Bethania, North Carolina, is the last of its line, a pioneer town founded in 1759, out of the need to establish the roots of religious freedom. A historically significant town, Bethania is the first planned Moravian town lot in the Wachovia tract of North Carolina and the the only surviving Germanic linear village in the country. Listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, the town became a National Landmark in 2001.
Colonial homes, some still lived in by descendants of the first white Moravian settlers, line Bethania’s main street and are symbols of how so much of the town’s character remains intact. Simple yet elegantly understated, the homes represent the regional architecture of the colonial era in which they were built.
Beyond the distinction of Bethania’s Main Street homes standing as monuments to an earlier century, Bethania was once a thriving industrial and trades town. The Great Wagon Road of the colonial era brought soldiers, settlers and slaves through the town daily. Bethania has withstood the War of Regulation, Revolutionary War, Civil War, Reconstruction Era into the 21rst Century. Please enjoy these rare images of Bethania’s people and places thu time. Many early images are from original glass negatives taken by J. L. Kapp with Modern day photography by Bowman Gray IV.