00:09 - Today we're

00:09 - joined by Catherine Fall, vice president for Moravian Heritage.

00:13 - The single brother houses were built by Moravian settlers who were the Moravians.

00:18 - That's a really good question.

00:20 - So the Moravians actually originally

00:22 - did come from the part of what's today the Czech Republic,

00:26 - which is called Moravia in English or Moravia in check.

00:31 - In Central Europe.

00:32 - And they were, adherents of the Protestant belief

00:38 - in the post Reformation and actually very early Reformation period,

00:43 - and were not part of, Central Europe was under

00:47 - the rule of a Catholic, ruler.

00:50 - They had to hide their Protestant beliefs, and they were persecuted.

00:56 - And so in 1722, they went to, they went east,

01:02 - to what is now, Saxony.

01:06 - And they settled on the estate

01:08 - of a German nobleman called Count Ludwig von Santander.

01:13 - And there they were joined by other, Germans

01:19 - and originally, from the Lutheran church.

01:22 - And so in the beginning, they were very much a mixture of Moravian,

01:26 - emigrants, to Germany and Germans as well.

01:32 - And then in 1741,

01:36 - several of the German occupants of what was what then became.

01:41 - Helmuth, were sent here to Pennsylvania.

01:45 - Interestingly enough, it was a woman, a young woman

01:48 - and a rich man and her father who was sent here to talk to the local

01:52 - German, sects that were in Pennsylvania

01:56 - to see whether or not they could sort of unite under, one common belief.

02:03 - And then also to see whether

02:05 - or not what the prospects were for proselytizing their beliefs

02:09 - to the Native American peoples who lived in this area.

02:14 - So that's who the Moravians were.

02:17 - Very, very briefly and sort of a time

02:20 - frame of when they came to this part of Pennsylvania.

02:24 - So now we know that the House

02:27 - that we're going to be talking about today was built in Bethlehem, PA.

02:30 - Why was that site chosen for the Moravian settlers?

02:33 - Bethlehem itself?

02:35 - Well, there's this wonderful story of how Christmas in 1742,

02:40 - Nicholas Johnson's and of, was here in the first house,

02:45 - which is today on the site of the Hotel Bethlehem.

02:50 - And, composed a hymn

02:53 - which is still sung, for Christmas Eve service.

02:57 - The Central Moravian Church and said that this was the place,

03:02 - where they were going to settle and set out to do the missionary work.

03:09 - And he so he called it Bethlehem.

03:11 - And there's all kinds of ideas as to why it was called Bethlehem.

03:14 - Obviously, it links back to the biblical story of Bethlehem, and the Holy Land.

03:21 - But also, people have argued

03:24 - that the Hebrew word for house is beit and so we could also see,

03:29 - see this as being the house on the Lehigh Bethlehem.

03:33 - So that's also one of the sort of founding stories

03:37 - of this particular, settlement.

03:41 - Who were the single brethren and what role did they play in the marine community?

03:45 - So in order to build out what they called,

03:48 - a congregation, for primarily

03:53 - the purpose of proselytizing to Native Americans in the area,

03:58 - they needed single brethren, single men

04:02 - to come here and work,

04:05 - right, to do that kind of crafts, whether it was carpentry, blacksmithing,

04:10 - tanning, dyeing, pottery, all of those sorts of things.

04:16 - And that was actually the beginning

04:17 - of the colonial Industrial Quarter, which is part of the World Heritage Site.

04:22 - So the single brethren were brought,

04:24 - on ships from, from Europe

04:28 - and came to Bethlehem

04:30 - for that specific purpose, to work and to build.

04:35 - To make, artisan crafts

04:38 - that were needed for the community to really be self-sufficient.

04:42 - Because, as you can imagine, in 1741,

04:46 - it wasn't exactly, sort of you couldn't order things on Amazon, right?

04:51 - If you wanted something, you had to make it.

04:54 - And so that's why the single brethren came.

04:57 - Where was the first single brethren House?

05:00 - So the first single brethren House was built in 1744.

05:03 - So very soon.

05:05 - And it's actually today the Single Sisters House,

05:09 - which is in the Bell House complex on Church Street.

05:12 - And very quickly they outgrew it.

05:14 - They realized that there had to be

05:17 - a lot of these craftsmen coming here to build the community.

05:22 - Very quickly, the single brethren house, the first single brethren House

05:26 - was too small, and so they had to build the second one

05:30 - just four years later, just down the street.

05:35 - You mentioned the women.

05:38 - How did they interact with other people in their community?

05:40 - In the single sisters?

