F 159 .B5 R33 Copy 1 isfamm B5R33 SECOND EDITION. 1^ THE OLD SUN lO, BETHLEHEM, PA « Class i^\^^ Book .;MSi^ THE OLD SUN INN, AT BETHLEHEM, PA 1758. NOW THE v^ SUN HOTEL. AUTHI HlSTOF\Y. '(Yrt «■■■ %\ KY TRE AirTHOK OF "a RED ROSE FROM THE OLDKN TIMR, SAR BETHLEHEM .," ETC., ETC. THE CROWN IKN, NEAR BETHLEHEM,'^ "the old mill," etc., etc. v^ 1 D O Y L E S T O W N , PA.: W. W. H. DAVIS, PRINTER. 1876. Co The following historical sketch of the tirst house of entertainment at Bethlehem is based upon materials that were carefully drawn from authentic records in the archives of the Moravian Church at that place. While it treats of a house whose antecedents are perhaps unique, the narrative may serve to throw additional light upon the past of a place which is confessedly rich in historical associations. Bethlehem, Pa., February 1, 1876. '■;ii i?||: !•«■ 1 1 lis I i"i iTTFPiiL^ iSfl PI i IP THE SUN INN, 17^8 THE SUN HOTEL, 1816, PROPRIETORS AND LANDLORDS OF thp: SUN INN. L THE MORAVIAN SOCIETY, 1758 t<, 1851. Landlonls for the Societf/—^J* eter Worbas. " " Jasper Payne, " " J. Andrew ALHitianT. " " Just Jansen. " " Abraham Levering, 1 an hnnible hostelry on land of 2 10 THE SUIS" INN AT BETIILKIIE.M. theirs in Saiicon township, (it stood until the summer of 1856 on the right bank of the Lehigh, where the Unioii Depot of the two railroads stands,) which, for a time, satisfied the wants of the few who were occasionally led by business to enter the wilderness within the Forks of Delaware. But with each passing year a stronger tide of settlement set in northward from the more populous parts of the Province and also from abroad. Hereupon, fiirms began to dot the country on every side, new roads- were opened, and ere long the capital came to be con- nected by succcessive links that led through the heart of Northampton county with the ancient Minisink Road, whose outlet Avas Kingston on Hudson's River — and be- yond, by a second chain of thoroughfares, with the busy towns east, as far as Massachusetts Bay. Bethlehem thus became a point in this great artery of travel, and situate moreover, on the through-line from New York to Balti- more and the Carolinas, the necessity of making provision for wayfiirers, moved its people, in time, to erect an Inn more commodious than the one located on the south side of the ri\er. Accordingly, in July of 1754, the matter was given into the hands of a committee fur full consideration. These reported on the eighteenth day of that month to the effect that they had fixed upon an eligible site for a public house, on the outskirts of the town, described by them as "situate on the road leading to the tile-kiln, and opposite the Manockasy and the quarry." From the enor of these words the reader will rightly infer that Bethlehem was then an incont^ideral)lc village. In fact, the pile of stone houses on Church Street, the center of THE SUN IXN AT BETHLEHEM. 11 tlie Young Ladies' Seminary, the farm-buildings clustered around the first-house,* tiie mills and workshops on the Manockasy, a single dwelling on Market Street, and a second in course of erection for families and subsequently used as a school, (the Moravian Publication House has recently supplanted it,) — constituted all there was, in July of 1754, of the busy little settlement with a population of four hundred souls. With the above report, the labors •of the aforementioned committee ceased for the time, and when in Febuary of 17oo, the matter of erecting an Inn was again agitated, it was resolved to postpone further action in the premises, until the completion of the Hallf on tlie Barony, or Nazareth Tract. Thus passed the sum- mer of 1755, and then came the Indian war. This, as is well known, entailed upon the Moravians serious pecuni- ary losses, and for several j'ears paralysed their domestic ■activity as well as their missionary enterprise, llencc •the building of the Inn was further delayed. Finally, in the late autnnm of 1757, preparatory steps were taken to commence the work in the ensuing spring, and in Janu- ary of 1758 the arch-iteet's draft was submitted to the committee for inspection, approved and accepted.^ The * This stood until the autumn of 1823, in the rear of the Eagle Hotel. The farm yard which, with its buildings occupied a rectangular plot in front of the first house extending as far cast as the line of Main street, was not fiilly removed until in 1771. t Built for his residence, in expsctation of Count Zinzcndorf 's return to Pennsylvania, but subsequently used as a school. A Boarding School for Young Gentlemen was opened in Nazareth Hall in October of 1785. X This draft, entitled " Bau JZt'.--.5 su einem Gemein Login," is hanging framed, in the reading-room of the Hotel, and is an admirable specimen of the draftsman's art. The front elevation shows quite an imposing structure. '»') by 4ii feet, of two stories, surmounted by a heavy double or 12 THE SrX INX AT P.KTin.EIfEM. lion&e having been staked off in accordance witli this plan, and so as to have its end range with the front of a stone stable that had been erected hjwer down the street in tlie sunnner of 1757,* ground was broken in the first week of April, and the cellars excavated and walled out before the close of May. But during the ensuing eighteen months, tlie work at the building was alternately inter- mitted and resumed, so that the spring of 1760 opened, and travelers were still lodged on this side of the river, when the weather was inclement, in what was called "The Indian House," that stood on the right bank of the Manockasy, opposite the grist-mill. On the 24th of March, 1760, Peter and Ann ^Mary Worbas,! (last from Gnadenthal Farm,) occupied apart- Mansard roof, the front facing soutli — with six windows and a door in the first story, seven windows in the second, and four dormer windows in the third under the lower pitch of the roof. The first floor is divided by a hall 12 feet wide, into four apartments, as follows : on the left, in I'ront, a reception room 24 by 10 feet ; in the rear of this an apartment of like dimensions, divided, however, into two rooms ; on the right of the hall, front, the landlord's oflice and dwelling room, and in the rear a kitchen and pantry. The southwest end of the second floor is occu- pied by a dining saloon 37 by 18 feet, flanked by a suite of three apart- ments, two suites of like arrangement filling up the remainder of the floor. The third story is divided into four rooms, and four alcoves or recesses, each of the latter being large enough to contain four bedsteads. The draft also shows an end elevation of the house, and a profile and plan of the cellar. Although the details of this design were originally carried out, they were subsequently slightly modified, and decidedly so in 1824, during the incumbency of Jacob Wolle, the then landlord. * "Converted about 1820 into dwellings, the last of which was demol- ished only recently, to make way for a row of modern stores. At this writing the farmer's house, too, is being demolished, so that every ves- tige of the buildings that at the beginning of the century surrounded the yard of the large "Bethlehem Farm," will ere long be obliterated. t Mr. Worbas was a native of Jutland, and a carpenter by trade. He had immigrated to the Province in 1753, and was residing at the Gna- denhutten Mission (Lehighton in Carbon county) at the time of the THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHEM. VA ments in the building-, and in Jnne following application was made to the Court at Easton in their behalf, for a permit to entertain travelers and to sell beer and cider. That body was also petitioned by the steward of the set- tlement to grant "a change in the old Gnadenlmtten road from the point of its intersection with the ]Manockasy as far as the intended House of Entertainment on the hill, so as to ha\ e it pass over a piece of lowland, thence by the brick-kiln, thence the best way to said intended Inn, and thence along the road going to Easton to where said road forks, — from there to proceed to the Lecha, to cross it above the Island, and after crossing, to strike the road to Philadelphia near where Mr. Isaac Ysselstein formerly lived." A King's Road, leading from the Inn to the Bethlehem Eerry, having been granted about the same time, the house of which we write was now firmly seated on the then great thoroughfares of travel. Hence we need not be surprised to learn that on the twenty-fourth day of September of the aforementioned year 1760, (this day marks an epoch,) the first travelers were entertained under its hospitable roof. But yet how modest were its equipments when thus setting out in its long career of public service, may be inferred from the statement, that these had been provided in full at an outlay of £39. 