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$500K Grant Awarded to Help Restore Historic Bethlehem’s Miller’s House
March 25th, 2024 | In The News
Saucon Source
The 1782/1834 Grist Miller’s House is located next to the Luckenbach Mill, a former grist mill on Old York Road, and is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites will receive a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service to help restore the Miller’s House in Bethlehem’s Colonial Industrial Quarter, the organization announced Tuesday. The grant is through the Save America’s Treasures program, has which awarded over 1,300 grants totaling over $300 million to historic preservation projects across the country since the early 2000s.
The 1782/1834 Grist Miller’s House is located next to the Luckenbach Mill, a former grist mill on Old York Road, and is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house was constructed in two phases, with the lower level of the building dating from 1782 and the upper levels constructed around 1834.
The restoration project will stabilize and restore the building’s exterior and interior. Inside the building, future visitors will be able to learn about Colonial industrial trades and crafts through the exhibits and demonstrations that will take place, a news release said. The future attraction will be called the Ralph G. Schwarz Center for Colonial Industries in honor of Ralph Grayson Schwarz (1925-2018), an author, historian and preservationist who was instrumental in the early efforts to recognize and document Bethlehem’s Colonial heritage.
“He was a driving force behind the founding of Historic Bethlehem and the initial restoration efforts on many of the early Moravian settler’ landmarks–including the Gemeinhaus, the Single Brethren’s House, the Sun Inn and Burnside Plantation, as well as lands along the Monocacy Creek encompassing the Tannery and the Waterworks in the Colonial Industrial Quarter,” the release said.
The center named for Schwarz will also house exhibit space featuring displays about the daily life of the miller who once inhabited the structure.
In addition to the grant, Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites said it has raised $1.4 million for the restoration of the house and adjacent stone walls of the mill.
“We are honored to have been chosen to receive this funding,” says LoriAnn Wukitsch, HBMS President & CEO. “We are honored to have been chosen to receive this funding and appreciate the recognition and trust given to Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites by the National Park Service to preserve this iconic Bethlehem building and national treasure and thank (U.S.) Sen. Bob Casey for his advocacy.”
The Save America’s Treasures grant program is funded by the Historic Preservation Fund and administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Read the article on the Saucon Source website.
