Death & Dying Cemetery Tour Held In Historic Bethlehem

Historic Bethlehem Partnership invites the public to experience the eeriness of the October season on the Death & Dying cemetery tour.

Start your walk in the oldest building in town, Bethlehem's 1741 Gemeinhaus, the place where our earliest settlers lived. After learning about early medical care and the Moravian communal way of life, walk out the building past an original 18th century dead tray, a slab where early settlers' bodies once laid in wait for burial.

The Death & Dying tour is the only cemetery tour in Bethlehem to take guests through the Gemeinhaus and past a dead tray.

Cut through the church greens and by the Old Chapel to witness the place where the Corpse House once stood, housing bodies while the caretaker waited for warmer weather to break ground. Finish the tour in God's Acre, Bethlehem's oldest cemetery, while hearing about early death and funeral practices.

Walk the grounds where Moravians, American Indians, and African Americans were buried side-by-side, infants buried next to infants, and husbands buried separately from wives. The unique way Moravians buried their dead often proves to be one of the most interesting aspects of the tour, according to Historic Bethlehem's guests.

Tours are offered daily except for Mondays during the month of October. Tickets are available online at www.HistoricBethlehem.org or at the Visitor Center at 505 Main Street, 1-800-360-TOUR.

Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for children ages 6-12, and free for children ages 6 and under.

Tour times are as follows:
Tues-Thurs, Sun: 3pm
Fri-Sat: 6pm
Historic Bethlehem Partnership is a not-for-profit institution that brings to life three centuries of American history. Historic Bethlehem tells the story of a small town of great influence, home to some of our nation's earliest settlers, to America's first municipal water pumping system, and to one of the world's greatest industrial companies. Historic Bethlehem is located in eastern Pennsylvania, only a 1.5 hour drive from Philadelphia to the North and 2 hours west of New York City. Historic Bethlehem is an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. For more information please call 1-800-360-TOUR or visit www.HistoricBethlehem.org.

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