Bethlehem Pennsylvania and its Historic Districts

Bethlehem was named on Christmas Eve, 1741, by a group of Moravians who relocated from North Carolina and settled at the confluence of the Lehigh River and Monocacy Creek. The canal and the railroads lured large-scale industry to the south bank of the Lehigh River and the Bethlehem Iron Co., soon dominated the town’s economy and way of life. Steel made from local iron, coal and limestone was milled and forged, launching the Industrial Revolution of the late 19^th Century.

Bethlehem is the Lehigh Valley’s Oldest City

Bethlehem has six distinct National Historic Districts as well as two National Historic landmarks. Many of its original structures built by early settlers still line downtown streets.

The Central Bethlehem Historic District includes 165 buildings, 6 sites, 9 structures, and 4 objects. It is primarily residential, but also includes commercial buildings along Main Street. Most of the buildings were built between the mid-18^th to early-20^th century. The district encompasses building that reflect Bethlehem's development from a Moravian community, 1741-1844, to an industrial based economy, 1845-1938.

The Historic Moravian Bethlehem Historic District encompasses a complex of the oldest surviving buildings in Bethlehem. The district was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2012 for its unique assemblage of communal religious buildings and history. It occupies a 14.7-acre (5.9 ha) area of central Bethlehem; at its core is the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem and adjacent properties, located at Main and West Church Streets. The museum property includes a connected series of 18^th century stone buildings, several of which served as communal living facilities, and a 1751 chapel.

The museum also owns properties near the creek, including the industrial 1761 tannery building, and the Old Waterworks which is also a National Historic Landmark as the first pump-driven North American municipal water supply. This area is also archaeologically significant, as the early Moravians developed it industrially from an early period. 

God's Acre has been established as one of the oldest colonial cemeteries in America

Sun Inn was created as a place for non-Moravian people to take up residence while they did any sort of business with the people that lived in the town. The Sun Inn was used often during the American Revolution, including George and Martha Washington, Ben Franklin, John Hancock, john and Samuel Adams.

 

Walking Biking and Cruising the Delaware and Lehigh Valley Trail

165 miles of nature history preservation recreation and education

From its origins as a means to transport anthracite coal from the mines of Luzerne and Carbon County to the markets in the Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia, the D&L Trail is now a multi-use trail originating from the mountains of northeast Pennsylvania through the rivers and communities of the Lehigh Valley and Bucks County.

A Trail that Connects People to Unique Environmental and Community Experiences

Visiting The National Canal Museum, cruising aboard the Josiah White II, walking and riding your bike on the canal towpaths are among the ways to explore the Lehigh Valley and the 60-mile long National Historic Landmark located within Delaware Canal State Park in Bucks and Northampton counties.

Conversations on the Canal are dinner cruises that focus on the major ethnic groups in the D&L Corridor and why they came to America. Learn about the Ulster Scots, the first immigrants from the island known in Gaelic as Éire, who became known as Scots-Irish in North America.  An estimated 200,000 Ulster Scots left for the American colonies during the 1700s thanks to Pennsylvania’s tradition of religious tolerance. Between 1815 and 1834, a second wave of nearly 400 thousand immigrants also came here.

A Vision for the Delaware Canal the idea to construct a pedestrian bridge across the Lehigh River at Jim Thorpe was first conceived in the D&L’s 1992 Management Action Plan.  After countless steps from concept to design to funding and then re-funding, the bridge is the critical connector linking 40 miles of trail located north of Jim Thorpe to the Lehigh Valley.   Just south of Jim Thorpe, two separate but integral projects will make the connection between Carbon County and Lehigh County smooth and safe.  They include plans for a retaining wall and improved towpath trail between Jim Thorpe and Weissport in Lehigh Canal Park.   

Wineries and Breweries the Lehigh Valley is home to a Wine Trail and an Ale Trail. Selected bars and pubs have upwards of 60% of their taps consistently dedicated to craft beers. The local products can also be tasted while cruising the canal.