05:43 - So if I could just back up a second,

05:45 - say something about the Organization of Bethlehem.

05:49 - The Moravian Church, the Moravians have a very interesting.

05:53 - Or in the 18th century had a very interesting idea that depending

05:58 - on your age, gender and marital status, you had a special relationship with Jesus.

06:04 - And so that meant they they formed these, choirs, which were not just for singing.

06:11 - They were for living together and worshiping

06:14 - together, working together, sleeping in the same building.

06:19 - And so the single brethren had a choir,

06:22 - the single sisters had a choir, and later on widows, children.

06:28 - And also married couples as well.

06:30 - There was strict gender segregation.

06:33 - And so originally the single sisters were kept as far away

06:37 - as possible from single brethren, so there would be no interaction.

06:41 - And in fact, in the, later, slightly

06:44 - later period when both, the single women and the single men

06:49 - were living in Bethlehem, they arranged that daily walks

06:54 - to make sure that they didn't cross paths with each other.

06:58 - Everything was very strictly controlled.

07:00 - Any contact between the sexes was very strictly controlled.

07:04 - And so when the single brethren were here, the singles in Bethlehem

07:08 - and in the original house, the single sisters were housed elsewhere.

07:15 - And then they realized that having the single sisters in Nazareth was difficult.

07:20 - And so what they did was they moved the single sisters here

07:24 - to the single brothers house

07:26 - and built the single brethren house just down the street on Church Street.

07:30 - But still there was very, very strict segregation.

07:33 - When you were in the chapel for service,

07:37 - brothers and sisters sat on opposite sides of the room.

07:43 - Everything was kept very, very separate.

07:47 - So it was all very strictly controlled.

07:50 - The contact between genders.

07:53 - Was membership volunteer voluntary,

07:55 - or was it expected within the Moravian community?

07:59 - I think, that's a that's an interesting question to answer.

08:04 - And it's really determined by

08:06 - were you born into the community or did you want to join it?

08:10 - And so people definitely volunteered to join it.

08:13 - They wanted to join it.

08:14 - They had to write letters of petition to join the group,

08:18 - which are fascinating documents, as you can imagine,

08:21 - because people are talking about their lives and why

08:24 - they feel that they want to join the the Moravians.

08:28 - But if you were born into the Moravians,

08:31 - there was an expectation that you would stay.

08:34 - However, there was also what was called a board of overseers, and they would,

08:40 - make sure that conduct was maintained according to expectations.

08:46 - So that if there were any contact that was not,

08:50 - sanctioned between men and women, that would mean that that would be

08:54 - brought in front of the overseers, the board of overseers,

08:58 - and they would discuss it.

09:00 - And also,

09:02 - what's overwhelming when you read these letters of application

09:06 - and then also the personal writings of the men and women,

09:10 - they all are very happy to be part of this community.

09:14 - It was not an easy process to apply.

09:16 - It wasn't just you said, oh, I feel like joining and here you are.

09:20 - It could sometimes takes years.

09:24 - Basically, you were allowed to be an observer.

09:27 - And then even if you were accepted into the community,

09:31 - you might not be a full participant in Holy Communion, for example.

09:35 - And so there were very there was very much,

09:39 - a, a standard of behavior and also a standard of, if you like,

09:44 - what is the person's relationship to God and to Christ.

09:48 - And that was, that was monitored through what were called monthly speaking

09:53 - that were held with every member,

09:55 - every communicant, member of the choirs.

09:58 - In, in the community.

10:00 - And those are really interesting interviews.

10:02 - Sometimes they wrote notes down from that as well.

10:06 - So, so it was very carefully monitored.

10:10 - Very carefully controlled membership.

10:12 - And of course, Bethlehem at that time was a closed community.

10:15 - You could only live here if you had been accepted into the community.

10:21 - Let's shift

10:21 - and talk about the second single, brethren House itself.

10:24 - Tell us, what does it look like?

10:26 - Oh. It's gorgeous. You should go see it.

10:29 - It's this beautiful limestone building.

10:33 - Huge still.

10:34 - It's huge.

10:34 - And it dominates the end.

10:37 - The south end of Main Street in Bethlehem.

10:40 - There are two stories,

10:43 - of, in the main part of the house.

10:46 - There are cellars.

10:48 - There are two attics.

10:50 - It's built of limestone.

10:51 - Obviously. It's local limestone.

10:54 - And it has a beautiful cedar shingled roof

10:58 - with what we call as a balustrade or a widow's walk on the top,

11:02 - which gives you the best view of Bethlehem you can imagine.

11:06 - And it has brick arches over the windows.

