Bethlehem, PA II (10/1/2020)

Thursday, October 1, 2020 (continued)

From Elmira, NY we continued to Allentown, PA, but because we had some time, we detoured slightly to Bethlehem, PA to visit Burnside Plantation, an 18C farm. In 1747 it was the first privately held property and first private home in the Moravian settlement of Bethlehem, owned by James & Mary Burnside. After the death of James Burnside, the property was sold to the Moravian Church and became Plantation #4 in the Moravian farming system.

In 1760, the farm was home to Johann Gottlob Klemm and David Tannenburg, Moravian organ builders. Later from 1792 until 1848, the farm was home to tenant farmers.

View across former crop fields where James Burnside planted
wheat, rye, Indian corn, buckwheat, and turnips, and tenant
farmers added flax, hempseed, clover, hay, oats, and potatoes (KSS)

We believe this is the road to Nain, a village for converted
Native Americans beginning in 1757 until 1764; the last
remaining structure, the Nain-Schober House, was moved
eventually to Heckewelder Place in Bethlehem

Apple Orchard; the Moravians used apples to make
pies, apple butter, cider, and schnitz/dried apples

Corn crib (1820s)

Wagon Shed (1820s)

Johnson Barn (1840s) was moved here to replace an
1841 barn that burned; the barn is a typical German bank barn,
with an earthen ramp leading to the second floor

Attached to the left of the Johnson Barn was the Horse-powered Wheel Shed. Since it was closed, we could not see perhaps the only operational horse-powered threshing wheel, where one horse could do the work of 15 men.

Farmhouse (L 3 bays 1748, R 2 bays 1818), looking
at the windows you can see the R side is higher
than the L side, due to the cold cellar

Beehive oven

Summer Kitchen (1825)

Water pump and old-fashioned rain barrel

Louise Dimmick Garden (named for a volunteer) represents
an early American kitchen garden; there were three levels for:
1. herbs, 2. root vegetables, and 3. beans

Dried plant wreath on the garden shed (KSS)

Bean trellises in the garden

View of the lower level of the Johnson Barn (KSS)

Large willow trees along Monocacy Creek

The smaller Haas Barn, a mid-19C bank barn with a garden

Butterfly house in the pollinator garden

Haas Barn with weathervane (KSS)

Another stop in Bethlehem, PA:

Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War
Soldier

The Single Brothers House in Bethlehem was used as a hospital during the winters of 1776 and 1777. The first winter 110 soldiers died and were buried in coffins on the hillside across Monocacy Creek. But in 1777, the capacity of the hospital was overwhelmed leading to the rapid spread of disease that killed more soldiers than their wounds. The hundreds that died were buried in a trench on the hillside.

Memorial to those buried on this slope (KSS)

Memorial to the Unknown Soldier (1892) has
a crypt with the representative bones of one soldier,
but memorializes the more than 500 who died

In 1995, during the construction of a residence,
three sets of human remains were found and buried here

Next: Allentown, PA.