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Discover Bethlehem’s Hidden Irish Roots
March 11th, 2015 |
Bethlehem loves to celebrate the Irish culture, though many people may not know that there is a fascinating historical connection between Ireland and Historic Bethlehem!
A man by the name of James Burnside, originally from County Meath, Ireland, traveled to Georgia, and in two years suffered two devastating fires and the death of his first wife. He befriended a member of the Moravian Church in Georgia and came north, eventually becoming a Moravian missionary. After his daughter passed away from smallpox, James married Mary Wendover, a widow from the Moravian congregation in New York.
In 1747, James and Mary Burnside decided to not follow the choir system of the Bethlehem Moravians and purchased 500 acres just north of the Moravian settlement of Bethlehem. Their farm, Burnside Plantation, was the first privately held property in the settlement and first private home in Bethlehem. In 1752, James was elected as the first representative to the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly from the newly formed Northampton County. He was a contemporary of Benjamin Franklin serving with him on the Committee for Indian Affairs. Three years after his death, Mary sold the farm to the Moravian Church and it became Plantation #4 in the Moravian farming system, which was a communal system in which all produce was given back to the community, and was an integral part of the settlement’s economy.
Today, Burnside Plantation is one of the most beautiful historic sites run and preserved by Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites. It is home to our annual events like Blueberry Festival, Burnside Sale, and Holiday Greens & Crafts Sale, and to the Bethlehem Mounted Patrol Police horses and the beautiful Colonial Gardens tended to by the Burnside Plantation Gardeners. Want to visit Burnside Plantation and learn in-depth its rich history, including its Irish roots? Visit us at HistoricBethlehem.org or call 1-800-360-TOUR to schedule your visit!
Be sure to not miss our Docents on Main in this year’s Celtic Classic Parade of Shamrocks on March 14, and the Downtown Bethlehem Association’s Beth-lum Go Bragh week of festivities from March 13-21, all family-friendly events embracing the love for Irish culture! And don’t forget about the Celtic Classic, which takes over Historic Bethlehem every September.