17s massacre in November of 1755, being one of the five who were fortu- nate enough to escape from the hands of the merciless savages. On retiring from the Inn, he took cliarge of the grist mill at Bethlehem. In the si)ring of 1769 he removed with his family to Knowlton town- ship, then in Morris county, West Jersey, where, on a branch of the Bequest, called Beaver Dam, tlie Moravians were beginning a settle- ment, first called Greenland and subsequently Hope. Here Mr. Wor- bas was miller. In 1771 he removed to Nazareth, and occupied the first house erected in the new town of that name. He died there in 1806, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. 14 THE .srX INX AT BETIILKIIEM. 2d. Ill fact, the house was neither completed in its de- tails, nor fully furnished until in the early spring of 17(31, —whereupon, application was made by Matthew Schropp, steward of the Bethlehem Economy, to the Court of Quarter Sessions, held at Easton on the 17th day of June, in the tliirty-third year of the reign of George the Tiiird, for a license, in which application Peter Worbas was recommended to his Honor tlie Governor as a fit p3rson to keep a public house of entertainment. The request was favorably entertained, and the license granted. The cost of this instrument was £2. 18s. 6d. In August of this yeSr the new Inn w^as for the first time honored by the presence of the highest official in the Province, as during the sessions of a conference with the Six Nation and Susquelianna Indians, held at Eas- ton, Governor Hamilton and some of the members of his Council rode over to Bethlehem. The conference, we would infer, was a dis*^asteful one to the Governor ; for on learning while yet in town of the arrival of the Indians, *'he told the Council that he had not invited them, that he had no business with them that he knew of except to receive prisoners, and that they must have been invited by some officious people of this city."* Hence it was, perhaps, that he rode over to Bethlehem on the ninth of August, to obliterate all remembrance of liis late chagrin in a good dinner at The Sun Inn. He was followed on the thirteenth, by a large company of Indians, (the Con- ference had closed,) some of whom came to visit old acquaintances, others to have their pieces mended by the gunsmith. These, however, encamped daring their so- * Colonial Records 8, p. 630. THE SUN INN AT r.i:TIILi:HEM. lo journ, in the adjacent fields, yet under the very shadow of tlie Inn. The year 17-62 is memorable in the history of the Mo- ravians in Pennsylvania as marking an important cliange in their social polity. It was then that the Bethlehem Economy was by common consent finally dissolved. Whe.i-eas during its existence all the members of the So- ciety had contributed their labor toward the Common- wealth, certain branches of industry only were hereaftei- conducted for the sui)port of its enteiprises, by specially appointed agents who were amenable to the chief propri- etor of the Moravian estates. Among these were a num- ber of trades, four farms, and the Inn of which we write. For the latter a new era now opened. It was no longer known simply as "the House of Entertainment," but was called by the name it bears to the present day ; where- upon in June of 1764, there appeared upon its sign-board, by way of emblem, a sun in meridian splendor.* But before this, on the first of August, 1762, Jasper Pay net * " 17tli May, 1764. The Sun Inn Dr. to Cash, paid for making a sign post - ■ £-1 2. 22. June, 17(54. Do. Do. to Do., paid for painting the sign -------- - —10.—" Ledger of the Sun Inn., t Mr. Papie Avas born at Twickenham, ("whose Eel-Pie House was for two centuries and as late as 1830 a favorite resort for refreshment and recreation to water parties,") in the county of Middlesex, England. He was a wine cooper by trade. Immigrating with his wife to Penn- sylvania in 1743, he settled at Bethlehem and was appointed steward and accountant to the Economy. At the time of the Indian incursions in upper Northampton, (in November of 1755,) he was residing at the mission house in Smithfield township, (it stood on the west side of Brodhead's creek and opposite Dansbury, the residence of Daniel Brod" head,) whence he escaped, a few days before it was burned by the savages. When appointed to the jsosition at the Inn, he Avas a wid- ower, but in .Julv of 17G3 he married a Miss Way of New London. 10 THE SI^N INN AT BETIILKIIEM. assumed the superintendenc^e of its aft'airs, at a salary of £30 per annum and his h'ving. He was assisted in the management during the four years of liis incMiuibency successively by Peter Worhas, Daniel KuncLler, John Kubel, Peter Goetje, and Just Jansen. An inventory of stock taken on the 4th of May of the last mentioned year, showed tliat £437. 2s. 9d. liad thus far been expended in equipping the house, — said inven- tory embracing furniture to the amount of £157. Is. 3d., kitchen utensils, and the contents of the larder and the cellar. Three Englisli and three German double bed-steads, six single bed-steads, six double blankets, twenty-two single striped blankets and woolen rugs, valued together at £52. 4s. 6d., in part furnished the travelers' chambers. Besides two gross of tobacco pipes, there were stowed in tlie cellar, at the above date, 20 gallons of Madeira, 10 gallons of Teneritle, 2 quarter casks of white Lisbon, 109 gallons of Philadelphia rum, 64 gallons of West India rum, 8 gallons of shrub, 40 gal- lons of cider-royal, 4 hogsheads of cider, and one barrel of beer. The beer both small and strong that was drawn at the Sun for almost twenty years was brewed at Chris- tian's Spring on the Barony. Thirty-eight barrels were consumed in 1762. Thomas Cadwallader and Joseph Sims, Mifflin and Massey, William Hazlitt, Henry Kep- pele, Jacob Viney, Nicholas Garrison, Jr., and subse- quent to 1766 George Schlosser, wine merchants and grocers in Philadelphia, furnished the liquors for the Sun to the close of the last century. The amount of excise paid to the collector (Jesse Jones, a son of John Jones of Bethlehem township, filled the office for many years) in THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHEM. 17 1762 was £13. 12. Id. The net profits of tlie house for the year ending May 4th, 1763, amounted to £26. 9s. How studiously the good reputation of both the house and its cuisine were guarded, while yet in their infancy, may be inferred in part from the following eniimei-ation of novelties and conveniences added to their equipments by Mr. Payne — to wit : "five pair of brass fire-dogs. Delft hand-basins, silver spoons, China bowls and cups and saucers, brass candle-sticks, brass shovels and tongs, steel snuffers, table mats, servers with cruets, ^ large oval fish- dish, plate racks, chafing dishes, a bottle crane, a fish 'kettle, and a spit with handirons and jack for roasting meat." The rates for travelers were as follows: for a •dinner one shilling, for a supper six pence, for a breakfast six pence, for mght's lodging six pence, and for shaving, if desired, six pence. They we're confessedly low, but so was the market, — beef selling at three pence ha'penny per pound, mutton and veal each at three pence, pork per hundred at two pence ha'penny per pound, flour at two pence, butter at six pence, cream at two shillings and milk at eight pence per gallon.* Despite all this, however, ■Governor Hamilton saw fit to dine tw^ice at The Sun in June of 1762, both when on his way from Philadelphia to Easton, (where he had made an appointment to meet * The latter necessaries were furnished by the " Bethlehem Farm.*' Mr. Frederic Beckel, its farmer, renders tlie following account under ■date of 14th May, 1767, to wit: "The Sun Inn to Bethlehem Farm, Dr., f<»r 116j galtena good milk, from 8th July, 1767, to date, being 44 weeks and 3 days, lOJ quarts being delivered per week, at 8d. per gallon. £ s d 3. 