Next Town Showdown badge for CMTR spring challenge. I visited Bethlehem and did the Victorian Houses (industrial leaders' homes) audio tour downloaded from
Historic Bethlehem's Heritage Trail, plus walked by a few of the older Moravian buildings and Hotel Bethlehem. There's a separate Founders' tour I'll do some other time.
Bethlehem was founded in 1741 and many historic buildings date from 1742 after the Moravians built them (schools, separate communal homes for men and women and married couples, church, etc.) for their exclusive community members. It was some time before they allowed non-Moravians to settle in town, but eventually they did.
Bethlehem Iron Company (later Bethlehem Steel) began in the mid 1800s and before the turn of the 20th century wealthy industrialists built huge homes along Market Street. Many are now included in one of the first National Historic Districts in the US, meaning the houses are protected by various guidelines. A number of the mansions are now broken up into apartments and house any number of families rather than one large wealthy one plus servants. Near one intersection I heard about the homes of three siblings of the Dodson family. One of them is now a funeral home.
About Weston Dodson and his brothersPhotos to follow...
I guess Hometown Highlights will be around home...not nearly as interesting scenery or grand houses (though if I climb the hill far enough there are some mini-mansions, comparatively). About 60 and cloudy with a cool breeze.