germanton is located near the older moravian settlements of bethabara and bethania, which were part of the wachovia tract settlement. the etymology of the "germanton" name is often mistakenly attributed to this proximity. while wachovia was settled for religious reasons by people originally from what is today the czech republic, the settlers of the germanton area were primarily lutheran, originally from areas in what is today germany, and settled the area for non-religious purposes. early stokes county settlers were the result of land incentives by the state in 1790 given as a reward to those germanic people who had fought for independence.