17. 8." Ledger of the Sun Inn. IS THE SITN INN AT BF/ITILEHEM, some Indians,) and on his return — which fact seems to demonstrate that the road from th« capital of the Pro- vince to the Seat of Justice of Northampto-n, then lay throufijh tlie villag-e of Bethlehem. Sir William Johnson, Baronet, followed the Governor, on the 29th of the afore- mentioned month. The prospect for peace which had dawned so briglrtly^ after four years of uncertainty and of tedious negotiation with the alienated Indians of the Province and their Western allies, was suddenly darkenred, when in the sum- mer of 1763 "the last act rn the drama of the French' and Indian war" was inaugurated by the Ottowa Pontiac. Upper Northampton for a second time became the scene- of savage incursions, and Bethlehem resounded with the tramp of soldiery and the martial music of drum and fife- as in the gloomy month of November of 1755. On the 30th of July, 1763, one of two companies that had been enlisted in the count}', after having been reviewed by Colonel Horsfield, set out from their rendezvous at The Sun, for the defense of the frontiei-s. The enemy had struck in Smithfield, and next in Whitehall, and when in the first week of October they attacked Captain Wether- hold's command at John Stenton's, murdered Jean Hor- ner and Andrew Haslet's wife and children, and fired the dwellings of his neighbors James Allen and Philip Kratzer in the settlement, two hundred fugitives from Allen and Lehigh sought an asylum and were sheltered in the Inns at Bethlehem. The ensuing months were months of harassing anxiety for the inhabitants of that place. Them- selves and their Indian converts (there were seventy -seven of these at Nain in the vicinity, and forty-four at Wech- THE Sim INN AT BETHLEHEM. VJ 'qnctank in Cliestnut Hill township) were charged with •being in league with the enenij, — and threatened with violence. Hereupon the Moravian Indians threw them- selves upon the protection of Government and were removed to Philadelphia. Watches were meanwhile «et aiightlj in Bethlehem, and |X)rtions of the town, including the Inn and farm-yard were palisaded;* and when in the night of tlie 18th of November the torch was applied to the oil mill, it was evident that anotlier beside a savage foe was eager for the destruction af the Moravian settle- ment. But this time of danger passed bj, and it was not long betbre the popular mind grew calm, and reversed a judgment which it had rashly passed in a, frenzy of exas- jieration. It must next be stated that in September of this memorable year, George Klein, of Bethlehem, provided the first means of public conveyance, between that place a,nd the capital af the Province, his coach or "stage- wagon" setting out from The Sun on every Monday morning for Philadelphia— and from the "King of Prus- sia" on Race street in the capital on every Thursday morning for Bethlehem, This humble enterprise fore- shadowed the numerous stage-lines which in subsequent years did business or had their offices in the house of M'hich we write. On the second of April, 1765, the Justices of the county and other officers in the Province service, who had been appointed a commission by the Governor, were convoked * At the same time the windows of the house were secured by shub- ortly looking man, a bon vivant, and very poimlar." He married Polly Masters, visited Pennsylvania in 1808, and died in England in 1811. X Mr. Albrecht, who was a native of Fuhle in Tliuringia, immigrated in the summer of 1750. In 1766 he married Elizabeth, a daughter of Balzar Orth of Lebanon township, Lancaster county. THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHEM. 21 and again in April of 17G1), and an entry in the records of tliose days to tlie effect that in the month of October of the hist mentioned year "t!ie house was unusually crowded with travelers and boarders," there- is nothing of note come down to us having a bearing on its history durinc; this administration. Diirino- the Governor's three day's stay at The Sim in 1768, (April 27th, 28th and 29th,) when on his way to visit the Aliens at Trout Hall,* — he and his wife, we read, spent a pleasant afternoon on the river, witnessing the men of the village taking shad with the bush-net after the Indian mode of fishing. The profits of the house for the jenr ending Hay 31st, 1771, amounted to £76. Is. 7d. In consequence of a division of the estates and posses- sions of the Moravian Church that was made about this time, both in this country and abroad, the Sun Inn, (to- gether with other messuages as well as farms and wood- lands,) passed into the hands of the Stewards of the So- ciety at Bethlehem. Hencjforth for almost seventy -five years it was conducted solely for the benefit of that body, at first by salaried agents, (as late as 1830,) and subse- quently hj tenants, in consideration of an annual rent. The transfer was made on the first of June, 1771, the Inn and stabling adjoining being appraised at £1,100, and the stock at £418 Penna. currency. With this new order of * Built by William Allen prior to 1755, and marked "William Al- len's House," on a "draft of a road leading from Easton to Reading, being in length fifty miles, but to count from the center of both the Baid towns, fifty miles and one half mile," drawn by David Schultze in October of 1755. Trout Hall stood on high ground, about an eighth of a mile above the confluence of the Jordan Creek and the Little Lehigh, and what remains of this seat of olden mirth and hospitality is incor- porated with the buildings of Muhlenberg College. 22 THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHEM. things, there was also a cliange of incumbents, and ou the second of June, 1771, accordingly, Just Jansen* and Mary, his wife, occupied the Inn, which it fell to their lot to superintend during the most eventful years of its existence. In the first week of September of 1772, we find General Gagef and his family among the number of its guests, and in May of 1773, Governor Eichard Penn.J The latter spent eight days at the house. Governor John Penn partook of its hospitality in May of 1774, and for the last time in May of 1776. The Proprietary Govern- ment under the auspices of the British Crown, was, how- ever, already then in its decadence, and in the summer of the ensuing year, this the last of the Penns in office in * Mr. Jansen, the fifth son of .Jens and Else Gravenson, was born at Wunst in North Jutland, in June of 1719, and was brought up to the pea. Having become attached to the Moravians, he served for a time on their ship, the Irene, which in the interval between 1748 and 1757 plied between New York and London or Amsterdam, constituting an important means of intercourse between the mother Church and her dependencies in the new world. In an enumeration of the inhabitants of Bethlehem made in 1756, we find Mr. Jansen registered briefly, "Just Jansen, mariner, sojourning here." Subsequent to that year, he assisted at "The Crown," and occasionally at the Ferry, and finally, as has been stated, entered Mr. Payne's employ at The Sun. In No- vember of 176G he married Mary Fisher. On closing his career as landlord, he opened a small variety store (it stood on the west side of Main street, opposite the post-ofiice), and was in business at the time of his decease in June of 1790. t General Gage had succeeded General Amherst in the chief com- mand of the British forces in America. In 1774 he was appointed Governor of Massachusetts, in September of that year he began to for- tify Boston, and subsequently planned the expedition to Concord, which resulted in the aflair at Lexington on the memorable 19th April, 1775. X Richard Penn was Acting Governor between October of 1771 and August of 1773, during his brother's absence in England, whither the latter had sailed on receiving intelligence of their father's decease. THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHEM. 23 the Province of Pennsylvania was, on recommendation of the Continental Congress, made a prisoner, and confined on parole within a circuit of six miles from his seat at Lansdowne. The history of the Sun Inn at the period that has been reached in our narrative is intimately blended with that of Bethlehem during the exciting times of the American Revolution. For six years