Can you fit Candle Tea, a themed Christmas Saturday and an evening tour into one trip to Old Salem this year? On most days of the season, at least one of the three isn't running.
The Moravian Christmas in the historic town of Salem isn't one event run by one organization. Old Salem Museums & Gardens runs the district, its Saturdays and its evening tours. Home Moravian Church volunteers run Candle Tea at the Single Brothers' House. Wake Forest University holds its own Lovefeast across town. Each one has its own ticket, its own hours and its own calendar. Put those calendars side by side and they overlap on two stretches: Thursday, Dec. 3 through Saturday, Dec. 5, and Thursday, Dec. 10 through Saturday, Dec. 12.
Who runs what this season
Each layer of the season has its own host and its own rules:
- Old Salem's Holiday All-in-One ticket. $40 per adult, $20 per student, free for ages 0 to 3. It is valid Nov. 11 through Dec. 31 for open historic venues, the self-guided MESDA galleries and the gardens, Wednesday through Saturday. The regular All-in-One ticket costs $30 per adult and $16 per student plus tax, so the holiday season adds $10 per adult.
- Christmas Salem Saturdays. These are included with that holiday ticket and run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 28, Dec. 5, Dec. 12 and Dec. 19.
- Joy of Christmas Evening Tours. Old Salem ticket, separate price: $60 for adults and $40 for children. Friday and Saturday nights only.
- Candle Tea. Run by Home Moravian Church, with admission separate from any Old Salem ticket: $9 general, $5 for ages 3 to 12. Regular tours run on six days only, with separate school and Scout sessions on top of those.
- Wake Forest Lovefeast. Free, Sunday, Dec. 6, in Wait Chapel.
If you hold an Old Salem ticket, it doesn't get you into Candle Tea, and a Candle Tea reservation doesn't get you into the district's historic buildings. Plan with that in mind.
Laying the calendars side by side
Candle Tea's six regular days decide the whole season, because it has the fewest dates of anything on the list. Here is how the first two weeks of December line up:
| Date | Candle Tea | Old Salem daytime | Joy of Christmas tours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu., Dec. 3 | 1 to 7:30 p.m. | Open, holiday ticket | None |
| Fri., Dec. 4 | 1 to 7:30 p.m. | Open, holiday ticket | 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. starts |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. | St. Nick and the Moravian Market | 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. starts |
| Sun., Dec. 6 | None | Closed | None; Wake Forest Lovefeast, 7 p.m. |
| Thu., Dec. 10 | 1 to 7:30 p.m. | Open, holiday ticket | None |
| Fri., Dec. 11 | 1 to 7:30 p.m. | Open, holiday ticket | 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. starts |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. | ChristmasFest | 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. starts |
The two Saturdays stand out. On Dec. 5, St. Nick visits the historic hat shop and the Wachovia Historical Society holds its Moravian Market in Salem Square, with local craft vendors from the Wachovia region. On Dec. 12, ChristmasFest opens the Moravian Music Foundation's grounds, so the music and history run on both sides of the square all day. Both days, Candle Tea is running down South Main Street until 7:30 p.m. and the evening tours start at 6:30. That makes them the only two days of the year when a single visit can hold all three.
The Saturdays on either side don't line up the same way. The Nov. 28 Christmas Kick-Off has costumed Moravian brass-band music from 11 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. and evening tours that night, but Candle Tea hasn't started yet. The Dec. 19 St. Nick Returns to Salem day comes a week after Candle Tea's last session.
Book the ticketed parts first
The three ticketed layers fill up at very different speeds, so the order you book them in matters.
Christmas Salem Saturday admission is the most forgiving. Old Salem says tickets for those dates don't have to be bought in advance and don't sell out. You can buy them at the Visitor Center, at Winkler Bakery or at MESDA.
