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History

Every year Linda Bagley greets area school children and civic groups costumed as if it were the 1800s. She rings a large hand bell, signifying the start of “school,” and invites the visitors to step back in time into the one-room Piney Grove Schoolhouse at the entrance of the Fourth of July Park. The children are assigned one desk for every two students at the little rough-hewn schoolhouse. The Piney Grove Schoolhouse served as the school for the Piney Grove area from 1870 until 1898.

Pretending like the children are students from the 1800s, Bagley selects an audience member to start the school day with the Pledge of Allegiance. She then reads a passage from the book of Exodus in the Bible’s Old Testament. Children are instructed in spelling and multiplication, and they are able to see what is similar and what differs from lessons today. When lessons are completed, they venture out to the grassy field nearby to gain knowledge of childhood games popular when Kernersville was getting its start.

The unique-to-Kernersville program was designed by Bagley to instruct third-grade children about local Kernersville history. It was built upon the town’s Historic Preservation Society’s Walk in Time and corresponds with a walking tour and guided theater lesson at Kõrner’s Folly, Kernersville’s eccentric historical landmark. The program gives Kernersville children a customized look into what history was like for citizens their own age.

Few facts are known about the land that eventually became Kernersville, now home to 22,000 residents in the town limits and the additional population who live in its outskirts. What we do know comes from a conglomeration of oral and documented history. The earliest recorded property deed dates back to 1784 when David Morrow received 200 acres from a North Carolina land grant, a point local historians Mike Marshall and Jerry Taylor have researched diligently.

However, local legend and widely popular tales credit Irishman Caleb Story applying for and receiving a land grant from the English Royal Colony of Carolina. Story did not remain long in the area. Folklore persists that Story sold his land for a rumored price of four gallons of rum. Most land in the area eventually belonged to William Dobson, also from Ireland, who bought 400 acres from Morrow. Dobson eventually acquired over 1,000 acres.

Dobson sought to expand his income by building both an inn and a store on a corner where two well-traveled routes intersected. That intersection is now the hub of downtown Kernersville, the intersection of Mountain and Main streets.

Dobson achieved historical prominence for future Kenersville residents when General George Washington chose to eat breakfast at Dobson’s Inn on June 2, 1791, while Washington was visiting Southern Revolutionary War battlefields. Eventually the land passed from Dobson to the Shober family to Joseph F. Kerner in 1817.

Today, what is known as the “Heart of the Triad” and the center of the Piedmont Triad is named for the Kerner family. Kerner, a strong Moravian of German descent, instilled values into his children that have long-reaching effect on people from all walks of life that call Kernersville home today. For example, son Frederick donated land for Main Street United Methodist and Kernersville Moravian Churches as well as land for their cemeteries. The two church campuses help anchor historic downtown Kernersville and provide homes of worship for many community members.The Town of Kernersville became an official, registered town on March 31, 1871, after the Civil War’s end and with only 147 residents. Two years later the railroad arrived. By 1888, census records listed Kernersville’s population at 1,000. Over 120 years later, Kernersville continues to experience exponential growth. Location, temperate climate, an active community and friendly neighborhoods draw people to call Kernersville home, a town where history reflects a group of people working together to create a sense of community together, just like what is happening in Kernersville today.