Spartanburg Art Museum

 The exhibits focus exclusively on contemporary art and change four or five times a year so there's always something new to see. During our visit two galleries featured thought provoking sculptures and paintings by Winston A. Wingo. The paintings depict expressionist city scenes of black men with targets centered on them. The sculptures show Wingo's concerns about the advancement of technology and how it could affect humanity. 

Another gallery featured assemblage art that at first glance looked like a playful collection of puppets but was actually a memorial to victims of wars. 

There was also a exhibit of student art in the hallway, something we always enjoy. The amount of talent was wonderful. 

The museum is accessible.

RVs will fit in the lot if backed up over the grass or parked lengthwise across the spaces. The art museum is the west most building of the three buildings facing the Cultural Center Plaza. Museum  34.95342, -81.92954

 

Croft State Park

The park has four camping areas - two are RV and tent campgrounds, one is an equestrian campground, and one has two hike-in group sites. The RV/tent campgrounds both have 25 sites. Campground 1is fairly level. Campground 2 has lake views but no easy access to that lake and some of the sites are sloped. Even though all the sites are basically the same, some cost more. 

 

We camped here to use the dump station and recharge our batteries after days of cloudy weather. We stayed for two days because most South Carolina campgrounds require at least a two night stay. This was the first time on our trip south that we saw damage from Hurricane Helene- hundreds of downed trees which meant all of the trails were closed. Surprisingly, there wasn't any damage to the campgrounds.

We camped in site 3 which is roomy and level. Most of the sites in Campground 1 are usable and there is one designated accessible site. The accessible has a paved path to the restroom and a table with an extended top however the layout is poor with a campfire ring in the middle of the site. 

 34.86326, -81.84041  Park

Waterworks Visual Arts Center

 The three galleries of this small, free art museum feature changing exhibits. During our visit two galleries focused on people living along Boston Alley, a section of Salisbury, North Carolina that was razed in the 1940s. Photographs taken in 1937 and recent paintings inspired by the photographs depict a poor but vibrant community. An amazing exhibit of artwork by noted artists, part of the personal collection of philanthropists Julian and Josie Robertson, filled the last galley. Photographs are not permitted.

The museum is accessible.

Parking is on the street. Museum  35.6686, -80.46714

 

Rowan Museum

The tough issues of slavery and the unfair treatment of  Native Americans, women. and other groups are explored in this small museum along with the general history of Rowan county. 

 

The accessible entrance is on the Council Street side of the building. Everything is accessible. The exhibits are on the first floor only but there's an elevator to the second floor which was the courtroom of the 1857 Rowan County courthouse and  can be rented for events. 

 

Parking is on the street. Museum  35.66852, -80.46896

 

Old Salem Museums & Gardens

Salem was established in 1766 by the Moravian church.  All the land was owned by the church and all residents had to be members of the church until 1857 when the church divested control of the town. Many of the buildings and gardens of the original center city have been restored or reconstructed with eleven buildings featuring living history interpreters. 

Old Salem which resembles a small Colonial Williamsburg is part of a residential neighborhood and therefore open to the public. Since the Old Salem website has no information about building accessibility  we figured it would be essentially non-existent and not worth the price of the tickets but we could still go to the free visitor center and wander around on the streets. 

The visitor center has exhibits about the Moravian church and the founding of Salem. There's also a exhibit about the small community of Happy Hill where freed slaves were permitted to live. Most of the original buildings were razed to build a housing project and US Highway 52. 

The visitor center is accessible. A covered bridge crosses Old Salem Road and a long ADA compliant ramp goes down to street level. The sidewalks are brick and not in good condition. The terrain is hilly so even rolling/walking along the sidewalks for the six or so blocks of the historic district is difficult. A few of the buildings are designated as accessible but we did not notice any ramps. 

 

The parking lot is large enough for any vehicle. Old Salem  36.08472, -80.24403

Bethabara Park

Bethabara Park preserves the site of the first Moravian settlement in North Carolina. The Moravian Church traces its beginning to Bohemia in the early1400s when Jan Hus began preaching in the Bohemian language rather than Latin. Hus was burned at the stake and, while followers of the sect stayed active, some settled in other counties to escape persecution. They also established missions which is how they ended up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1741 and then in North Carolina in 1753.

 

The settlement in Bethabara, unlike the missions, was intended to be a money making venture for the church. In just a few years after it was established the town boasted an apothecary, tailor, shoemaker, tannery, gristmill, blacksmith, pottery, tavern, and store with imported goods.

 Bethabara was a temporary location to be used while searching for suitable permanent town site so when Salem, North Carolina was founded in 1766, many of the buildings were dismantled and moved. On the site today are a church, potter's house, distiller's house, log house, and calf barn all which were built after the move. Bethabara was still an active town into the 20th century but not the industrial trade center that it had been. 

Bethabara Park has a visitor center with interesting exhibits and a short film. Members of the Moravian Church serve as docents. Guided tour of the church are given and the rest of the buildings have interpretive signs. Walking trails loop through the forest.

The visitor center is accessible but nothing else is. There isn't a sidewalk or trail to the buildings and the street is busy so it's not possible to roll down the street.

A large gravel lot is located to the adjacent to the visitor center. This lot is very rough so, if possible, park in the paved lot behind the visitor center. The paved lot has only one entrance/exit and there may not be room to turn around a large vehicle.  Park  36.15583, -80.29708