Once the sole concern of a small band of preservationists, the historic district of Old Salem is what resident and City Councilwoman Molly Leight likes to describe as “any other downtown neighborhood … modern, accessible, [and] walkable.” 

Admittedly, Leight’s pedestrian-friendly neighborhood has always been influenced by the mission of Old Salem Museums & Gardens — the historic site that has one of the finest collections of restored early American homes in the country. And while Old Salem sets the tone for the neighborhood and has traditionally attracted residents who share a passion for preservation, it is anything but a community living in the past.

From the Salem Square, the center of the historic district, to the heart of the city, it is little more than a mile — a “walkable” distance by any measure. And while it is common to see Old Salem residents walking their dogs downtown to get a cup of coffee, you are just as likely to see people from the city walking by the giant coffeepot as they visit the historic district.

This “extraordinarily hip neighborhood,” as Dr. Susan Pauly calls it, is the site of countless social gatherings both big and small. Consider resident Carol Wooley, who hosted a backyard barbecue for Mitchell Britt’s Supplement crowd — an Internet-based community of guerrilla diners who support locally grown food. With freshly picked produce from Wooley’s garden on the menu and vintage vinyl records on the turntable, dinner guests truly found themselves in another time and place.

People who choose to live in Old Salem do so with the understanding that buying a home in the historic district means more regulation. It also means entering into a partnership with the home and community.

That’s what attracted real-estate broker Curtis Leonard to the neighborhood. “It’s controlled,” Leonard says. “You don’t have to worry about your neighbor putting up an ugly pool in their backyard … it guarantees the architectural integrity of the place will be preserved.”

Still, with covenants in place to protect residents, Leight points out that “[design] guidelines say you can’t change anything on the outside of your house, but you can do anything you want on the inside. It’s your house.” So while homeowners are held to standards of appropriateness down to the American flag they fly on the Fourth, behind the historical facade, residents are free to express themselves.

For example Leight, an avid photographer, delights in her ultra-modern bathroom decorated in an African theme using photographs and objects from her past safari adventures.

Her neighbors follow their own flights of fancy. Take Kelly and Jeff Sowers, two urban professionals renovating the 1905 Charles P. Pfohl House opposite the coffeepot — the site of the neighborhood’s regular gardening social, Wine & Weed. Set only a couple of blocks from downtown on the northern edge of the historic district, Kelly and Jeff say they love being able to walk to work.

Jeff, who is an architect with Calloway Johnson Moore & West, has a penchant for eco-friendly building solutions that is showcased in the couple’s recently renovated kitchen where both sustainably grown lumber products and all-natural materials carry the day. Stealing the show, though, is their legendary Aga Cooker — a three-chambered cast-iron stove renowned for its exceptional cooking performance and energy-efficient heating.

At the opposite end of the historic district, Kathleen and Jerry Keyser also plan to demonstrate that historic preservation can be accomplished, if not enhanced, using sustainable building practices and alternative energy. In the midst of their extensive renovation of the1844 John D. Siewers House, the Keysers are installing a state-of-the-art geothermal heating and cooling system that promises to reduce their energy costs up to 70 percent.

“The Moravians were using high-tech, cutting edge technology for their time,” Jerry says. “We’re just carrying on a tradition. It’ll pay for itself in just a few years.” In addition to property-tax incentives that come with renovating a Forsyth County Local Historic Landmark, the Keysers are also taking advantage of President Obama’s new energy tax credit.

While the Sowerses and the Keysers never intended their homes to be “museums,” their individual commitment and common passion for historic preservation is at the heart of a community that neighbor Marilyn Little says “may be the most diverse neighborhood in Winston-Salem.”

That sense of belonging is what persuaded Keith Wheeler, a nutritional biochemist from Dublin, Ohio, to purchase the 1797 Christoph Vogler House, just south of the Salem Square. The fact that the former owners had recently renovated the house didn’t hurt.

Wheeler had his heart set on a place he could call home when he retired. With a passion for early American architecture, he wound
up searching in all the usual places.

“Williamsburg was a little too commercial for me,” Wheeler says. “Savannah lacked a sense of community … and Charleston was so spread out that it felt like I’d be buying just a piece of architectural history — an island,” he says. Wheeler admits he would return to those places to visit, but adds, “I wouldn’t want to live there.”

New to the historic district, Wheeler is proud of the fact that his home was featured in Early American Life only a month after he bought it. Sitting on the front steps of his home, Wheeler enjoys interacting with neighbors and tourists alike. “It’s like being married to a movie star,” Wheeler says. “You’re always on show.”

Audrey and Bob Mayville say they know exactly what Wheeler means. They moved from Connecticut several years ago into the restored 1846 Jacob Siewers House.

Their home isn’t open to the public, but it might as well be. “People are constantly peeping through the windows,” Audrey says. “I keep the front door locked so the public doesn’t wander in.

“Once I left the door cracked and a little girl walked in,” she recalls. “She stopped and asked in amazement, ‘Is this a house?’ ”

Little, who lives off the main drag in the 1831 Denke House, recalls one day when her front doorbell rang. “I answered the door, and this little old woman just marched in before I could explain that it was a private home,” she says in amusement. The woman finally left without incident, but Little says that is not always the case.

While responses vary among neighbors, most agree that a sense of humor and a hospitable disposition are the best defenses when dealing with curious visitors.

As Leonard notes, “The tourists go home after five, and that leaves the neighborhood relatively quiet and a great place to walk our dogs.”

At the end of the day, most homeowners recognize the benefits of tourism and are more than willing to sacrifice some personal privacy. Residents say they take it all in stride and understand that in a neighborhood where historic house museums and private homes sit side by side, inquisitive tourists are bound to make mistakes.

“We may have great cookies,” Pauly explains, “but we’re not a cookie-cutter neighborhood.”

As president of Salem College and Academy, Pauly presides over a student body that lives, works, and plays inside the historic district and its environs.

“The past and the modern live side by side in Old Salem,” she says. “Whether I’m walking across some squeaky floor boards to my office to check my e-mails or listening to a group of girls sitting in front of a roaring fire discussing Twitter, YouTube, and the role of technology in society — the modern and the historic coexist.”

As the sun sets, Pauly and her husband, Dr. Stephen Dew, descend into the basement of the 1842 Joshua Boner House at the edge of campus. Tonight the couple will dance the cha-cha, the tango, and the mambo in their makeshift ballroom underground. “It is our addiction,” Pauly says of their dancing.

The residents of Old Salem seem perfectly in step with modern times in this walkable — and even danceable — community.

For nearly the first 100 years only members of the Moravian church were permitted to live in Salem. No longer the closed society it once was, the historic neighborhood of Old Salem is, as Leight promises, “accessible — a place that accepts people from everywhere.”

The sweeping range of diversity can only strengthen a neighborhood and a community that share so much in common.