Greensboro, N.C. historian and author C. Michael Briggs will be giving a program at the Forsyth County Public Library auditorium on Saturday, June 4th at 2 P.M. on the 18th & 19th Century Longrifle Schools in Forsyth and Davidson Counties. The library is located at 660 W. Fifth Street in Winston-Salem. Admission is free.
The program will feature a display of ornate historic longrifles made in the Salem School and the Davidson School. Briggs will explain who the gunsmiths were that worked in these schools and how their culture and religion affected the icons and symbols they put on their longrifles. The Salem School and the Davidson School were two of the nine regional styles of longrifles made in the piedmont and mountains of North Carolina between 1760 and 1860.
C. Michael Briggs is a longtime student and collector of Piedmont North Carolina Decorative Arts. He collects local furniture, silver, textiles, and pottery. His favorite of the local decorative arts is the ornate North Carolina Longrifle and the banded powder horns that came with them. He has spent the last forty years researching the early settlers of this part of North Carolina.
Briggs says “they were a melting pot of different religions and cultures which greatly influenced the material items they created here. This is best illustrated in their longrifles and the icons and symbols they put on them. This is not a subject that is well known to the public but can be of interest to those who take the time to look.”
Briggs is the author of seven books. “Guilford Under the Stars and Bars.” “The Longrifle Makers of Guilford County.” “The Longrifle Makers of the Salem School.” “The Longrifle Makers of the Davidson School.” “The Longrifle Makers of the Rowan School.” The Longrifle Makers of the Mecklenburg School.” “Piedmont North Carolina Banded Powder Horns.” He will have those books for sale at the program.
The Salem School of Longrifle Makers was a group of Moravian gunsmiths who worked in Bethabara, Bethania, and Salem between 1754 and 1909. The best of their Eagle patchbox longrifles are some of the most ornate decorative art items made in North Carolina and are highly prized by museums and collectors.
The Davidson School of Longrifle Makers copied the stock architecture and Eagle patchbox design used by the Salem School but added their own unique icons and symbols on their longrifles. The Davidson gunsmiths were of German descent but were not Moravians. They were a mix of Lutheran, Primitive Baptist, and Methodist. Briggs will show examples of these symbols and examine pierced graveyard tombstones that are unique to Davidson County.
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