Romantic Getaway in Tobacco Country

What do "romantic weekend away" and tobacco have in common? The answer is Winston-Salem, North Carolina. To say that I was skeptical at the outset of the weekend is an understatement, especially since the highlight of the weekend was to trace landmarks having to do with one R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The thing that I didn’t really realize at the time is that the entire area was built up around RJR, and therefore everything has some sort of connection to the family or the company. For example: take Wake Forest University. The University is located in Winston-Salem because Mr. Reynolds had it relocated to the area.

We ended up having an amazing time. We had some really good meals, one at a tavern in Old Salem that has been around since 1771 and the other at Noble’s Grille. Both Old Salem and the tavern in which we ate are National Historic Landmarks. The best way to describe Old Salem is probably like Colonial Williamsburg but without the excessive crowds and hoopla. It’s a quaint area of town that still stands as it did in the 18th century. It was lovely to walk around, especially with the changing of the leaves.

The next day we went and took a tour of Reynolda Hose, the home of R.J. Reynolds. It was interesting to see and compare to the Biltmore Estate. Though both were built in the same state at around the same time by families in roughly the same financial situation, they are vastly different places. Where Biltmore is more like a museum than a home, Reynolda actually feels like people lived there. The house and surrounding gardens now belong to Wake Forest University.




Winston-Salem is also the home to the archetitectural prototype of the Empire State Building. Once completed, it was the tallest building south of Baltimore and served as the office building of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.