Before and during the American Revolution many noted patriots worshiped here, including George Washington, Martha Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Count Casimir Pulaski and the Marquis de Lafayette.

In 1792 fifty-one chiefs and warriors from the Iroquois Confederacy visited this chapel. Among the chiefs were Sagoyewatha (Red Jacket) and Gyantwakia (Cornplanter). Bishop John Ettwein greeted them, and girls from the Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies read poems in their honor. Afterward, Good Peter, an Oneida warrior, spoke:

We will tell our children and grandchildren what has transpired today, and hope that, at no remote time, they may be favored in their dark wilderness with schools such as are to be found in this happy village, where the grace of the Great Spirit reigns in so peculiar a way.

This tablet was placed here in honor of the two hundred and

fiftieth anniversary of the building of this Moravian chapel.

1751 - 2001

———————

The

Old Chapel

Erected A.D. 1751

Second Place of

worship in

Bethlehem

Marker is on Heckwelder Place, on the left when traveling south.

Courtesy hmdb.org

Credits and Sources: