Visit Bethlehem, PA with Me

Today I want to take you on a little trip with me to Bethlehem, PA. Bethlehem lies in the center of the Lehigh Valley; a 45 minute drive from our house.   In June, my husband and I celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary and we spent the day walking around this cute town and had lunch at one of their many restaurants.   In July, we went back with family to celebrate both of our birthdays...

Bethlehem, PA was founded on Christmas Eve in 1741.  David Nitschmann and Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf, leading a small group of Moravians, founded the mission community along the banks of the Monocacy Creek by the Lehigh River in the colony of Pennsylvania. They came to set up missionary communities among the Native Americans and unchurched German-speaking Christians. They named the settlement after the town of Bethlehem in Judea, the birthplace of Jesus.

The first building in Bethlehem was a two room log house where on Christmas Eve 1741 the original settlers conducted their evening worship. Count Zinzendorf proclamed the name of the settlement to be "Bethlehem."  It is reported that he came up with the name of Bethlehem after hearing the settlers sing the hymn, "Not Jerusalem, But Lowly Bethlehem" and observing the farm animals that shared the space with the settlers.

The Hotel Bethlehem now sits on the exact spot where the two room log house was many years ago...