A visit to Christmases past is as close as Winston-Salem. The holidays are the perfect time to drive 90 minutes northeast to tour the historic district of Old Salem.

As you walk along the brick and stone sidewalks among the restored colonial buildings, you may catch a whiff of early America in the air – it smells of beeswax candles and curing tobacco, chimney smoke and fresh-baked bread.

Simple greenery wraps the light poles, and candles glow in many of the thick-paned windows. Everywhere are the traditional, many-pointed Advent stars, also called Moravian stars.

Salem was founded in 1766 by a group of Moravians, a Protestant denomination that began before the time of Martin Luther in what is today the Czech Republic. After settling in Germany, the Moravians then brought their faith to America in the early 18th century, first to Pennsylvania and then to the 100,000-acre Wachovia tract in North Carolina. Salem – a name that comes from the Hebrew word for peace – became the main trading center in the area.

Today, costumed interpreters re-create life and commerce in Salem’s colonial days. There are 13 historic buildings open to the public, and they include demonstrations of such trades as candle making, gunsmithing, sewing and leatherwork.

The first settlers in Salem lived in shared quarters, separated by gender, age and marriage status. The Single Brothers’ House is one of the largest buildings open to visitors. The Single Sisters House is now part of the adjacent Salem College.

Old Salem is still a living neighborhood. Many of the 100 or so historic buildings are private homes.

A ticket also provides entrance to three museums within the historic district: the Old Salem Toy Museum, the Old Salem Children’s Museum and the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Art. They are housed in one building, just across from the visitors’ center.

Children will be delighted by the Toy Museum, with its amusements from the pre-Wii days. More than 2,500 objects span the history of playthings around the world from 225 A.D. to 1925. There are dolls, doll houses, board games, model trains and cars, teddy bears, puzzles, even an exquisite English “baby house” with tiny original oil paintings.

If children are frustrated by the toys they can see but not play with, the Children’s Museum lets them touch to their hearts’ content. Children can pretend to live in a child-size replica of the town’s 1771 Miksch House, try on versions of Moravian clothing, build a brick wall in traditional patterns and use a weaving frame to learn how cloth was made. There are also a climbing structure and maze.

More adult pleasures can be found at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Art. Found here are items that filled the homes of early settlers, illustrating how the simpler colonial tastes of the 1600s evolved into the more refined lifestyles of the 1800s. Much of the furniture and other pieces are displayed in period rooms containing historic architectural elements collected from endangered buildings.

Highlights of MESDA’s collection include the earliest known piece of Southern furniture stamped by its maker; delicate portraits in pastel by Henrietta Johnston, the earliest known works made by a woman artist in America; and an 18th-century silver tray with scalloped edges that provided the inspiration for the museum’s logo.

No visit to Old Salem would be complete without a tummy-pleasing visit to Winkler Bakery. Here, costumed bakers make bread and other goodies from scratch in the wood-fired oven. Don’t miss the sugar cake – a breakfast treat topped with brown sugar, butter and cinnamon – or the crispy, almost-impossibly thin, dare-you-to-eat-just-one cookies. The traditional cookies are rich with ginger, molasses, cloves and other spices, but there are several varieties to choose from, including sugar and chocolate. During the holidays, there are also fruitcakes and stollen bread (a traditional German bread) to tantalize your taste buds.

For more filling fare, duck into the Old Salem Tavern – George Washington stayed here for two nights in 1791 – to see why the double-crusted, vegetable-free Moravian chicken pie is the prize of almost every local church bazaar. For dessert, try the gingerbread with homemade lemon ice cream.

A particularly popular holiday tradition, first held in 1929, is the annual candle teas in the Single Brothers’ House. Visitors sing carols, see beeswax candles being made in tin molds, and enjoy a mug of Moravian coffee with a piece of sugar cake. Then it’s down to the sub-basement for viewings of the Salem Putz (a scale model of Salem in the early 1900s) and the Nativity Putz, accompanied by the Christmas story. And don’t forget to pick up one of those ubiquitous Moravian stars – the gift shops sell them in a variety of sizes, from tree ornament to chandelier-size.

Holiday events
Candlelight Tours of 18th- or 19th-Century Salem: Nov. 28 and 29, Dec. 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 and 20. Tours depart from Winkler Bakery at 6:30, 7, 7:30 and 8 p.m. Tickets are $18 for adults, $12 for children.

Candle Teas: Dec. 4, 5, 11 and 12, 12:30-8:30 p.m.; Dec. 6 and 13, 11:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. (Admission is $4 for adults, $1 for children 12 and under.)

Want to go?
Web site: www.oldsalem.org
Hours: March-December: Monday - Saturday, 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sunday, 12:30-5:30 p.m. January-February: closed on Mondays.
Ticket prices: Adults, $21. Children ages 6-16, $10. Two-Day: Adults, $24.Children ages 6-16, $10.