Pennsylvania - Day 8 - Bethlehem & Allentown

Allentown KOA, PA
Sunday, 8 April 2018

Today has been mostly sunny and quite cold - temps not above 40° + wind chill.  But no ice on the roads so we spent several hours driving around Bethlehem and Allentown.

Bethlehem is noted for its history as a Moravian settlement and experiment in utopianism, and for the architectural style they brought with them.  From 1741 to 1844, only Moravians were allowed to be part of the settlement.  After 1844, they broadened their horizons and Bethlehem Steel (among other things) followed.

Today, old Bethlehem is the largest collection of Germanic style architecture in the US.

These buildings (above) are interesting because the red brick one is actually 3 different buildings, each built 2 or 3 years after one of the others.  The white house closest is the newest, built in 1891, and the lighter red brick farthest down is the oldest, built in 1850.  The 3 darker brick ones were built in the mid-1850s.

Across the street, where I'm standing is the city hall, and nearby is the Moravian College (see below).

Moravian College

Bethlehem and Allentown share a couple of streets and are smack up against each other, though I doubt it started out that way.  But they're very different towns.

Allentown's historic districts are mostly row houses, Victorian and Federal style with some Craftsman style in some parts of town.  The Victorian style buildings are much like those in Reading so I didn't take any extra photos of them.

Old Zion Church

I did shoot 2 other buildings, though.  The PPL Building (left) was designed by the man who designed New York City's Rockefeller Center and is said to be the prototype.  There are similarities as you can see.

The photo on the right is of the Old Zion Reformed Church, which is now a Church of Christ.  Aside from looking pretty neat, it's got a serious claim to fame: during the Revolutionary War, the Liberty Bell was brought from Philadelphia to Allentown and hidden in the basement of this church.  I can't even conceive of how they got that huge heavy thing into the church's basement, but apparently it's a fact.

And just to prove how old this town is, I found a cemetery that has, as some of its residents, men who fought in the Revolutionary War.  A long list of them, as a matter of fact.   Most of the other graves were for people who died in the 1800s, as the veterans did.

Regular folks

Revolutionary War veterans

Captain in the PA militia, Revolutionary War

As I was leaving town, I ran into a gorgeous Russian Orthodox church, complete with rose window and 2 gold onion domes.  Very unfortunately, I'd run out of battery in my camera so it will just have to be a surprising memory.