11:10 - It has herringbone pattern doors,

11:13 - and it's really quite a splendid building.

11:17 - When it was built in 1748, it was actually the largest.

11:22 - They claim the largest manmade

11:24 - construction in colonial America.

11:28 - And there's some really interesting moments where not only European visitors,

11:33 - were very impressed by this huge edifice,

11:37 - but also Native American leaders who came to Bethlehem

11:42 - would stand and look at this building, ask about its purpose.

11:46 - And then, Chief Shaker, let me, for example, who was an Oneida sachem.

11:52 - He came and he said that he would like to live there

11:56 - even though he'd been married twice.

11:59 - And unfortunately, he died shortly thereafter.

12:02 - But, so it was really a very impressive building.

12:05 - And today it's it's big.

12:07 - But if you think about it, back in 1748, when it wasn't surrounded

12:11 - by other large buildings, it must have really been quite a sight

12:16 - as you came over the hills, either from the south

12:19 - or from the north, you would see that building.

12:23 - Were there spaces within the house that were specifically designed for worship?

12:28 - Yes there were.

12:29 - And what's really interesting, I think, is that

12:32 - in the Moravian community, in the 18th century,

12:37 - worship space was in a room called the Zoll, spelled f a I,

12:42 - which basically is a German word that just means room, large room.

12:46 - And so, in the combined house, which is the congregation house,

12:51 - just opposite the brethren House, the Zoll

12:55 - for the whole community, the original one is on the second floor,

12:59 - and so you can only get to it if you are inside the building.

13:04 - And the same is true for the president's house.

13:06 - The second preference house.

13:08 - There is a Zoll.

13:09 - There was a room on the second floor which today is called Washington's Room,

13:13 - which is where the single brothers would gather for worship,

13:17 - but also for other occasions as well.

13:21 - And you just mentioned Washington.

13:23 - I'd like to ask, what was it like to have the building transform

13:27 - into a housing place for the military during the Revolutionary War? Yes.

13:32 - So the years 1776 and 1777

13:36 - brought huge changes for the community in Bethlehem.

13:40 - Because of the size of this building, obviously it's still stuck out.

13:46 - Especially to the leaders of the Continental Army.

13:51 - And so George Washington wrote

13:53 - to the leader of the community in 1776 and basically said, we are requisitioning

13:58 - all of your large buildings to act as hospitals for the Continental Army.

14:04 - That at that point was, fighting battles in nearby new Jersey.

14:09 - And so, originally they also wanted the single sisters house.

14:14 - And, it was basically, an appeal by the leader of the single sisters

14:19 - about how this would cause incredible, hardship for the single women

14:25 - if they would turfed out that stopped the Continental Army

14:28 - from also going into the single sisters house.

14:31 - But they did go into the single brethren house,

14:35 - in both the fall of 1776, December 1776,

14:39 - and also the fall of 1777 as well.

14:42 - There were hundreds of injured men who were quartered

14:47 - in the Single brethren house.

14:49 - A lot of them died.

14:51 - And they are buried across the Minorca Sea.

14:55 - And, outside the realm of outside the borders of Bethlehem.

15:00 - But within the single

15:02 - brethren house, they were up in the attics and the two attics.

15:06 - They were in the main part of the building, and the two stories.

15:10 - Food was requisitioned from the Moravian, so fresh meat,

15:16 - and corn also weapons were repaired.

15:21 - And other stores were also

15:24 - requisitioned for the Continental Army as well.

15:27 - And given what I just said about that strict segregation of men and women,

15:31 - you can imagine that for the single sisters, this was very, very disturbing

15:35 - was to have all hundreds in fact, that at some point there were thousands

15:40 - of both, members of the Continental Army and the prisoners as well.

15:44 - So prisoners of war who were being brought from fort

15:49 - to Ticonderoga, for example, and also from other battles.

15:54 - And they were also kept here in Bethlehem as well.

15:58 - And it was very, the single sisters found that they couldn't

16:01 - move around the community with, no fear of being molested

16:07 - as they had in the past,

16:09 - and that there had to be all sorts of measures taken

16:12 - to protect the single sisters, which included, for example,

16:16 - covering up all the windows on the ground floor,

16:19 - the first floor of the single sisters house on Church Street.

16:23 - Also providing guards,

16:25 - when the single sisters

16:27 - had to go down to the Lehigh River, which was where the wash house was,

16:31 - they had to walk through the encampment of the soldiers on the prisoners,

16:35 - and also the soldiers brought with them an entourage.

16:38 - They would bring their women, they would bring their children.

