Storied Homes & Curious Gardens - Preservation Month 2026 Guide
Event Details
Celebrate Historic Preservation Month with a self-guided tour of storied homes and curious gardens across Forsyth County! Plan your visit for May 15–17 or explore year-round.
Storied Homes & Curious Gardens Tour
A Preservation Month Guide | May 2026
Celebrate Preservation Month by exploring a collection of storied homes and curious gardens across Forsyth County in Kernersville, Winston-Salem, and Lewisville.
This self-guided experience highlights places where architecture, landscape, and local memory continue to shape our region, inviting us to slow down, look closely, and reconnect with the built and natural environments around us.
Plan your visit for May 15–17, when the Carnivorous & Exotic Plant Symposium & Expo brings a special concentration of activity to Kernersville, alongside open hours at participating sites.
Participating locations include:
- Körner’s Folly
- Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden
- Nissen House
- House of Plants
- Tanglewood Park Arboretum
Each site offers its own perspective on preservation, from historic homes and gardens to living collections and creative reuse, forming a constellation of interesting experiences you can explore at your own pace.
While May offers a shared moment to celebrate, these places are here year-round. Whether you visit one or all, this guide is an invitation to return, revisit, and remain connected.
Plan Your Visit
Explore each site at your own pace. Hours and offerings vary—follow the links below for full details and updates.
Kernersville
Körner’s Folly
Victorian Eclectic home of artist and designer Jule Körner established 1880. Explore all 22 rooms on a self-guided tour featuring special artifacts on view.
→ Open Tuesdays – Saturdays 10 am – 4 pm; Sundays 12 – 4 pm (Last entry at 3 pm to ensure a leisurely experience). Admission $14 for Adults; $7 for Children (6-18); Free for 6 and under; $10 for College Student with ID; Free for Members.
401 S. Main Street, Kernersville, NC 27284
www.kornersfolly.org
(336) 996-7922
Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden
7 acres of gardens, including Woodland, Wetland, Japanese, and formal plantings, established 2011.
→ Open daily, dawn to dusk. Garden Center: Friday–Sunday, 10 AM–4 PM. Master Gardener Tours: 12:45 PM & 1:45 PM (Saturday – For Symposium attendees only)
215 S. Main Street, Kernersville, NC 27284
www.cienerbotanicalgarden.org
(336) 996-7888
Carnivorous & Exotic Plant Symposium & Expo (May 16–17)
Exploring conservation, cultivation, and community in Kernersville at Ivey M. Redmon Event Center and Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden.
→ Saturday–Sunday, 9 AM–4 PM (early entry available)
1020 Shields Road, Kernersville, NC 27284
www.carnivorousplants.org
Symposium & Expo Admission Options:
FREE Entry – Ages 17 & under
ICPS Membership (Early Access Included) – $45/year
Early Bird Entry: 8:00–9:00 AM (both days)
Includes 1-year print subscription to Carnivorous Plant Newsletter (CPN)
Weekend Pass – $25
Entry: 9:00 AM–4:00 PM (both days)
Includes 1-year digital (PDF) subscription to CPN
Single Day Pass – $15
Entry: 9:00 AM–4:00 PM (one day)
Includes 1-year digital (PDF) subscription to CPN
Winston-Salem
Mansion on Main
Visit the historic Shaffner House, a French Second Empire-style home with an incredible art collection. Established 1873 in Old Salem.
→ Please note: This site is no longer available for public tours. It is located in Historic Old Salem which has beautiful walking paths and historic homes to view!
428 S. Main Street, Winston-Salem NC 27101
mansiononmainwsnc.net
House of Plants
Whimsical garden shop featuring Victorian-era plants including ferns, orchids, and violets as well as containers, shrubs, herbs, and more. Established 1976 in an historic Hanes Town mill cottage.
→ Monday – Saturday open 10 am – 5 pm; Sunday 1 -5 pm,
507 Harvey Street, Winston-Salem NC 27103
www.houseofplantsinc.com
(336) 765-5301
About the House of Plants:
The House of Plants is a small garden and gift shop in Winston-Salem located in historic Hanestown.
Pleasant Henderson Hanes established the P.H. Hanes Knitting Company on Stratford Road in 1902 and began erecting homes for the employees adjacent to the knitting mill in 1910.
The mill village, named Hanestown, had its own graded school which was originally located in what is now Hanestown Park. Hanestown also had a police force, a volunteer fire department, a company store, and three churches. There is even a legend of a ghost that haunted a hose on Pine Street (now Seaman Street). The “Ghost Bride” would pull the covers from sleeping residents at night and make things vanish temporarily.
The mill house located at 507 Harvey Street was built in 1946 and at one time housed a foreman of the knitting mill as well as a minister of Hanes Baptist Church located across the street. The mill house has been the home of the House of Plants since 1976.
Lewisville
Nissen House
Beautifully preserved 19th-century Greek Revival and Italianate home at the center of Lewisville’s civic district, once occupied by the Nissen Wagon Works family
→ Friday: 1–4 PM, Saturday: 11 AM–2 PM, Sunday: 2–4 PM (Ice Cream Social)
Free admission; donations greatly appreciated
213 Arrow Leaf Drive, Lewisville NC 27023
www.nissenhouse.org/
(336) 946-6504
Clemmons
Tanglewood Arboretum
Set just beyond the Manor House at Tanglewood Park, the Arboretum is a quietly expansive, working garden designed to reflect what grows well in the North Carolina Piedmont—layered, seasonal, and deeply rooted in place. Established as part of the Reynolds estate and later opened to the public, it now functions as both a teaching landscape and a place for wandering, maintained in partnership with Cooperative Extension and Master Gardener volunteers. Tucked within the Children’s Garden, a small bog garden introduces one of North Carolina’s most fascinating ecologies: carnivorous plants.
→ 7 days a week, Dawn until dusk.
Tanglewood Park Admission: $2 per vehicle
4061 Clemmons Rd, Clemmons, NC 27012
https://www.forsyth.cc/parks/tanglewood
(336) 703-6400
Questions? We’re here to help! Please reach out to Brittany Ashby Hendley, Körner’s Folly Community Engagement Manager, at brittany@kornersfolly.org or call (336) 996-7922.