Moravian Museum of Bethlehem – National Historic Landmark

The Moravian Museum of Bethlehem

Located in the 1741 Gemeinhaus, a National Historic Landmark and a part of the Moravian Church Settlements–Bethlehem World Heritage Site.

Housed in the oldest building in Bethlehem, the Moravian Museum introduces guests to the city’s unique history that began with its founding by the Moravians in the early 1740s. Docents lead guests through the museum to discover the remarkable stories behind Bethlehem’s founders while highlighting the early Moravians’ community life, medicinal practices, missionary work, relationships with local Indigenous Peoples and progressive-for-the-time educational system.

The Moravian Museum of Bethlehem complex includes some of the region’s most important and oldest buildings. Due to its incredible history and architecture, the Gemeinhaus has been designated a National Historic Landmark and is part of the Historic Moravian Bethlehem National Historic Landmark District. It’s also a cornerstone of the Moravian Church Settlements–Bethlehem, the United States’ newest World Heritage Site.

About the Gemeinhaus

Built in 1741, the Gemeinhaus was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970s to recognize its significance as the birthplace and residence of Lewis David von Schweinitz, the Father of American Mycology. Today, the Gemeinhaus is believed to be the largest 18th-century log structure in continuous use in the United States.

Built of white oak timbers in the German Colonial style, the Gemeinhaus was constructed in two stages, with the center and western portions of the building started in 1741 and the eastern section started in 1742 and completed in 1743.

The Gemeinhaus has a two-story attic and a partial cellar, with herringbone-patterned double doors on the south façade, wooden entrance porches and a steep roof with kicked eaves typical of this architectural style. This original roof was made of wooden shingles replaces with slate in the 19th century. There is a small clapboard, one-story addition on the northwest façade, part of a series of wooden sheds on the property that no longer exist.

Gemeinhaus means “community house” or “meeting house” in German and in Bethlehem’s earliest days, the entire community of approximately 80 people lived together in this structure that served as a home, church and classroom – including kitchens, workrooms and healthcare area – as the community was building their residential houses, known as choirs, adjacent to the Gemeinhaus on what is now Church Street. Of note in the Gemeinhaus is the Saal, the community’s first place of worship, located on the second floor and a popular stop on museum visits.

In 1751, the Old Chapel, the Moravians’ second place of worship, was built into the northeast end of the Gemeinhaus structure. Then, in the mid-1700s, the building’s logs were painted red to help preserve them. In 1777, the Gemeinhaus was parged with stucco and scored to resemble coursed stone, remnants of which remain under the southwest entrance porch. The parging was removed and replaced with wooden clapboards in 1868.

The Gemeinhaus remained a residence for single and widowed women until 1966 when it became home to the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem. According to the cross-sectional view of the building from 1742-1743 and pre-1772 plans, the basic floor plan of this historic building remains virtually unchanged since its construction.