Bethania: The Village by the Black Walnut Bottom

Founded in 1759, Bethania was the first planned Moravian settlement in North Carolina, situated favorably on the Great Wagon Road of the colonial era. Bethania’s narrative weaves together 250 years of history and memory, with voices from the town’s white and black heritage speaking through autobiographical accounts, diaries, letters, oral histories, photographs, and archival research. Join local resident Beverly Hamel as she tells the story of proud Pilgrim people who journeyed into an unknown wilderness and built a community that would remain intact through the volatile periods of the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, slavery and the years leading to the Civil War, the Reconstruction era, and into the twentieth century. The story of Bethania is a celebration of an enduring spirit that will never die.