Constructed 1794, restored 1954
This building was built to house the school for boys in Salem, it was the first educational building built in Salem. The Salem Boys’ School, started in 1771, was for local boys to get their primary education. Gottlieb Krause, the Moravian mason, constructed the building but supposedly had assistance from an itinerant English-trained mason, William Grieg, who is attributed with showing Krause some new details, such as using a single size of brick instead of having to make many different sizes as Krause had done on previous buildings.
But in 1896 a new ‘Second’ Boys School was built on Church Street (across from the Vierling House) and the school moved, at which time the original building became a museum. The building has been used as a museum continuously since that time, first operated by the Wachovia Historical Society and since 1954 by Old Salem Museums & Gardens.
Captured by: LookingGlass.Services