16:40 - And so there were all of these people camped out right outside,

16:45 - the brethren House on the sisters house, who did not follow all the rules,

16:49 - that had been set up for the Moravians during

16:54 - during the foundation of this, of this community.

16:57 - So it was hugely disruptive.

17:00 - The single sisters also acted as nurses

17:03 - to other members of the Continental Army.

17:06 - You probably know that George Washington ordered

17:09 - that all soldiers should be inoculated against smallpox.

17:13 - This meant that, the single sisters should be as well.

17:17 - And so they actually introduced smallpox inoculation here.

17:21 - And to, 70 in 1776.

17:24 - And that have consequences as well.

17:27 - There were also diseases, that were that soldiers were bringing with them.

17:32 - Fevers, typhus.

17:35 - That actually meant that quite a few of the women

17:38 - who were nursing them caught typhus and died as well.

17:43 - So it's, it was a

17:45 - a time of enormous disruption.

17:48 - But of course, you can imagine that the Moravians

17:52 - also understood that because they had this remarkable building,

17:57 - and these remarkable resources right here,

18:00 - that they also were obliged to help out during, revolution.

18:06 - I can't say that they were eager to do it.

18:10 - We know how the sisters felt.

18:12 - How did the single brethren feel about the Continental Army occupying the building?

18:16 - Yeah, that's a really good question.

18:18 - So imagine you're a 19 year old man.

18:22 - You are, let's say a blacksmith

18:24 - or a carpenter, and you suddenly see other 19 year

18:29 - old, 20 year old men in uniform coming into Bethlehem.

18:34 - And of course, there was conscription right at that time.

18:37 - And I wonder, to what extent

18:41 - there was this, tension

18:44 - that is expressed that on the one hand, the young Moravian men

18:48 - felt that maybe they should be part of this.

18:52 - But the community said no, because they were pacifists.

18:56 - And they had to pay fines to the county that they did not, sign up.

19:02 - And on the other hand, there were many of them

19:05 - who felt that this was an incredible intrusion

19:08 - into the otherwise very, very ordered life.

19:12 - So they the young men who lived in the single brother house had to leave it.

19:17 - They were quartered with families in the area,

19:20 - or they were sent up to Nazareth, which was used primarily

19:24 - as a, farming community

19:28 - for Bethlehem and so many of them, did

19:32 - they actually had to leave the town

19:34 - or go and live with other, in other houses?

19:38 - So I'm sure there was again, ambivalence, tension, confusion

19:45 - that went on.

19:46 - What happens with the House after the end of the Revolutionary War?

19:51 - So for about so until, gosh, I'm trying to remember now

19:55 - when it was like 18, 12, it was a single brethren house.

19:59 - It remained went back to its original function.

20:03 - And then at 1812, because of the different social constructions,

20:07 - that were happening within the community,

20:11 - the choir system for single brethren was dissolved,

20:15 - the house was dissolved, and it was turned over

20:18 - then to the female Seminary,

20:22 - and it was the location then became an educational and establishment

20:28 - for the female seminary, which of course later becomes Moravian University.

20:33 - One of the fascinating details

20:36 - is that when it was part of the female seminary and the extension

20:41 - to the brethren House, in the basement, there was a swimming pool.

20:45 - It was rather nice.

20:46 - And so today you can look at the plans

20:49 - and see that that's where the young women swam.

20:52 - Of course, that's very different to the 18th century,

20:55 - when it was serving as the Single brethren House.

20:58 - So yes, by 1812, it had been turned over

21:02 - to those who were never allowed inside previously.

21:06 - Who were the young women?

21:08 - Today, the building is part of Moravian University.

21:11 - Yeah.

21:12 - How historically accurate is it today?

21:15 - I think it's very accurate when you go into the original building.

21:19 - First of all, when I go in, I am overwhelmed

21:23 - by how thick the walls are, which explains why they haven't been moved.

21:27 - Right? They're about three feet thick.

21:30 - The music department is in there, which, of course, is great

21:34 - for the music department because it means the practice rooms are very soundproof

21:38 - and because the walls are so thick, the interior walls,

21:42 - you can actually have double doors easily to allow for, soundproofing.

21:48 - There is obviously there have been modifications

21:52 - for Ada compliance as well.

21:55 - That you can see being built in there,

21:57 - but for the most part it's pretty much the way it was.

22:01 - Obviously it has heating in there.

22:04 - And one of the things when you walk in the side entrance,

22:07 - which I think is really interesting, is you see the original chimneys

22:12 - and fireplaces and you can see how it was heated in the 18th century.

22:17 - What hasn't what hasn't been changed and isn't used anymore?