Discover Lansdowne Pennsylvania

Victorian Homes a Farmers Market a Theater Symphony Orchestra and a 350-year old Tree

The Borough of Lansdowne is located 6 miles - 10 km - southwest of Center City Philadelphia in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The 1.2 square mile borough is primarily residential with a commercial center near a railroad stop, established in the early 1900s, near the intersection of Lansdowne Avenue and Baltimore Pike.

Lansdowne was once a vacation resort for residents of Philadelphia. People traveled by rail and horse to relax in the borough's Victorian homes. Many of the homes have since been turned into multiple-dwelling apartments. Lansdowne is trying to preserve the integrity of its lovely, big homes. It is home to numerous arts organizations, including the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra, Celebration Theater, the Lansdowne Folk Club, and the Lansdowne Arts Festival.

The Farmers Market runs on Saturdays from 9 am to 1 pm, between Memorial Day and Halloween

Every Market features an Artist and a Musician of the Week, which opens the event to the local arts and culture community as well as live entertainment and new handcrafted products. Special events include three Community Days, during which extra spots are opened to local organizations, businesses, and private citizens for promotion and sales along with a Kid-centric Day and a Dog Day.

Travel destinations and itineraries based on client interests by leveraging an in-depth knowledge of your destination, superior client service in the planning stages and throughout the trip or event and logistics expertise to reduce accommodations and transport costs as well as transfer times.

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Several historic buildings are in the community, including a movie theater and clubhouse, and two areas on yhr National Register of Historic Places: Lansdowne Theater, the Twentieth Century Club of Lansdowne, the Henry Albertson Subdivision Historic District and Lansdowne Park Historic District.

A Quaker community and a Friends' Meeting House are located on Lansdowne Avenue. Also, Scottish weavers lived and worked here during the 19^th Century; their houses are still in existence.

Lansdowne is home to a 350-year-old sycamore tree one of the largest in Pennsylvania.

Gladstone Manor dates from the 1920s; it was designed to have the appearance of a small English village. The neighborhood, affectionately known as The Manor by its residents, is located at the western end of Lansdowne.

Architectural and Heritage Itineraries in Lancaster

A walk in downtown Lancaster is a unique experience with historic buildings of different architectural styles and periods and three centuries of Lancaster's civic, commercial, religious, social and architectural history. A leisurely walk can be accomplished in less than an hour.

Lancaster is one of America's most successful smaller cities and among the largest National Register districts -- with over 14,000 NR listed historic buildings:

West King an urban design, architectural, preservation, and development effort is underway to help improve the West King Street district between Prince and Mulberry Streets; information about the buildings and properties is being researched and will be used to create plans and illustrate opportunities for rebuilding and revitalizing the economic, cultural, and social value of these properties and the neighborhood.

Penn Square is Lancaster's geographic, commercial and civic hub. The Soldiers and Sailors Monument honors those who fought in the Civil War. Your walk begins at the northwest corner of Penn Square and views of an 18^th Century city hall, the 19^th Century market house and a 20^th Century skyscraper.

South Queen Street  one block south of the square, there are buildings with connections to the American Revolution and the abolition of slavery, including a Georgian townhouse, a Federal mansion and buildings linked to the Underground Railroad.

Old Town is one of the Lancaster's Colonial era neighborhoods. A 1970s urban renewal plan was halted in favor of historic preservation efforts. Highlights in this neighborhood include a converted stone stable, the home of Lancaster's premier portrait painter, and a Classical Revival mansion.

East Orange Street is part of the City's original Historic District, established in 1967; this tree-lined street boasts an Italianate villa and a church cemetery established in 1744.

North Queen Street The downtown area has been a commercial center for nearly three centuries given Lancaster’s strategic position at a transportation crossroads. The city’s role as a retail center grew rapidly with the Industrial Revolution, with new building materials, construction methods and architectural styles reflected in its storefronts.  

Travel destinations and itineraries based on client interests by leveraging an in-depth knowledge of your destination, superior client service in the planning stages and throughout the trip or event and logistics expertise to reduce accommodations and transport costs as well as transfer times.

Arezza    Knowledge Tourism    Transit Logistics   Volt Logistics