparing Salem with
the city you live in today.

Assessment
Students could complete the Venn diagram independently as an assessment activity. The students could also have a matching quiz with each of the building and a short description of each.

Supplemental Information
Historic Salem North Carolina website: http://www.oldsalem.org/index.php?id=48
This site allows you to explore the museum located in historic Salem. If you click planning a
tour the students can take a virtual tour of the different building highlighted in the colonial
records.