South Main Street Historic District

Six blocks of South Main Street in Kernersville, once the stage road to Salem, make up this district of roughly 45 acres. Houses, shops, two churches and a small park sit among mature street trees. The oldest house, the Spears House, dates to about 1834. Many 1850s and 1870s brick homes were built by members of the Kerner family, who developed land that once belonged to Joseph Kerner. Frame cottages with elaborate sawn and turned woodwork, late Victorian houses, and early twentieth century Colonial Revival and bungalow dwellings follow. Commercial buildings include the 1884 Greenfield and Kerner Tobacco Factory and the ornate brickwork of the 1903 Bank of Kernersville. Korner's Folly, an 1880 showcase house with 22 rooms, is already separately listed. Of 84 additional resources, 57 contribute to the district's character. Twenty-one buildings predate 1900, which underlines its value as a record of the town's growth and architecture.