Bethlehem

As we gear up for moving and starting our bigger trip in November, Chris and I have been taking advantage of all the cool places we have near us now. We recently made a weekend trip up to Bethlehem for MusikFest. Chris grew up there but I’ve only been there a few times so far and I really love all the old buildings and other American history (like Bethlehem Steel) – and in fact the Historic Moravian District in Bethlehem was named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2024! And of course the other major bonus in visiting here is visiting family!

One we got into town and got settled, we started our weekend exploring downtown and caught the great view from Bethlehem Public Library. We got so lucky with weather this weekend!

I couldn’t possibly do justice to all the buildings but there’s a great website to get more information https://www.historicbethlehem.org/visit-us/museums-sites/. A lot of these buildings were built in the 1700s. This first picture below is a piece of old ruins at the end of Main Street (near the Moravian Bookstore – the longest continually running bookstore in the world).

The first picture below is the Brethren’s House (completed in 1748) and the other is the Single Sister’s House (built in 1744).

The Brethren’s House at the end of Main Street was completed in 1748 and initially contained the Single Brethren’s Choir for 72 single men. While the Moravians (as pacifists) did not participate directly in the Revolutionary war, this building served as a hospital for the Continental Army at the request of George Washington. Today it houses the Music Department for the Moravian College. Which is pretty cool given this story:

“On the top of the building is a widow’s walk where America’s oldest Trombone Choir would play to announce the death of members of the community or to celebrate holidays and festivals. Legend has it that early on Christmas morning of 1755 a group of hostile Indians were about to attack the town when the trombones frightened them from doing so believing that the “Great Spirit” did not want them to harm the community. The Moravians were pacifists and this action reinforced to them that musical instruments were more powerful than guns.”

The Single Sister’s House was built in 1744 to house the single men and women of the community in what were called choirs. Once the Brethren House was completed in 1748, this building became the Single Sisters Choir upon completion of the Brethren’s House in 1748.

I found the info above and more on the Visit Historic Bethlehem site – you can read more here: https://www.visithistoricbethlehem.com/history/world-heritage-properties/

Another major historic part of Bethlehem is Bethlehem Steel. They were a major employer in the region and Chris’ grandfather worked in the plant. At one point in time it was one of the largest steel producing companies in the world. The first steel was produced on the site in 1873 and the last step was cast in 1995. Bethlehem Steel provided steel for major landmarks and buildings – bridges such as the George Washington bridge in NYC, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in NYC (I ran on this in the NYC marathon!), and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and other landmarks like the Hoover Dam, the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, Rockefeller Center, and many other buildings in the Manhattan skyline. They also made significant contributions to shipbuilding and weapons used in both World Wars.

https://www.bapl.org/local-history-2/bethlehem-steel/

You can still walk around the Steel Stacks – there’s a cat walk where you can look over part of the remains (we’ve done this in the past but not on this trip). The whole area has also been repurposed into an arts and cultural area – they has a stage at MusikFest and we took the opportunity to walk around a bit. It’s crazy to see how nature has taken over some of the buildings. And apparently you can do a walking tour! (I just learned about this after our trip so we’ll have to check it out next time –https://www.historicbethlehem.org/visit-us/experience/rise-and-fall-of-bethlehem-steel-walking-tour/)

One other really cool thing we got to see was this sunflower field by St. Luke’s Hospital. I took nearly a hundred pictures just here! It was really cool to see how the sunflowers face toward the sun (even a few that were in the shade of another tree turned a little sideways to get to the sunlight!).