that place was a thoroughfare for troops, — twice in that interval it was the seat of the Continental Hospital besides being occupied for three months bj' the heavy baggage and munitions of war of the army of the North, atid temporarily, too, the refuge of the American Congress. Hence it came to pass that the house of which we write was honored by the presence of men whose names are identified with the great move- ment that resuUed in the separation of her transatlantic Colonies from England, and the establishment of a Re- public in the new world. It is doubtful whether another house of entertainment in the country can lay claim to having slieltered under its roof so many of the leading patriots, statesmen and military chieftains of the war of American Independence, as fhe time-honored Sun Inn at Bethlehem. A few days after Washington had taken the command of the Continental army, with his headquarters at Cam- bridge, (July .3d, 1775,) detachments of militia from Maryland and Virginia, which designed to participate in the siege of Boston, began to move through Bethlehem. Among them was a company of mounted rifles, Virginians, under Captain Morgan (subsequently a Brigadier General and the hero of the Cowpens), who, we read, made a two 24 THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHEM. days' halt in the town (July 24 and 25). This movement of troops, northward, ceased however, about the middle of August. Passing over tlie transit of the prisoners that had been made by General Montgomery on the capture of St. Jolm and Chambly, (these were being moved southward to some secure point inland,) and the incessant marching of recruits from the lower counties on their way to "the Flying Camp" at Amboy, during the spring and summer of 1776, — we come to that memorable time in the Revo- lutionary history of Bethlehem, in which it was the seat of the General Hospital of the hard-pressed patriot army. After the repulse of the Americans at Brooklyn Heights (August 27), Washington withdrew his troops to New York, which city, however, a few days subsequently fell into the hands of the enemy. This loss was followed by that of Fort Washington and Fort Lee in quick succes- sion. Having crossed the North River into New Jersey, the General-in-Chief continued his retreat to Newark, New Brunswick, Princeton and Trenton, closely pursued by Cornwallis. It was at this crisis in the affairs of the army, that the removal of its Hospital (in which two thousand sick and wounded were lying) from Morristown to some point in the interior became an imperative neces- sity; and, on the third of December, an express rider brought the following order, addressed to tlie Rev. John Ettwein at Bethlehem : "According to his Excellency General Washington's order, the General Hospital of the army is removed to Bethlehem ; and you will do the greatest act of liumanity TnE SUN IXX AT BETHLEHEM. % by immedialjelj providing {)roper l)nildJngs for its rocep- tioH. "John WARirEN,* "Gen'I Surgeon to the Continental Army." Doetoi'6 Warren, Shippen and ]\Iorgant arrived on the evening of the aforementioned third of Decetriber, and took possession of a part of the large bnildi'Hg at the foot •of Main street (now the center of the Yo-ung Ladies' Seminary) for the use of tlie Hospital. Two hundred and fifty J sick and wounded occupied -it next day, and it was the 27th of March, 1777, before the house was entirely evacuated. In that interval one hundred and ten of its inmates died. Their -remains were interred on the hill- side 0*1 the right bank of the Manockasy. But meanwhile ether distinguished mea had been led by the fotrtmaes of war to the once ^uiet town of Bethle- 3iem. General Gates at the head -of a detachment of his ■command arrived on the 17th of December, and was fol- .lowed next day by General Sullivan with Lee's division of four tliGusand men, the latter cliieftain having been ^captured a few days jn-evious by some British cavalry at Whitens Tav-ern, near Basking Ridge, in New Jersey. * A brotJier of the patriot Joseph WaiTen. Participated in the battle -of Lexington,— in June ef 1773 was made Senior Surgeon to the Hospi- ital, and after having accompanied tlie army through two yeai's of peril and hardship, he was appointed to the charge of tlie militaiy hosjiitals in Boston. t Dr, John Morgan, of Philadelphia, who with Dr. Williarn Shippen laid tlie permanent foundation of tlie medical institutions of our coun- try. On liis return from Europe in 1765, the former was appointed Professor of the Institutes ef Medicine, and the latter Professor of Anat- ■omy in the Medical College at Philadelphia. :J: Provision had been made for the reception of others at Easton, Al- ien town, and in their vicinity. 4 28? THE Sim INxV AT BETHLEHEST. Scarcely a week in the fii'st eight moiitlis of 17Z7, but was marked by the movement of troops through Bethle- liem, aiid the addit-ion of some now historical name to tlie poll of those who sajo«rned at the old Swn Inn. Jolm. Adanas and Lyman Hall (a signer of the Declaration' of Independence from Georgia) spent the night of the 25th of Janwary nader its roof. General Armstrong was a guest on the 11th of March. Brigadier Generali Fermoy and General Gates- followed m April, — General Schuyler and staff in May, (he was en roi>te for Albany,) and in June, William Ellery and William Whipple, delegates to the Continental Congress, respectively from Rhode Island' and New Hampsliire. General Mifflin v/as at Betbleliem on the 25th of July, and General Schuyler a second time on the 14tb of Attgnst. His family lodged for upwards of two weeks at The Sun. Finally Generals- Green and Knox arrived from headquarters on the twenty-third of the last-mentioned month. With the begi^nning of September, 1777, opened the nwst eventful period in the ReYolutionary history of Beth- lehem. For scarcely had the excitement occasioned by the arrival from Reading of upwards of two bundred prisoners of war (one hundred of these were partisans of Donald ]\IcDonald from the Cross Creek settlement near Fayette- ville, N. C.) fully subsided, when intelligence came of reverses to the army, succeeded by a rumor that Bethle- hem had been selected as headquarters. On the lltlr of September, as is known, was fought the battle of the Brandywine or Chad's Ford, at which point Washington had made an unsuccessful stand for the defense of Phila- delphia. Following this disaster, and Howe's movement THE SUN INN AT BETm.EHEM. -2? ^npon the then federal city, the military stores of the arniy of the North were Imrrietl inland from Frencli Creek, and by the twenty-third of the aforementioned month upwards 'of nine hundred ai-my wagons were in camp in the fields in the rear or north of -the Snn Inn -at Bethlehem. Meaw- while Barron de -Kalb and a corps of French engineers had arrived, their errand being to select an advantageous posi- tion for the army in the vicinity of the town, should Howe follow «p his successes, and compel its shattered regiments •once more to make & stand. A change in that General's programme, however, drew the main army elsewliere, and -thus Bethlehem failed to witness what might have proved a decisive engagement in a most critical period of the American Revolution. On the 19th of September, Dr. Jack&ou, of th-e Hospital, hrouMit the foUowiuo- order, addressed to tlie Bev. Mr^ Ettwein of Bethlehem : ' ' SiK : It gives me great pain to be obliged by order of •Congress to send my sick and wounded soldiers to your peaceable village ; but so it is. We will want room for two thousand at Bethlehem, Easton and Northampton, and you may expect them on Saturday or Sunda}''. These are dreadful times. I am truly concerned for your So- ■ciety, and wish sincerely this stroke could be averted ; but it is impossible. "William Shippen." "On Saturday, the twentieth of September," (1777) writes a chronicler of those stirring times, " we began to realize the extent of the panic that had stricken the in- habitants of the capital, as crowds of civilians as well as men in military life began to enter our town in the char- acter of fugitives. Next day their numbers increased, 28 THE SLTf INX AT BETHLEHEM. and towards evening the first of the sick and wonndedi arrived. Among the latter was General LaFayette,* attended by his suite and General Woodford and Colonel