RALEIGH –In December 1752, Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg described a future Moravian settlement area by writing “The land we are camped on seems to me to have been reserved for the Brethren, by the Lord.” The spot came to be called Wachovia, and the area is now the Rolling Village development in Clemmons.
A N.C. Historical Highway Marker will be dedicated on Thursday, Dec. 4, at 2 p.m., at the Clemmons Moravian Church, 3560 Spangenberg Ave., to commemorate the settlement that led to the establishment of Bethabara, Bethania, Salem, and other Moravian communities.
A survey party started out in Edenton in September 1752 and journeyed as far west as Boone before retreating down the mountain and following the Yadkin River to Muddy Creek. Bishop Spangenberg found the ideal spot there, which had countless springs and fine creeks for building mills. There was meadowland and good pasture for cattle, and sloping land for raising corn, wheat and other crops, as well as stone suitable for building. He decided to name the land Wachovia because it reminded him of Wachau in Austria, which means “meadow along the Wach.” The Wach was a stream on the ancestral estate of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, an early benefactor of the Moravian Church.
In October 1753, 11 Moravian Carolina Pioneers departed Bethlehem, Penn., to settle Wachovia. Single men were sent with the mission “to serve neighboring plantations emphasizing Christian Unity, establish a settlement where the Moravian ideals of Christian Living might be realized and practiced, and to preach the Gospel to the Indians.”
For additional information on the marker dedication, contact Robert Beroth, (336) 778-0067. For additional information on the Historical Highway Marker program, contact Mike Hill at (919) 807-7290 or micheal.hill@ncdcr.gov. The Historical Highway Market program administered by the Office of Archives and History is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. Now observing the 2008 “Telling Our Stories” theme, and podcasting 24/7 with information about the Department of Cultural Resources, all available at www.ncculture.com.