Bethlehem Community Day ....

Today was Community Day in Bethlehem where they open up a lot of the museums and some of the original buildings in Bethlehem's Colonial Industrial Quarter. 

R had read that there was a new exhibition of old photographs being displayed in the 1869 Luckenbach Mill building. The exhibition was called "Bethlehem Back When"and had about 50 old photographs of Bethlehem ... some dating back to the late 1800's!  We checked out the exhibition and then walked to some of the other buildings. 

The building in the right forefront of my picture (I did take this picture ...  it is not one of the photos in the exhibition!) is the 1762 Waterworks, which is the first pumped municipal water system in America.   The building in the left background is the 1750 Smithy, which unfortunately was dismantled in the early 20th century to make room for brownstone dwellings. In 2004, the Smithy was reconstructed of limestone on the original foundation.   In the far background (above the Waterworks) is the Moravian Book Store, which was founded in 1745 and is the oldest book store in America. 

We certainly have some great history here in Bethlehem! In fact, this year marks the 275th anniversary of the founding of Bethlehem!