A Salem alumna’s generosity carries on during a special fundraising auction this weekend. Patricia Flynt, a 1957 graduate of Salem College, passed away in January 2011 and willed her home, a 16th-century farmhouse in Rural Hall, and all of its belongings to Salem. Now those goods—which include historic artifacts, antique furniture, rare antique pottery, silver and more—will be auctioned to benefit the school on March 31.

Flynt, a lifelong Moravian and resident of Forsyth County, North Carolina, was a direct descendent of George Washington through her great, great, great grandmother.  Her great, great, great grandfather, Paul Christian Stauber, a Pennsylvania Moravian, negotiated the purchase of the Wachovia Tract and moved to North Carolina as an early Salem settler.

Ms. Flynt was the daughter of the late Vernon William Flynt and Mary Malinda Merritt Flynt.  She was a lifelong member of Bethania Moravian Church. Flynt earned her BA at Salem, majoring in English and piano.  She taught school in Forsyth County for 30 years.

The auction, which begins at 10 a.m., will be held at the home on 6780 University Parkway, Rural Hall. Click here for more information about the items up for auction. 

Flynt’s farm is also for sale. The farm is located in the Rural Hall township in North Carolina on 26 acres of property.  It is eligible for inclusion in the Register of Historic Properties. Salem alumna, realtor and wife of Senator Richard Burr, Brooke Burr C’79, is handling the sale.

According to local tradition, the log section of the farmhouse was built in 1745 by a hunter and trapper by the name of Peter Faisser.  Expansions to the early structure were made by William Flynt in the 1780’s.  The home has remained in the Flynt family since that time.

The house was altered during the mid-nineteenth century.  Fountain Flynt, born in 1809, served as an early Forsyth County Commissioner and is believed to have built the two-story house.  An original log building remains on the Flynt Property.

Click here for more information on purchasing the property.