Candle Tea is limited by the building. A timed group of 30 goes in every 15 minutes, and the fire code caps the numbers. Home Moravian's page says reservations are highly recommended because tickets will sell out, though walk-ups can generally get in after a short wait. The full tour lasts about an hour and 45 minutes. It includes carols in the Saal with a 1787 pipe organ, a beeswax candle-making demonstration, coffee and sugar cake in the original kitchen, and the Salem Putz with the nativity scene. Please plan ahead if anyone in your group has trouble with stairs. The Single Brothers' House at 600 S. Main St. is not handicapped accessible, the tour climbs three steep flights of stairs, and strollers stay in the entrance room.
Joy of Christmas Evening Tours are the tightest. Each runs about an hour through the Miksch House, the Vogler House and the Single Brothers' Workshop, with 12 tickets per time slot. It's partly outdoors on uneven streets and stairs, and check-in is at the Boys' School, 3 East Academy St. As of Nov. 4, the 6:30 p.m. start on opening night, Nov. 27, was already sold out, and the 7:45 p.m. slot that night had two spots left. With six start times a night, two nights a weekend, the Dec. 4–5 and Dec. 11–12 slots are where the pressure is.
So book the evening tour first, then a Candle Tea time that leaves room for dinner between the two, and buy the daytime ticket last or at the gate.
The parts that need no ticket at all
Some of the most familiar parts of a Salem Christmas cost nothing to walk into.
Winkler Bakery at 521 S. Main St. needs no ticket to enter. It sells Moravian sugar cake, lovefeast buns, fresh bread, cookies and gifts made in Salem. Muddy Creek Café & Music Hall, on the lower level of T. Bagge at 626 S. Main St., also needs no ticket and serves sandwiches, salads and soups at lunch. Visit Winston-Salem's 2026 holiday guide adds Lot 63 for coffee and Moravian baked goods. If you hold a membership, Old Salem gives members 20% off retail at Winkler, the MESDA gift shop and the Visitor Center on the Nov. 28 and Dec. 5 Saturdays.
The Wake Forest Lovefeast falls on Sunday, Dec. 6, the day after the first overlap weekend. Doors open at 6 p.m., the prelude starts at 6:20 and the service begins at 7, with seating first come, first seated. There's also a livestream. Since Old Salem is closed that Sunday, the Lovefeast is a natural fourth night for the first weekend.
After Dec. 12, the season runs on church time
After Candle Tea's last session on Dec. 12, the season thins out. Old Salem still has St. Nick Returns on Dec. 19 and evening tours on Dec. 18 and 19. The district then closes for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and all of January.
Home Moravian Church keeps going after the museum closes. On Christmas Eve it holds a children's candle lovefeast at 11 a.m., a family candle lovefeast at 2:30 p.m., and candle lovefeasts at 5 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. Times are on the church's Christmas page.
If December fills up, MESDA's current exhibition, on makers who came to the early American South from elsewhere, is on view through December 2026 at 924 S. Main St. It's included with an Old Salem or MESDA ticket, so a holiday ticket used on Dec. 5 or Dec. 12 covers it too.
Two ways to use the overlap
The Dec. 5 plan
- Buy an evening tour slot for Saturday night now.
- Reserve a mid-afternoon Candle Tea time at the Home Moravian Candle Tea page.
- Spend the morning at the Moravian Market in Salem Square and the historic buildings on a holiday ticket.
- Stop at Winkler before Candle Tea, then go to the Boys' School 15 minutes before your tour.
- Keep Sunday night open for the Wake Forest Lovefeast.
The Dec. 12 plan
- Book the Saturday evening tour first, then a Candle Tea time after its 11:30 a.m. opening.
- Spend the middle of the day at ChristmasFest on both sides of the square.
- Have lunch at Muddy Creek Café, no ticket needed.
If you'd rather skip the crowds, the Thursday sessions on Dec. 3 and Dec. 10 put Candle Tea together with a quieter daytime visit to the district. The full Saturday schedule is on Old Salem's Christmas page. If you're building a bigger holiday calendar, our posts on the Tanglewood Festival of Lights and downtown's Fourth Street heading into the holidays cover the other big dates around town.
If you'd like to live closer to Salem's streets by next December, Karen Swicegood is happy to walk you through the neighborhoods across Winston-Salem within an easy drive of South Main Street. Schedule your free consultation.
