Activate map
No | |
Yes | |
Yes |
Street | |
No | |
No |
Specialties
The C. Winkler Bakery is located in the restored historic village of Old Salem, adjacent to downtown Winston-Salem. The village dates back to the 1766 and was founded by the Moravians, a protestant group from Germany who brought their baking traditions with them. This is a working bakery originally constructed in 1800 and restored in 1968. The ovens are still used make traditional sugarcake. Winkler Bakery also offers traditional Moravian cookies and many fresh-baked breads. The bakery’s oven is still heated with wood as it was nearly 200 years ago.
History
Established in 1950.
In 1950, a group of dedicated volunteers established Old Salem, Inc. as a way to begin preserving and restoring the town of Salem for future generations. As Old Salem grew, more buildings were restored and new facilities were added — including the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA).
In 2006, Old Salem changed its name to Old Salem Museums & Gardens — to better reflect the increasing importance of the garden program and to clearly distinguish that there are multiple experiences available within the Old Salem district. What used to just be known as «Old Salem» was also renamed the Historic Town of Salem, again for clarity purposes.
Today the museum site operates with more than 200 employees, a thriving retail department, a book publishing arm, a research center, and more than 11 gardens. The site also has a new focus on renting its numerous meeting spaces to local businesses and for special events, including weddings.
Meet the Business Owner
Christian W.
Business Owner
In 1799, the church elders chose Thomas Butner to be the town’s new baker. Brother Butner hired Gottlob Krause to build a bakery with a living area for his family. Unfortunately, Brother Butner seemed to prefer farming and shoemaking to baking so, in 1807, congregation leaders brought in a new baker, Swiss-born Christian Winkler, from Pennsylvania. He bought the Bakery and the dwelling house from Brother Butner in 1807.
Brother Winkler, his wife Elizabeth, and their six children would live and work in this house for the rest of their lives. When Brother Winkler began suffering from asthma, his sons carried on the work of the bakery. In the fall of 1827, the Winkler’s second son, William, officially took over his father’s business. William Winkler and his descendents resided and worked in the bakery for generations afterward, until 1926.