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 The "Trail of Faith" is an outdoor series of fifteen exhibits from early settler life, including replicas of homes, churches, and industries. It chronicles the significant events of the flight of the Waldenses from the Cottian Alps of Italy to the foothills of North Carolina, where they founded Valdese. With its continued growth and special activities centered around the holidays, the Trail promises to be an site worth revisiting.
AAA Carolinas recently spotlighted the exhibit in an issue of its member-circulated, "Go Magazine." For information, call: (828) 874-1893 or (800) 635-4778. You may also e-mail them at: trailoffaith1893@earthlink.net. To visit the Trail of Faith's official website, click here.
CURRENT OPERATING HOURS AND SPECIAL EVENTSThe Trail is open on Saturday and Sunday from 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. from April through November or for groups by reservation year-round, Monday through Saturday. The Trail of Faith shares its anniversary with that of our country so on July 4th, a celebration is held on the grounds that includes music, food, and entertainment. The celebration is followed by a fireworks display put on by the town in Downtown Valdese at about 9:30 p.m. During Outdoor Drama performances from mid-July through mid-August, the Trail will be open from 5:00 until 8:00 p.m., just before show time. Allow 1˝ hours for a tour. During the month of December, the Trail hosts a display of Christmas-themed lights on its grounds.
| VISITORS CENTER |  The tour begins and ends at the Welcome / Visitors Center. Here, groups are seated and given an overview of the tour. After completing the circuit, they may purchase gifts, view a three-dimensional relief map of the valleys in Italy, or have some refreshments.
Return to Top of Page | | SCHOOL OF THE BARBAS |  Here, during the long Alpine winters, the "barbas" (as the ministers were called for their clandestine operations) studied the Bible, committing to memory much of the New Testament and Psalms. They studied Latin, French, and Italian, and transcribed the books of the Bible to their own language -- a dialect called "Patois." From this seminary, the barbas went out to teach and serve -- To spread the Word.
The school was built during the Middle Ages and is one of the oldest structures in the Waldensian Valleys. The modest quarters served until 1531, when the Waldenses became part of the Reformation and were exiled into Switzerland.
Return to Top of Page | | CHURCH OF THE CAVE |  Worship services were outlawed and reading the Bible was forbidden. Confiscated Bibles were burned and anyone caught reading the Bible was imprisoned and tortured or killed.
Known as Gheisa d’la Tana and situated in one of the mountains rising from the Angrogna Valley and with a low, narrow entrance, this cave served as a safe place for the Waldenses to worship God. The Waldenses long history of secrecy was of great value in enabling them to avoid and escape capture and death.
Return to Top of Page | | MONUMENT AT CHANFORAN |  As word of the growing Reformation movement reached the Valleys, the Waldenses became cautiously interested. They too wished to bring the Christian Church back to its original purity and reaffirm the Bible as the absolute standard for faith. After sending barbas to confer with reformers in Switzerland and Germany and fifteen years of deliberation, the Waldenses supported the Reformation.
In September 1532, thousands of pastors and laymen met with prominent Reformers at Chanforan, in the parish of Angrogna. This meeting resulted in major changes for the Waldensian Church. Secrecy was abandoned and French and Italian would replace Patois as the official dialect.
Return to Top of Page | | THE TEMPLE AT CIABAS |  This church, originally built in 1555, is one of the oldest temples in the Waldensian Valleys. Like many of the early temples, it was built without a bell tower because the Waldenses were forbidden from calling people to gather for worship. Attending church was often punishable by death.
Temples such as this were built like fortresses to serve as places of refuge during times of siege. As the Waldenses grew more openly defiant against the Medieval Church, methods of persecution grew more vicious. But the more zealous the attacks, the more the Waldensian faith seemed to flourish. Inspired by the faith and courage of their leaders, the Waldenses seemed invincible.
Return to Top of Page | | DEPARTURE SITE |  After armies of Duke Victor Amadeus had ripped through the Waldensian Valleys, guerilla warfare became their only defense.
The survivors reunited in the hills under the leadership of Joshua Janavel and retaliated against the persecutors who had thought them exterminated. The Duke, his attention now gained, released the Waldensian prisoners and gave them a choice: renounce your faith and remain in your Valleys or refuse and face exile to Switzerland and France. Only 2,656 Waldenses reached Geneva alive. Those who yielded and accepted the state religion were deported to Vercelli to remain or serve ten years in the galleys.