Armstrong. The Continental Congress, too, was largely represented, numbering some of its m€>st inflnentiali mernbers, such as John Hiincock, Samuel Adams, Henry Laurens- and Charles Thomsom The Inn was crowded, to its utmost capacity, and for want of room, many were billeted at private houses and in the farm, buildings." The center of the present Young Ladies^ Seminary was again vaeated for the use of the Hospital, and was occu- pied 3>& such in th<3 interval between the 20th of Septem- ber, 1777, and the 15tb of April, 1778. t There iti an interestin-g letter extant, intliehaBdwritintr o ' to- of Rieha^rd Henry Lee, of Virginia, w-ritten, we read, at the SiHi Inn, on. the 22d of September, 1777, whi«h lias a direct bearing o» tbis iMstoi-j'. Its occasion was as fol- lows ', While Rev. Mr. Ettwein was conducting the lately arrived delegates to Congress through the Widows' and Sisters' Houses (^tbe stone buildings on Church street), be- took occasion to plead for their inmates, whose removal from their homes had been urged by the surgeons iiD order to meet the growing waiits of the Hospital. His representations availing, Henry Laurens, on returning to. Ihe Inn, authorized Lee to indite the following order : * LaFayette -while at Bethlehem, (he set (xit for White Marsh on the 18th of October,) lodged in the house o.f Mr. Frederic Beckel, which at that time was the first dwelling south of the Sun Inn. It was only re- cently removed by Mr. Ambrose Raueh, t It is recorded that seven hundred were in hospital in the Single Brethren's Plouse on the 31st of December, 1777, and that three hun- dred deceased during tlie winter. There are therefore upwards of four hundred Kevolutionary soldiers buried witliin the limits of modern Bethlehem, THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHEM. 29 "Bethlehem, 22d Sept., 1777. "Having here observed a diligent attention to the sick and wounded, and a benevolent desire to make the neces- sary provision for the relief of the distressed as far as the power of the Brethren enables tliem, "We desire that all Continental officers may refrain from disturbing the persons or property of the Moravians in Bethlehem ; and, particularly, that they do not disturb or molest the houses where the women are assembled. "Given under our hands at the time and place above mentioned. "John Hancock, "Richard Henry Lee, "Samuel Adams, "Henry Laurens, "James Duane, "William Duer, "Nathan Brownson, "Cornelius Harnett, "jSIathaniel Folsom, "Benjamin Harrison, "Richard Law, "Joseph Jones, "Elyphalet Dyer, "John Adams, "Henry Marchant, "William Williams, ^'Delegates to Congress.'''' The following extracts from the Diary of John Adams (see voL 2 of his works) are here in place : '•'-Sept. 22, 1777. Monday. Dined at Shannon's in Easton at the Forks. Slept at Jansen's in Bethlehem. ''iSejjt. 23. Mr. Okely, Mr. Hasse and Rev. Mr. Ett- wein came to see me. J\Ir. Ettwein showed us the Chil- dren's Meeling at half after eight o'clock, consisting of an organ and singing in the German language. Mr. Ettwein gave a discourse in German, and next in English. Miss Langley showed us the society of single women, and ]\Ir. Ettwein the waterworks and the manuftxctories. There 30 THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHEM. are six sets of works in one building,- — a hemp-mill, an oil-mill, a mill to grind bark for the tanner, — and a fuller's mill both of cloth and leather. Thej raise a good deal of madder. We walked among the rows of cherry trees, with spacious orchards of apple trees on each side of the cherry walk. The Society of Single Women have turned oat for the sick. " Sept. 25. Rode from Bethlehem through Allentown to a German tavern, about eighteen miles from Reading." It remains to be stated before closing this review of the year 1777 at Bethlehem, that John Hancock passed the night of the second and third of November at the Sun Inn, (he had come from Yorktown, where Congress was in session,) whence he set out the following morning under an escort of cavalry which had been awaiting his arrival, for Boston. Alluding merely to other visitors of note who graced the old Inn with their presence during the first six months of 1778, (many of these were on the way to or from Yorktown where Congress sat until the beginning of July,) — such as General Green, General Gates and family, Ethan Allen, Baron Steuben, Pulaski, General Conway, Generals Mcintosh and Lewis and Gouverneur Morris, — we have next to record the advent of a then very impor- tant personage in the eyes of the American people. This was M. Gerard, who came to Bethlehem on the 25th of November of the last mentioned year, Rev. Mr. Ettwein having been advised of his coming by the President of Congress, in the following lines : "My Deak Friend: "M. Gerard, the Minister Plenipotentiary of France, THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHEM. 31 will be, provided he meets no obstruction on the road, at your place on Wednesday, the 25th inst., about midday. This worthy character merits regard from all the citizeijs of these States. An acquaintance with him will afford you satisfaction, and I am persuaded his visit will work no inconvenience to your community. Don Juan de Miralles, a Spanish gentleman highly recommended by the Governor of Havana, will accompany M. Gerard. The whole suite may amount to six gentlemen and perhaps a servant to each. I give this previous intimation in order that preparation suitable to the occasion may be made by Mr. Jansen at the tavern, and otherwise as you think expedient. "Believe me, dear sir, to be with sincere respect and very great affection your friend and most humble servant, "Henry Laukens. "PMa., 23d Nov., 1778. "The B.EV. Mfi. Ettwein, Bethlehem. Lieutenant Anbury, a British ofHcer, who was at Beth- lehem in the autumn of this year, has the following flat- tering notice of The Sun :* "The tavern at this place is on a good plan, and well calculated for the convenience and accommodation of travelers. The building, which is very extensive, is divided throughout by a passage near thirty (?) feet wide. On each side are convenient apart- ments, consisting of a sitting-room, which leads into two separate bed chambers. All these are well lighted and have fire-places in them. On your arrival you are con- ducted to one of these apartments, and delivered the key, so that you are as free from intrusion as if in your own *See his "Travels in Aiuericii," London, 1789. 32 THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHEM. house. Every other acconimoclation was equal to the Ih-st tavern in London. "You may be sure our surprise was not little, after liaving been accustomed to such miserable fare at other ordinaries, to see a larder displayed with plenty of fish, fowl and game. Another matter of surprise, as we have not met with the like in all our travels, was excellent wines of all sorts, which to us was a most delicious treat, — not having tasted any since we left Boston ; for, not- withstanding the splendor and elegance of several families we visited in Virginia, wine was a stranger to their tables. For every apartment a servant is appointed to attend, whose whole duty it is to wait on the company belonging to it, and who is as much your servant during your stay as one of your own domestics. The accommodation for horses is equal. In short, in planning this tavern, they seem solely to have studied the ease, comfort and con- venience of travelers ; and it is built upon such an exten- sive scale, that it can readily accommodate one hundred and sixty persons." Burgoyne had surrendered his army of six thousand men to General Gates at Saratoga, on the 17th of Octo- ber, 1 777. Among the prisoners made on that memorable occasion there were upw^ards of two thousand Brunswick- ers, under the command of Baron Riedesel, who with other officers, both German and British, passed through Bethlehem on the 5th of January, 1779, en route for Virginia, to which State Congress had ordered them on parole. The Baron was accompanied by his wife and three children, his Chaplain the Rev. John Augustus Mihus, and Major General Pliihps of Burgoyne's army. 