Every year, visitors flock to Winston-Salem to see and experience the winter holidays the way the early Moravian settlers did.

Come with me for a fun and fascinating trip to the old Salem Historic District.

[bright holiday music] At holiday time, it's all about tradition, and in Old Salem, it goes back to the 19th century.

- Well, we're in Salem, North Carolina.

This town was founded in 1766.

The Moravians came here from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

They walked here in 1755, and established Bethabara.

When you come here to visit Old Salem, obviously, you're going to see wonderfully maintained historic buildings, but inside of those buildings, we have educators that are in Moravian attire, so you're gonna see them dressed in a way that the Moravians would have dressed here during their time period.

You're also going to see them doing daily activities where there's a domestic activity of preparing a meal or looking after the household, so it's this wonderful place that you see today that has been restored for our visitors to see.

- [Deborah] To really get in the spirit of Old Salem, I started with the perfect overnight stay at the historic Brookstown Inn, located just several blocks from Old Salem.

- The Brookstown Inn is a historical property located in downtown Winston-Salem.

We have about 70 rooms on property.

They're all very unique, all very spacious, it's quaint.

It makes our guests feel at home, just the coziness of it.

During the holidays, we redecorate for Christmas, so it's a wonderful time of the year to visit.

- [Deborah] At the Brookstown Inn, a Southern breakfast is complimentary and gets you on your way.

From here, a fifteen-minute walk along a strollway takes you to the Heritage covered bridge where you can cross into the 19th century and onto Main Street, which is lined with historic buildings to visit.

Probably the most popular is the Winkler Bakery where Sister Deborah is preparing an old-fashioned sugar cake.

- We have got some of our oldest recipes.

This is sugar cookie and tea cake dough.

This is ginger cake dough.

This is our oldest recipe, and it is in an original pan from the 1800s, sugar cake, mashed potato yeast bread with brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon.

The Winkler Bakery started being built in 1799 and opened for business in the year 1800.

Christian Winkler came in 1807, raised a family upstairs, and it was passed down through the generations until 1927.

It's a taste of history.

You are getting to actually taste what these people ate hundreds of years ago.

- [Deborah] It's a real treat to visit Old Salem and taste history, especially during the holidays.

To get more of an insider's view, I connected with Michael Breedlove, a local who actually has Moravian roots.

- And you know what, you can actually drink that water.

It's clean.

- I trust you, but I'm not dipping down there to drink it.

- Sure, go for it!

I grew up Moravian and when you're a kid, you don't really think too much about it.

It's just where you go to church, but you get a little bit older, and you start to realize maybe how different, how special it was to be a Moravian.

And it's sort of summed up in their motto, and that's "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty "and all things love."

- [Deborah] We had a great time stomping around Old Salem.

Michael took me to the Single Brothers' House, where they offer a ticketed-candle tea service that lots of visitors love.

Here, we met Sister Betsy and learned about the Moravian Christmas Pyramid, similar to our own traditional Christmas tree and about the unique star that's become so emblematic.

- The original Moravian star was a geometry project in Germany for the boys school.

They were tasked with making a Christmas decoration that had 110 points to it.

This star now is known worldwide.

The significance of this star now, it means peace.

[holiday music] ♪ In the meadow we can build a snowman ♪ ♪ Then pretend that he is Parson Brown ♪ ♪ He'll say are you married, we'll say no man ♪ ♪ But you can do the job when you're in town ♪ - [Deborah] We also stopped by the Boys School and checked out this really cool cabinet of curiosities, so much fun.

[bright horn music] Outside, the surrounding streets in Salem Square were festive with music by the Salem Band throughout the day.

[gentle music] While you're visiting, be sure to stop by MESDA near the Heritage Bridge.

It stands for Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.

- We call it our hidden gem within this district this afternoon that you're going to see.

It's a world-renowned museum.

It has the finest collection of Southern artifacts anywhere on exhibit anywhere in the United States.

It's just a fabulous museum.

- Before you close out your visit to Old Salem, you have to take a selfie at the most Instagrammable spot in Winston-Salem, here on the Heritage Bridge with all these beautiful Moravian lights.

And take that stroll back across the bridge to the historic Brookstown Inn, where the 21st century and complimentary cookies and milk are waiting.

To plan your visit to the Old Salem Historic District, go to oldsalem.org and remember, their holiday tours sell out early.

And to make your reservations at the historic Brookstown Inn, go to brookstowninn.com.