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VALDESE IN THE PRESS

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This is an excerpt from an article which appeared in the most recent issue of the AAA Club's bi-monthly newsletter. It promotes Valdese's tourist attraction, The Trail of Faith.

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After three years of construction, the Waldensian's 15-station "Trail of Faith", is scheduled to open in July, on a 10-acre site near Valdese, just off Interstate 40.

Designed to be an emotionally moving account of the journey taken by the Waldensians from religious persecution in Europe to a 17-family relocation in Burke County in 1893, the "Trail of Faith" will complement visits to the Waldensian Museum, generally considered to be one of the top museums in North Carolina.

The trail contains exhibits depicting "the horrors, atrocities, and martyrdom" suffered by the Protestant Waldensians in a Catholic-dominated Europe. Children memorized entire chapters of their Bible so when the Bibles were destroyed, the Waldensians could gather in a remote location and recreate their Bible from the children's' memories.

Exhibits include a secret structure where scripture was memorized from stone tablets; an amphitheatre where an outdoor drama re-enacts their pilgrimage; the Church of the Cave where worship took place secretly and all worshippers were killed one day when its location finally became known to authorities, and a monument from Napoleon about the bravery of Waldensian soldiers chanting scripture as they entered battle and defeated a larger military force.

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