'THE SU5 IXN AT BETirLEIlE^l. ^S ■-^M the 26tli of September, this distinguislied coniimny was agam at Bethlehem, md after a short sojourn at lElizabethtown, we find its -members inmates of The Sun, a second time, and for upwards of a month, in the int^erval betweeii the 10th of October fmd the 25 d of November. They had seletJted BethMaem for a ten^porary home, (in preference to Nazaretii,)—A^'ti8hiiigton having given tliem this limited choice. Lieutenant Anbury states in his Travels that "General Philips had been so delighted with the Inn during his first sojourn (in Janutiry) that after lie diad quitted Virginia, not being permitted to go to New York on account of some mflitary operations l^elng on foot in the Jerseys, he returned back some forty miles merely on account -of its accommodations." Tlve follo^'ing extract from a translation of "Letters and Journals relating to the War of the American Eevo- Hution, by Mrs. General Riedesel," (New York, 1827,) •throws more light upon this sojourn of these liistorical rguests of the Sun Inn: "We now returned to Bethlehem, -where my Inisband and General Philips were allowed by the Americans to -.remain until the particulars of tlie -exchange, wliich was yet unfinished, should be settled ; and, as ^ur former (landlord in this place liad treated us with kind hospitality, we, all of us, determined to boaa-d with him— all of us, ibeing sixteen persons and four house-servants. We had .also about twenty horses. 0«r host would make us no definite agreement about the price, and as none of us had •any money, this was very convenient, as he would cheer- fully wait for his pay till we received some. We supposed Slim to be an honest and reasonable man, and the more so 5 S¥ THE ST'N INX AT BETTILP:HE3r. as he belonged to tlie coiniiiiinity of the Moravian Breth- ren, and the Inn was the one owned bj- that Society.. But haw great was our snrpri&e, when atl&r a lesidence of six weeks, and just as we liad received permission to- go to New York, we were ser\-ed with a bilF of thirty-two- thousand dohars, that is to say in American paper money, which is about four hundi-ed guineas. Had it not been for a royalist who Just at this time chanced to pass through^ the village seeking to purchase hard money at any price,, we should have- been placed in the greatest embarrassment, and would not have been able by any possibihty to leave the town. From-* him we were so fortunate as to receive for one piaster, eighty dollai-s in paper money, "My husband suffered- greatly the whole time from, constant pains in the head, and at night he could scarcely breathe. To obtain a little relief, he now accustomed himself to the use of snuff, a practice,^ which until this period he had regarded v/ith the greatest aversion. I first persuaded him to take one pinch. He believed that I was making^ fun of him ; but as the very next instant after trial he experienced relief, he exclianged his pipe- fbr a snuff-box. ]My little Caroline was very sick with a choking cough, and as my health was dehc^ate, we all heartily wished to reach New York as soon as possible." Meanwhile, however, a far more distinguished though an untitled personage had added her name to the record of sojourners^ at the Bethlehem Inn. This was Lady Washington, who arrived from, Ejistoii eai'Iy in the morn- ing of the 15th of June, She was accompanied by Generals Sullivan* and Maxwell and other officers, be- * Sullivan had his headquarters at Easton, -where he was fittiug out an expedition against the Indians on the Susquehiinna. THE S\'K rXX AT J'.lOtllLKllKM. 3-5 • sides her proper ef.cort. The fonner returned to cam}-, ■before noon. After dinner, tke distinguished ^uest ^va^ •waited upon hj the clergymen, and sliown the olajects of iinterestin tlie town. She also attended worship in the •evening, and early in the morning of the 16th set out for ^'^irginia. We have yet to mention the names of Josepli Reed, President of the Suf)reme Executive Coimcil ©f Pennsyl- vania, of John Bayard, Speaker of the General Assembly, and of David Rittenliouse, Treasurer of the State, as :guests at the Inn, during the last year of ^Ir, Jansen's 4idministratioii of its affairs. The net profits of the house for the jear ending with the 31st of May, 1776, were £130. 8s. 2d.— for the next •year £124.— and for that ending with the 31st of May, 1778, £150. 14s. Id., which annual 'income was never exceeded to tlie dose of tJie last century. Mr. Jansen retired from the -Inn in April of 1781, and was followed John Christian Ebert,* who conducted "its affairs for •upwards of nine years. The most memorable occurrence that fell in this ad- ministration, was General Washington's sojourn at Beth^ iehem, in July of 1782, while on his way to headcfuarters ■at Newbureh. "In the forenoon of the 25th of July," writes a chronicler of those times, " we had the honor of *Mr. Ebert was born at Ottenhayn iu Upper Lusatia, in 1749. His ■father being chief-huntsman of the Principality', the son was brought up to the same calling, and was ulso for a time forester on the estates. Having become attacliecl to the Moravians, he immigrated in 1770, an(l settled at Bethlehem. Here he married Ann Kosina .Jungmann, and thereupon took charge of the Inn. He died at that place in August oi 1799. ?^ THE sits: IXX AT BETHLEHEM". fvelcoming: his Excellency General Washington to oiie- town. He was accoBipanied by two-adjutants of his staff. Having been- conducted thi'ongk^ tlie large houses, andi l-ai-taken. of retVeshtnents in. the chapel of the Single Brethren's house, the ilhistrious visitor was escorted to* the mills and shops on Water street, and afforded an op- portunifej of inspecting; the w-ater-works. He and his aids- attended service ia the evening, and early in the morning of the 26thj set out from the Sun, via^Easton and Hope- for New burgh." In December of this year, the IMarquisde Chastelleux, a Magor General in the army of Rochambeau, sojourned a few days at Bethlehem. From a translation of his "Voyages dans l'Ameri(]ue Septentrionale,'** we extract the following, which has a bearing, on the history of the old Inn at that phice : " We had no difficulty iji finding, tlie tavern, for it is pi"eci,sely at the entrance of the town.. The Iwuse- was built at the expense of the Society of ^loravian lirethren, to whom it formerly served as a magazine, and is very handsome and spacious. The per- son that keeps it is only the cashier, and is obliged to- Pender an account to the adminiatrators." In a foot-note to tliis passage, the translator adds : " This Inn, from its external appearajiee and its interior acconnriodations is. nut inferior to the best of the large inns in. England,, which, indeed, it very much resembles, in every respect.. * " Travels in North- America, in the years 1780j 1781 and 1782, bj tlie Marquis de Chastelleux, one of the forty members of the French Academy, and Major General in the French army, serving under the Count de Rochambeau." Translated from the French by an Englisli gentlemtm, who resided in America at tliat period, with notes by the translator. London, 1787. THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHEM. 37 The first tiaie I was at Bethlehem, we lemaiiied there two or tliree days ; and were constantly supplied witli venison, moor-game, the most delicious red and yellow- bellied tront, the highest flavored wild strawberries, the most luxuriant asparagus, mid the best vegetables, in short, I ever saw; and notwithstanding the difficulty of procuring good wine and spirits at that period through- out the continent, we were here regaled with wine and brandy of the best quality, and exquisite old Port and Madeira." Dr. John Schepf, a German physician and an observant traveler who made the tour of the Middle and Southern States, East Florida and the Bahama Islands, in 1783 and 1784, in his "Incidents of Travel" speaks of the Inn at Bethlehem, in the following words : " Its accommoda- tions equal those of the tirst hotels in America. The house is seldom without visitors, as besides occasional travelers, it is the favorite resort of Philadelphians, who are attracted by the good cheer its table is proverbial for offering." When in the autumn of 1785, a Boarding School for Young Ladies ^^the same which to the present day fully sustains its hereditary reputation) was established at Beth- lehem, its Inn acquired a new and desirable patronage, which proved a constant source of revenue, and on Com- mencement Day, year after