Fig Bethlehem: The Single Sisters’ House: Past & Present

April 16th, 2018 | In The News

Here is where our story begins. Step into the Single Sisters’ House and embark on a journey like no other. Close your eyes and picture it: the year is 1748; the United States, as we know it today, is not even a distant thought on the horizon. This collection of 13 American colonies are firmly under British rule–there is nothing united about them, each one considering itself more of a separate country with its own currency and culture than part of a greater whole.

And Bethlehem? It is a fledgling settlement, barely seven years old. Its Moravian founders are still constructing more buildings, establishing and developing trades, and supporting their missionary work through a system called the General Economy. Individuals in Bethlehem each lives as an active part of a Choir – a social group arranged according to age, gender, and marital status – in which each member gives his or her labor to the community in return for food, shelter, medical care, and education.

The Single Brethren had just outgrown a two-story structure with a two-story attic, built in 1744, and were ready to move down the street into their new, improved, and greatly expanded Single Brethren’s House. Anna Nitschmann, the spiritual leader of the Single Sisters’ Choir, saw her chance and fought for the Single Sisters to move into the recently vacated building instead of waiting for a place in Nazareth to be built. She won over the leaders of the Moravian Church, and the Sisters moved into their new home, the Single Sisters’ House. With each floor of the 1744 section at about 1,200 square feet, measuring a little more than a typical two-bedroom apartment (which comes to just under 1,000 square feet), the Single Sisters settled into their new home, brimming with a whole new world of opportunities and independence for these unmarried Moravian women – all 50 of them.

What was it like to be a woman in a Moravian community during the 18th century?

Surprisingly progressive. The Moravians were a diverse society, and welcomed people from many places including Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Ireland, England, as well as African Americans and Native Americans. They believed that everyone should be educated, not just the sons of the wealthy – so males and females both received an education.

The Sisters dressed uniformily in plain, full, gathered skirts and simple bodices, symbolic of their simple lifestyle and their desire to concentrate on their spirituality and purpose. At the Single Sisters’ House, the rooms on the first and second floors were used as work rooms while the third floor served as a sleeping hall, or Schlafsaal, where women and girls slept dormitory-style.

The Sisters’ daily lives involved cooking, embroidering, sewing, teaching, tending the children, and partaking in religious services. But they were so much more than that. These women were educators, leaders, ordained ministers, artists, innovators, and farmers. Sister Maria Beaumont was considered a renowned pianist in Bethlehem. And Sister Anna Rosina Kliest was an avid writer, who would write dialogues for the seminary girls to perform, as well as a painting teacher, and a notable botanist.

The Single Sisters’ House was not just a space where unmarried Moravian women worked and slept. It was their home, their community. Here is where they were allowed and encouraged to explore and develop their passion, free from the pressure of finding a husband. In a time when most other women had to rely on men to survive financially, these women supported each other, mentored each other, passed down their knowledge from one generation to the next, debated different topics with each other, and helped each other discover who they were as individuals. Here, they could be themselves.

This sense of community is so powerful that even after the General Economy officially ended in the 1760s, the Single Sisters’ Choir system of living – its values and its sense of family – remained in place. Although it was not necessarily a step for future individual financial growth, women could live together, be supported by each other, and lead independent lives. Polly Heckewelder, daughter of Moravian missionaries and born in the Ohio Territory, is a telling example of this. Polly grew up in Bethlehem and attended the Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies, before leaving to teach at Linden Hall (the Moravian girls’ School in Lititz). She eventually returned to Bethlehem to live in the Single Sisters’ House, where she resided for the rest of her life, and during the Civil War, organized the Soldier’s Relief Society of Central Moravian Church in 1861. It was this close-knit and supportive mindset that made the Single Sisters’ Choir the last Choir to remain in Bethlehem, outlasting the Single Brethren’s Choir by some 34 years.

However, now that the General Economy was over, members of the Single Sisters’ Choir had to earn money and pay a stipend to live in the Single Sisters’ House. For example, in 1772, including meals, dormitory space, and miscellaneous items, the annual cost was 13 pounds which in today’s dollars would be very roughly $2,000 per year. So they turned to their skills and trades that they learned and they began to sell their fine embroidery for profit while others spun, wove, and even farmed!

When the Choir system dissolved in the Single Sisters’ House were witness to major world events such as two world wars, civil rights movements, global conflict, and the introduction of the internet. As the national and global landscapes changed, the space remained an affordable, safe, and supportive place for unmarried and independent women to live with its strong sense of community alive and well. This was a safe place for women in transition: from women who wanted to explore their identity before settling into marriage (or never getting married), to women who were divorced and needed somewhere to stay for a while, to senior citizens who wanted to live out their lives in an affordable place with a strong sense of security. Can you imagine a place today with such a mix of women?

As these women adapted and changed, so did the Single Sisters’ House. In the 1950s, the basement of the 1722 Eastern Addition served as a fallout shelter where rations were also stored, and, in the 1980s, the dining room in the 1752 wing became an exercise room for the women to do aerobics!

This 1744/1752 wing of the Single Sisters’ House remained a residence until 2007. Its last remaining tenant lived in the building continuously from 1949, when she came here as a child with her mother.

Shortly after, the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem began preservation work to make the Single Sisters’ House part of the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem in order to tell the unique story of these women and this historic structure, which had been a safe residence for women for 260 years. And, in 2012, Historic Moravian Bethlehem, a 14-acre section in the heart of Bethlehem that included the Single Sisters’ House, was recognized as a National Landmark District, one of the highest distinctions in the country.

Today, the Single Sisters’ House is open to the public as an exhibition and programming space that houses a wide range of programs inspired by the women who lived within these walls. Programs include artist workshops, expert-led discussions, yoga classes, crochet courses, self-defense classes, town halls full of community dialogue, and is also a visitor destination. With its foundation, it continues to serve as a celebration of past, present and inspiration for future generations of female leaders in Bethlehem through the support of the community and Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, a part of Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites.

We invite you to experience the Single Sisters’ House, the Lehigh Valley’s only historically-rooted, bricks and mortar, women’s programming space, and continue its tradition of celebrating women’s accomplishments, discussing their challenges, and drawing inspiration from the past to help shape the future for women, and the community.

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