22:21 - Both the attics and the basement.

22:24 - The basement is this fabulous labyrinth of,

22:28 - domed cellars.

22:30 - And you can still see the hooks

22:32 - in the ceiling that they would hang the meats from to preserve them.

22:36 - That's where the kitchens were, right in the bakery.

22:39 - And so you can imagine that the the heat from the stoves of the bakery

22:43 - and the kitchens were also used to heat the building as well.

22:47 - When you go up to the two attics,

22:50 - they, renovated.

22:54 - There are signs, through graffiti of people

22:59 - having left their mark there for the last 250 years, literally.

23:04 - And we're we're really happy

23:07 - that the windows that have been replaced

23:09 - since the original building was done are still are very drafty now.

23:13 - But we were we're happy to say that we got a grant

23:16 - from the National Park Service to replace all of those windows

23:20 - and the whole building, which would make it much less drafty.

23:24 - And that's that's scheduled for next year, to happen.

23:28 - The roof was recently,

23:31 - re shingled in beautiful cedar shingles.

23:34 - So on a hot summer's day, if you're up there on the widow's walk,

23:38 - you can smell the beautiful C, the aroma coming up.

23:42 - So, so in the 19th century,

23:45 - when it was the female seminary, everything was stuccoed.

23:49 - The outside of the building was stuccoed, and the windows were changed.

23:53 - In terms of their shape.

23:56 - And then that was all removed then in the 20th century.

23:59 - So what we see today is much more like it looked originally.

24:04 - If we'd have looked at this building in, say, 1870,

24:08 - it would have looked a bit different.

24:11 - What role does the House

24:12 - play on Moravian University's campus today?

24:15 - It plays a very important role.

24:16 - It's, It's the central part of the South Campus.

24:20 - It houses the music department for which Moravian University is very well known.

24:25 - There's high standard of, student achievement in music

24:30 - and also the art department as well.

24:33 - And why is it important for historic buildings like this one

24:36 - to be an active part of campus, rather than, say, being converted into a museum?

24:42 - That's a lovely question.

24:44 - I think it's really important for students to be part

24:47 - of the living experience

24:51 - of a continuity of tradition.

24:54 - And if you think about who lived in that house

24:58 - in the 18th century and the kinds of lives

25:01 - they led, education was part of it.

25:04 - It wasn't just work.

25:06 - It wasn't only worship.

25:07 - It was also education as well.

25:09 - Many of the single brethren were also teachers to the young boys as well.

25:15 - And there is so that that continuity and authenticity,

25:19 - of the experience of being in that building.

25:22 - And I talk I have an office down there, which is wonderful.

25:26 - Because you can hear the music being practiced in the background

25:29 - and his students there.

25:31 - And I think it's wonderful that the building is still being used

25:35 - and it's full of life, rather than being just

25:38 - a museum, dedicated to the past.

25:42 - And then for the last question,

25:43 - I'd like to ask, do the single brethren still exist today?

25:47 - No. No.

25:49 - The choir system was just was, disbanded in the 19th century

25:54 - as things changed in, the early republic.

25:59 - The idea, and post revolution.

26:02 - And it was also sort of brewing before the American Revolution to think about this.

26:07 - A young man who has really excellent

26:11 - skills and a craft is very highly sought after.

26:15 - And Moravian artisan ship was well known

26:18 - within the colonies and also within the early Republic as well.

26:23 - And so these tanners and potters

26:26 - and blacksmiths had,

26:29 - were able to set up very quickly their own businesses,

26:33 - because in the earliest period everything was communal.

26:36 - They were working for the community.

26:38 - But then in seven, after 1762, things change.

26:42 - And you have the, ability to set up your own business.

26:48 - And so by the time you get to the early 19th century

26:52 - with, you know, the growth of,

26:55 - industry, with the beginnings of the Industrial revolution,

27:00 - in this country, there's a place there's a place

27:04 - for very skilled craftsmen to make a name for themselves.

27:08 - And so there really wasn't a point to the single brethren any longer.

27:13 - Things have changed, very much

27:17 - adhering to the idea that you learn a craft,

27:20 - you get married, you have your own children,

27:22 - you have your own family, you have your own business.

27:25 - And that was definitely not

27:27 - the way things were thought of in the beginning, in Bethlehem.

27:32 - But by the time you get to the early 19th century,

27:35 - you have that idea of entrepreneurship

27:38 - and the nuclear family.

27:41 - We've been speaking with Catherine Fall, vice president for Moravian Heritage.

27:45 - Thank you.

27:46 - Thank you.

27:47 - Been a pleasure.