SALISBURY — With a virtual edition of its annual OctoberTour, the Historic Salisbury Foundation will provide a glimpse into buildings that wouldn’t usually be feasible for in-person viewing, says Executive Director Sada Stewart.
One of those buildings is the Bell Block Building, at 133 South Main St. The building, built by David Gaskill in the late 1800s as an investment for his aunt, operated as a tobacco factory in Salisbury. It features brick construction with granite native to Rowan county on its front facade. It has full-story windows on the second and third floors, with arched windows on the third floor.
And while the building has an elaborate interior stairway, it wouldn’t be feasible for an in-person tour — for fire safety and social distancing reasons — Stewart said.
Today it’s home to the Thread Shed on the first floor and has been owned and operated by the Loflin family since they purchased it from the Historic Salisbury Foundation in 1981.
This year, the building and others on the tour will be displayed online via a website offering an interactive tour that will contain information about the tour sites. By working with Salisbury-based DKM Media, the website will provide a 360-degree look into the home with options to move throughout the buildings with audio or visual pop-ups.