year, crowded its precincts with a gay and happy throng. Mr. Ebert's reputation as a caterer, and a most obliging landlord, is a matter of tradition as well as of history, being spoken of by old inhabitants of Bethlehem to the present day. 38 THE SUN INX AT BETHLEHEM. The fifth in the succession of landlords at The Sun, was Abraham Levering, who entered npon its nianage- iiieiit on the 1st of June, 1790. Mr. Levering was a son of John and Susan Levering, and was born at Nazareth in December of 1757. His wife, the popular hostess of the L;in for full nine years, was Christiana, a daughter of Lewis Gassier of Litiz. The events of interest which occurred during this ad- ministration, are briefly the following: In the first w^eek of March of 1792 a deputation of Six Nation Indians, fifty-one chiefs and warriors, including Eed Jacket, The Cornplanter, and Otsiquette, on the >vay to Philadelphia to meet Washington in conference, lodged at the Inn, with their teacher, the Rev. Samuel Kirkland. In 1795, on the completion of a public i-oad leading due south across the Lehigh IMountain, the stage which now arrived three times per week, from Philadelphia, relinquished the old route that led through Hellertown and past Stoffel Wagner's, the same that had been trav- eled since the establishment of George Klein's first line. The seventh of March, 1799, was peihaps tlie most memorable day at the Inn in Mr. Levering's incumbency, it being the day on which John Fries and his partisans res- cued some of their comrades from the hands of oflicers of the federal government. During the latter months of the year 1798, owing to several acts passed by Congress, (one ordering the registering of the number and the measure- ment of windows as the basis of a direct tax,) portions of Eastern Pennsylvania, including the counties of Bucks, THE SUN INN AT BETIILKTIf^r. 89 Nortliomptoii and Berks, became the scene of popular excitement and even riotons proceedings. "A person was in the act of measuring the windows of a house," states the Aurora, a Democratic journal, in Philadelphia, "when a woman poured a shower of hot water on his head. Several of the assessors were intimidated from discharg- ing their duties, by threats of personal violence, until at last Government interfered." In Northampton county, which then included Lehigh, the malcontents were led on in these acts of aggression by one John Fries, whose cus- tom it was to harass the public officers, pursuing them from ph\ce to place, in companies of from fifty to sixty, all armed and with drum and fife. While at Quakertown on the 6th of March, learning that Marshal Nicholls would be at Bethlehem on the following day to take bonds for their appearance at the next Court from seventeen rioters whom he had arrested at various points. Fries resolved to effect their rescue. The people of Milford were invited to assist in the enterprise, and a paper set- ting forth their design was drawn up by their leader, and signed by his adherents then present. On the morning of the 7th of March, twenty or more of the rioters met at the house of Conrad Marks. Fries was armed with a sword, and had a feather in his hat. As they proceeded along the road they were met by young Marks, who told them they might as well turn about, as the people of Northampton were able to effect the rescue without the assistance of men from Bucks. Some, therefore, were inclined to do so, but at the instance of Fiies and others, they went forward. Meanwhile, however, another com- pany, intent upon the same errand, had arrived at the 40 THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHEM. Bethlehem bridge, wliere they were met by a depiilation from the Marshal, advising them to return home. Here- upon they sent tliree of their number to that officer, to demand the unconditional release of his prisoners. While thus negotiating, Fries and his men, about noon, rode up to the bridge, arranged the toll, and calling upon the motley crowd, (there were upw-ards of tw^o hundred, some on horseback, some on foot, and some in the uniform of the Whitehall company,) to follow, they crossed the bridge, and to the sound of martial music, marched to The Sun. Here Fries, with the consent of his followers, demanded the prisoners, and when told by Nicholls that he could not surrender them, except they were taken from him by force, the bold chieftain harangued his men, stat- ing that this was the third day he had been out on the expedition, that he had had a skirmish the day before, and if the prisoners were not released he should have another that day. "Now you observe," he continued, "that force is necessary ; but yon must obey my orders. We will not go without taking the prisoners. But take my orders, you must not fire first, you must be fired upon, and when I am gone, you must do as well as you can, as I expect to be the first man that falls." He further de- clared to the Marshal that they would fight till a cloud of smoke prevented them seeing each other. Intimidated by this show of resistance, the prisoners were liberated, although they insisted on proceeding to Philadelphia to abide the decision of the law, and amid loud huzzas the insurgents dispersed. In April of this year "the stage was extended from Betlilehem to Easton, setting out every Monday and "THE SUN IKN AT l^ETIILEHEM. 41 Thursday at half-past three A. M. from Jacob Opp's tav- ern in the hitter place, — the Sun tavern at Bethlehem at six o'clock, thence by way of Quakertown, and arriving at the Franklin Head on Second street in Philadelj^diia, -on the same evening. Fare from Bethlelwn^ to Plailadel- phia, $2.75." Eev. John C. Ogden, an Episcopal clei-gyman who visited Bethlehem during the last month of Mr. Levering's incumbency, has the following notice of on-r Inn : "It is a stone building, with four large rooms an the first, second and third floors. Those on the second and third floors are in part subdivided into two small and«a large room. In this way parties or gtnatlcmen with servants are accom- modated almost as separate families. Fifty persons may be quartered here conveniently." Mr. Levering retired from the Inn in Jnne of 1799, Subsequently he took charge of the estates of the Mora- vian congregation at Litiz, Lancaster county, whence he returned to Bethlehem circa 1832. Here he died in March of 1835, His successor at The Sun was John Lennert, whose administration of its concerns closed on the first of June, 1805. There is extant a waste-book kept by the clerk of the house for the years 1801, 1802 and 1803, from which we extract the follow- ing memoranda, as illustrating the modes of travel in vogue in those days, and also the character of the guests whom business or pleasure was wont to bring to the Betli- lehem Inn : ^'1801. Ju7ie 20.— A gentleman and a lady in a chair." 6 45i' THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHElVr. " 1801. t/une 24, — A family from Philadelpliia in a stage,, and driver." " Jul]/ 4. — A gentleman in the stage. One glats- af punch." "^ tltdy 8. — A eompanj in a stage with four horses and driver. Eight breakfasts, 8 dinners, 16 suppers, 1 gin' spirits, 1 bottle porter, 2 pints Port. "£2. 18. 1." ** July 12. — A lady dressed in black." " " 15. — A compan}^ of French gentlemen with a servant. Four suppers, 4 breakfasts, 4 dinner^ 5 bottles porter, 2 bowls punch, 1 pint Lisbon." "Two gentlemen in a craTicle, three hor- ses and one servant." *"^ July 2&. — A compan}'^ of ladies and gentlemen in a carriage. JV. B. — The ladies had a bottle of porter ever}'^ day at dinner," "^ Aug, 12. — A gentleman in a Windsor chair." " Aug. 26. — k. company from Maryland in chairs,, viz. : One gentleman, two children and one negro servant. Six suppers, 3 breakfasts, 3 dinners, 2 glasses brandy, 2j: pints Tcnerifie,. 1 glass sangaree." " Aug. 28. — A company of actors. Twelve sup- pers, 12 breakfasts, 9 dinners, 12 gills brandy." " Sept. 1. — A company in a Jersey wagon." " " 12. — A gentleman and a lady in a phaeton. '^ " Nov. 28. — General Lee, 6 horses and 4 servants. Five dinners, 1 bottle Madeira, 5 quarts beer, 5^ pints brandy." THE SUH IXN AT T>ETKLEHEM. 43 '-'1802. Ajnil 18. — A gentleman from Federal Citj in a stage." " June 4. — A gentleman and lady on horseback, 4 horses and 1 servant." " June 30.