Return to Top of Page | | MONUMENT AT SIBAUD |  This monument marks the return of exiled Waldenses from Switzerland to their native Valleys in Italy. Two "false starts" in June of 1687 and June of 1688 preceded the fateful night of August 16, 1689 when nine-hundred brave men began their journey home.
Twenty eight days later, they reached the valley of Prali where they were led by Arnaud in the first public worship of their march. In the next valley, Pellice, they camped at Sibaud and there, the entire company made a covenant to defend their cause unto death. On May 23, 1694, the Duke of Savoy issued an edict officially re-establishing the Waldenses in their villages and recognizing their religious liberty.
Return to Top of Page | | THE BECKWITH SCHOOL |  John Charles Beckwith was a Canadian officer in the British army. While visiting General Wellington several years after their defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, he came across a book about the Waldenses. He found their story intriguing and made a visit to the Valleys--a visit that would last thirty years.
Impressed by the Waldenses and desiring to do something for them, Beckwith helped to build schools in each of the tiny hamlets since harsh winters made it difficult for children to reach schools in neighboring villages. In addition to the 165 schools Beckwith helped to build, he sent many promising but poor young people to Lausanne or Geneva to study for ministry or teaching careers.
Return to Top of Page | | EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION | On February 17, 1848, King Charles Albert I signed this Edict which granted the Waldenses the same political and legal rights as other citizens. Though not a declaration of religious liberty, the Edict did allow Waldenses to organize congregations and conduct evangelistic and educational activity outside their Valleys. His act was the direct result of a visit to the valleys a few years earlier where he was received with surprising affection. Waldenses in Italy would wait another hundred years for the new constitution to read these words: "All religious confessions are free before the law." Return to Top of Page | | THE TRON HOUSE |  This tiny frame house was one of the first homes built in the summer of 1893, when the Waldenses settled Valdese.
Pierre and Louise Tron, with their children, were among the twenty-nine brave souls who first settled Valdese. Their job was to prepare for the arrival of nearly two hundred other colonists about six months later, in November. Even with the arrival of eighteen more settlers in June, and fourteen more in August, they were still shorthanded, especially considering that just over half of the sixty-one settlers were children under the age of sixteen. The homes were small, one room affairs because they had so little time to prepare for the arrival of their fellow Waldenses.
Return to Top of Page | | THE SAWMILL AND "BIG WALDO" |  As part of an agreement with The Morganton Land and Improvement Company, this steam powered sawmill was set in the center of the Colony to make lumber not only for their own homes, but also to sell and pay for the ten thousand acres they had purchased.
That dream of selling surplus lumber for profit faded quickly, however. The engine was old, and none of the Waldenses knew how to operate the machine. The learning process was slow and would soon wear on their patience. Eventually the idea of incorporating the town was abandoned. The land company reclaimed the land and resold a smaller parcel of it to the Waldenses on the basis of each family purchasing their own farm.
Return to Top of Page | | THE REFOUR HOUSE |  This house (still under construction) is an example of early homes which featured a wooden structure covered by fieldstones. Three stories high, the bottom floor housed the animals, while the second floor provided living area. Family sleeping quarters were on the top floor.
In the Old Country, having house and barn together provided better protection for the animals, gave the family access to the animals in harsh weather, and the animals’ heat helped warm the living quarters. Early settlers of Valdese often slept in the barn near the animals for heat, especially during the first, bitterly cold winters.
Return to Top of Page | | THE COMMUNITY OVEN |  In the Old World, each village had a community oven constructed of field rock and families took turns using it.
The oven was on of the first projects for the original settlers. Three stone masons (Jacques Tron, Albert Pons, and Jean Refour), shaped a pile of rocks into a productive oven. When completed, Pierre Tron added the carpentry work and doubled as chef. One June 20, 1893, a journal entry in the colony’s record book (Livre des Proces) stated, "Today for the first time after several weeks of waiting, the colonists succeeded in making bread in an oven . . . .The bread . . . .was a great success to everyone’s satisfaction, which is considered a blessing of the Lord."
Return to Top of Page | | BOCCE COURTS |  Pronounced "bot’cha", this is an Italian game of lawn bowling played on a long, narrow court.
Requirements are simple: a court of hard-packed dirt, fifty to seventy-five feet long and twenty feet wide; a set of eight handballs, one per player, a small target ball (bouchin); and two teams of four players each. The players first roll the target ball to the far end of the court. Then players try to position their handball closest to the target ball. The four closest balls score a point, and the first team to score twelve points wins the match. While not physically demanding, bocce is a game of strategy and dexterity, and of course a lot of fun. A tournament is held each year during the Waldensian Festival.
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