500 - Mile Journey Celebrates Educating Women and Girls
In 1766, a decade before the United States declared its independence, a group of 18 women headed out on a long journey from a Moravian community in Bethlehem.
They traveled by foot south, following a migration trail over land and rivers. They endured torrential downpours, braved river crossings on large rafts and suffered taunts from groups of men as they marched through Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.
Their 500-mile hike ended in a fledg ling Moravian community in North Carolina near Winston-Salem. Five years later that community would found a school for girls that became the Salem Academy and College.