— A company in a carriage, 3 liorses, 2 black servants and one nurse." *' Aug. 22. — Mrs. Wade Hampton and two boys in a carriage, 2 horses and 1 servant. £14. 7. 1." *' Sept. 18. — The President of Cambridg-e Uni- versity." ^' October 3.— A gentleman in a ' Sopus wagon.' " *' " 9. — Three Frencli gentlemen and one -servant." « *<• 20. — General Davis, Governor of North Carolina, one -child and negro servant, in chairs." *'1803. Jane 7. — Commodore Berry of the ship United States and negro sei-vant." " July 2d. — A gentleman and family of six chil- dren, two black girls and two drivers fron. Baltimore." Although much of the travel at this time was by j)ri- vate conveyance, the Sun was the house for a number of stages, among which are named Sellers', Stcehr's, Silas', Rinker"'s, and Peters'. Subsequent to his retirement from the Inn at Bethle- liem, Mr. Lenneii; removed to Salem, N. C, where he took charge of the house of entertainment, and where he died circa 1815. U TIIE SUX INN AT BETHLEHEM. Christian G. Paulas,* and Ann Jolianna, Las wife, were" liost and hoste&s of the Sun between June of 1805 and- June of 1811. The following were points, with their dis- tances, on " the lower" or Hollertown Road to Philadel- phia, at which the stages that traveled between Phila- delphia and Bethlehetn, were accustomed tO' stop in 1809 :t "From Philadelphia to B. Davi&, 16 niiles^ " do'. Baptist Meeting, 23 " " do. Housekeeper's, 25 " " do. Swamp Meeting,.. ..38 " " do.. Stoifel Wagner's, |. .47 " do.. Bethlehem, 53 " "" .Joseph RicOy who conducted tlie Nazareth Inn fronii October of 1808 to June of 1811, succeeded Mr. Paulus at the Son, and in 1816 § wa& followed by * Mr. PawluB wJis a native of Neukirch, Saxony, whence he unnii- grated in 189o, and settled in Bethlehem. His wife was from Hope,, New Jersey. Both deceased at Bethlehem in the autumn of 1821. f Bi-itmeyer's German Americtux Almanac for 1809. Ocrmantoicn,. Pa. X Wagner's tavern, siibsecpently Woodring's, a short mile swith from Hellertown, was built in 1752, on a tract of 184 acres which was patented to Stoffel Wagner in June of that year by Thomas aiKl Eich- urd Penn. LaFayette stoi)i)ed at W^agner's on his way to Bethlehem after the battle of the Brandywiiie.- Old StofFel died circa 1812, up- wards of eighly years of age, and lies bui-ied at Apple's church near Leithsville, Mr. Charles Wagner, at the mill in Hellertow^l, is a great- grandson. ? Mr. Bice died a* Bethlehem in October of 1831, It sliould here be stated,, that in the interval between 1SCX> aiwl 1817,, the Sun Avas the headquarters of one Nicliolas Kra^mer, Avho ran a brilliant career as a land specivlator, with Northampton and Lehigh t'ounties for the field of his bold operations. Krsemer was of humble- origin, without any education or means, — but gifted with genius for eombinations aiul witli nerve to assume the mast hajcardou-* risks. THE SUN INN .AT BETHLEHEM. 45 Jacob Wolle, during whose administration the house was renovated, and materially changed in appearance, the Mansard roof being removed, a tliird story added, and the stone walls of the old building covered with a coat of rough-casting. The old public house at Hellertown is almost a fac simile of "The Sun," as it was as late as 1852. It must not be forgotten that Daniel Green, called Doctor Green, a man not unknown to fame, took up his abode at the Inn during this incumbency, and for full thirty years, entertained its guests in the capacity of cicerone. Mr. Wolle retired in April of 1827. He died at Bethlehem in April of 1863. Matthew Crist was his successor, and was the last sala- ried landlord employed by the Moravian Society. His administration closed in April of 1830. Henceforward, until the sale of the Inn in 1851, it was let for an annual rent to landlords, most of whom were not members of the Moravian Society. The first of these was These traits, when once he appeared before the public as a land-jobber, won for him its confidence and next its admiration, and in time homage was paid to him, as though he were a king. When in the zenith of his glory he resided at Nelighsville in Allen township, whence he would repair weekly to Bethlehem to hold court at the Sun Inn. On these occasions the house assumed the character of an exchange, its rooms and halls being crowded by the yeomanry of Northampton and the adjacent counties, all eager to buy or sell or barter, infatuated as mucli by the presence of Krsemer as by the excitement of the busy scene. Thousands of acres and tens of thousands of dollars passed hands almost reckless during the sessions of this novel court. So Knemer grew rich, and spending liberally for his subjects, (he kept free house at the Sun on court days,) the Inn drew revenue largely from his purse. But as the bubble grew in circumference, it grew thin, and then burst, and so it happened that Nicholas Kra>mer saw the day when the wreck of his fictitiously magnificent fortune was sold at sheriff's sale, and he died a poor man. 46 THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHEM. George Atherton, between 1830 and 1838. lie was succeeded by George Ziegler, C. Edward Seidel, Preston Brock, Tilghman Rupp and George Shober. This brings us to the year 1851, in July of which year the old Sun Inn and its surroundings were sold by Philip H. Goepp, in behalf of the Moravians, to Charles A. Luckenbach, for $8,000. In September of the afore^ mentioned year the new proprietor sold an undivided half part of the property to John Anderson of New York, ■whereupon the house was enlarged to its present dimen- sions, thoroughly renovated, and its management intrusted to .Tames Leibert, who in x4.pril of 1856 in turn became the proprietor of the now Sun Hotel, whose reputation he built up anew.* Mr. Leibert died in October of 1863. * A memorable day in his incumbency Avas Tuesday, November the 8th, 1859, it being the occasion of the annual dinner of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, when upwards of one hundred of its members sat down to discuss the following sumptuous bill of fare: D I N N E E FOR THE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY OF PENN'A., at the Sun Hotel, Bethlehem, Pa., (James Leibeet, Pboprietor,) Tuesday, November 8, 1859. SOUP. Calf's Head. FISH. Boiled Eock, Sauce Manocasy. ROAST. Eibs of Beef. Chickens. Domestic Ducks. Goose, Apple Sauce. Stuffed Turkey, Cranberry Sauce. Lamb with Jelly. Ham, Champagne Sauce. THE SUN INN AT BETHLEHEM. 47 In April of 1864, Rnfus A. Grider purchased the house of C. A. Luckenbach, administrator of James Leibert, for $30,000, at an advance of $10,000. Mr. Grider con- ducted the house of which he was proprietor, for four years. Perhaps the most memorable day during this incum- bency was the 3d of November, 1865, it being the occasion of a dinner given by his friends to the Honorable HOT RELIEVES. Boiled Turkey, Oyster Sauce. Baked Calf's Head. COLD DISHES. Boned Turkey. Chicken Salad. Beef Tongue. Lobster Salad. Boiled Ham. RELISHES. Assorted Pickles. Worcestershire Sauce. Cold Slaw. Cranberry Sauce. Currant Jelly. French Mustard. Apple Sauce. Celery. Catsups. VEGETABLES. Turnips. Sweet Potatoes. Tomatoes. Baked Potatoes. Hominy. Egg Plants. Mashed Potatoes. GAME. Saddle of Venison. Canvas Back Ducks. Bed Head Ducks. Pheasants. Partridges on Toast. OKXAMENTAL. Pyramid of Maccaroni. PASTRY AKD PUDDIXGS. Mince Pie. Moravian Apple Cake. Bethlehem Streussel. Api)lo Pie. Moravian Sugar Cake. Pound Cake. Calf's Foot Jelly. Forms of Vanilla and Strawberry Ice Cream. Figs. Almonds. Kaisins. Grapes. Apples. Cheese Vanilla Ice Cream. Strawberiy Ice Cream. . Coffee and Tea. 48 THE SUN INN AT BETIILEIIK:Nr. Asa Packer, of Maucli Chunk, upon the announcement of the founding by him of the Lehigh University. It is stated that the meeting represented in the aggregate $300,000,000 capital. In March, 1868, Mr. Grider sold the Sun Hotel to the present proprietor, Charles Brodhead, for $50,000. It Avas let by the latter to James E. Johnson, for a term of five years, but in November, 1868, Mr. Johnson assigned ]iis lease to Messrs. Eiegel & Sandt, who managed the hotel for the remainder of the term. In April, 1873, Cyrus T. Smith, late of Towanda, Pa., leased the prop- erty, and he has since acceptably wielded the destinies of what was once, and for upwards of one hundred years, the old Sun Inn at Bethlehem.