Gemeinhaus 1788

Built by the Moravians in Bethabara as their second Gemeinhaus, or Congregation House, this 1788 building is today the oldest surviving Moravian church in the Southeast and the oldest surviving colonial German church with attached living quarters in the United States. Its fieldstone walls are nearly two feet thick, and its exterior walls were plastered and lined to resemble fancier cut stones. The building served as a church until 1953, when the Bethabara Congregation moved into a new sanctuary just south of here. In a March 7, 1788, statement, Rev. John Jacob Ernst said that the Brothers had agreed among themselves to put their hands to building the Gemeinhaus as much as possible.

Winston-Salem, North Carolina · United States