Formerly: Old Salem Tavern Restaurant
Winston-Salem, North Carolina · Founded 2010
A former Old Salem restaurant whose name drew on the separate 1784 Salem Tavern where George Washington stayed in 1791.
The Tavern at Old Salem at 736 South Main Street was a restaurant operating in Old Salem's historic district, but it closed at the end of 2019. Its name and interpretation drew on the nearby historic Salem Tavern, a separate 1784 building at 800 South Main Street where George Washington stayed in 1791. The 736 South Main property was sold in 2024 and reopened as Bread Haven in January 2026.
A municipal historic-landmark report dates Salem's first tavern to 1771, while NCpedia gives 1772; both sources identify it as a half-timbered wooden tavern later destroyed by fire.
Source: City of Winston-Salem, Salem Tavern Local Historic Landmark #48; NCpedia, "Salem Tavern"
The original wooden Salem Tavern burns. The community diverts materials intended for the Single Sisters' House to build a replacement brick tavern on the existing foundation.
Source: NC.gov, Old Salem Historic District National Register documentation; N.C. State University, "Krause, Johann Gottlob"
Masonry work begins on the replacement Salem Tavern under Johann Gottlob Krause.
Source: N.C. State University, "Krause, Johann Gottlob"
Construction of the all-brick Salem Tavern is completed; it becomes Salem's first all-brick building.
Source: N.C. State University, "Krause, Johann Gottlob"; City of Winston-Salem, Salem Tavern Local Historic Landmark #48
George Washington arrives in Salem during his Southern tour and stays two nights at the historic Salem Tavern, occupying the northeast chamber above the gentlemen's room.
Source: National Park Service, National Historic Landmark Nomination for Salem Tavern; North Carolina History, "Historic Preservation: George Washington Slept Here," January 16, 2026
A second hostelry is built north of the main tavern when the original building can no longer accommodate the growing number of visitors to Salem.
Source: National Park Service, National Historic Landmark Nomination for Salem Tavern
The historic Salem Tavern at 800 South Main Street is restored.
Source: City of Winston-Salem, Salem Tavern Local Historic Landmark #48
The Tavern restaurant at 736 South Main Street closes at the end of the year.
Source: 6AM City, "Former Tavern restaurant reopens as Bread Haven in Old Salem," January 14, 2026; What Now Charlotte, "Bread of Heaven To Take Over The Tavern At Old Salem," August 29, 2025
Old Salem, Inc. sells the former Tavern restaurant property at 736 South Main Street to a subsidiary of RJS Properties, Inc.
Source: 6AM City, "Former Tavern restaurant reopens as Bread Haven in Old Salem," January 14, 2026; Old Salem, Inc. announcement, August 15, 2024
Bread Haven opens in the former Tavern restaurant space at 736 South Main Street as a different restaurant operation.
Source: 6AM City, "Former Tavern restaurant reopens as Bread Haven in Old Salem," January 14, 2026
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
City, state and National Register documentation agree that Salem's earlier timber tavern burned in January 1784 and that the brick Salem Tavern was constructed later that year on the earlier foundation. NCpedia gives 1772 rather than 1771 for the original tavern, so the original-building date carries a minor source conflict.
State and municipal historic-preservation records identify the 1784 Salem Tavern as the first all-brick building in Salem and document Johann Gottlob Krause's role in its construction.
The National Historic Landmark nomination states that Washington was entertained in Salem for two days during his 1791 Southern tour and occupied the northeast chamber of the Salem Tavern. This concerns the historic tavern at 800 South Main Street, not the former restaurant at 736 South Main Street.
The former Tavern restaurant closed at the end of 2019. The 736 South Main Street property was sold in 2024 and reopened as Bread Haven in January 2026; it is not an active Old Salem Tavern restaurant.
NCpedia describes the historic Salem Tavern as open to visitors with guided tours. The National Historic Landmark nomination identifies later hostelry/restaurant space separately from the 1784 tavern structure. The historic tavern should be treated as a museum property, not as the closed 736 South Main restaurant.
The historic 1784 Salem Tavern and the former Tavern restaurant at 736 South Main Street are the same building and business.
The historic Salem Tavern is a museum property at 800 South Main Street. The former restaurant was at 736 South Main Street in a separate, later portion of the Old Salem complex.
Source: City of Winston-Salem, Salem Tavern Local Historic Landmark #48; National Park Service, National Historic Landmark Nomination for Salem Tavern; 6AM City, January 14, 2026
The current brick Salem Tavern was built in 1771.
A wooden Salem tavern dates to 1771 in city records, though NCpedia gives 1772. It burned in January 1784, and the existing brick historic tavern was completed later in 1784.
Source: City of Winston-Salem, Salem Tavern Local Historic Landmark #48; NCpedia, "Salem Tavern"; N.C. State University, "Krause, Johann Gottlob"
The Tavern restaurant remained open as a historic dining room after 2019.
The restaurant closed at the end of 2019. Its 736 South Main Street property was sold in 2024 and reopened in 2026 as Bread Haven, a different business.
Source: 6AM City, "Former Tavern restaurant reopens as Bread Haven in Old Salem," January 14, 2026; What Now Charlotte, August 29, 2025
The 1784 Salem Tavern began as an ordinary commercial restaurant.
The tavern was a Moravian church-owned business that served as Salem's formal interface with non-Moravian travelers, or "Strangers." Its present museum interpretation and later restaurant uses are historically distinct.
Source: NC.gov, Old Salem Historic District National Register documentation; National Park Service, National Historic Landmark Nomination for Salem Tavern
This field is retained only for archival context. The former restaurant did not survive under its original name, but the broader historic district remains active through museum interpretation, preservation, and successor businesses. The historic Salem Tavern itself remains a guided-tour property rather than a continuation of the closed restaurant.
No. The Tavern restaurant at 736 South Main Street closed at the end of 2019. The property was sold in 2024 and reopened as Bread Haven in January 2026, a different restaurant operation.
No. The historic 1784 Salem Tavern is a separate museum building at 800 South Main Street. The former restaurant called The Tavern was at 736 South Main Street and used the historic district's tavern heritage in its identity.
The current brick Salem Tavern was built in 1784 after an earlier timber tavern burned in January of that year. State and city records identify it as Salem's first all-brick building, with Johann Gottlob Krause completing masonry work in December 1784.
Yes. The National Park Service's Salem Tavern nomination says George Washington was entertained in Salem for two days during his 1791 Southern tour and stayed in the northeast chamber of the historic tavern.
Bread Haven opened in January 2026 at 736 South Main Street, the former Tavern restaurant property. It is a different restaurant business from the closed Tavern at Old Salem.
736 S Main St, Winston-Salem, NC 27101
None on file
The former Tavern restaurant closed in 2019 and is now a different restaurant operation. For the historic 1784 Salem Tavern at 800 South Main Street, consult Old Salem Museums & Gardens for guided-tour access.