Starting, Stopping, and Starting Again!

Starting, Stopping, and Starting Again!. . , "This house is in a most delightful situation, standing on a high hill, where you have a prospect over a large part of the country...There is a glorious walk, newly made, on the east side of the house with double rows of trees planted on each side, near half a mile long, through a large clear, open field for the children to play and exercise in for their health." , Dr. John Rockhill , upon visiting the Whitefield House, 1751, The Moravians began construction of the Whitefield House in 1740, but after a doctrinal dispute with George Whitefield, they were asked to leave. The group then established Bethlehem. Only one year later, financial difficulties forced Whitefield to sell Nazareth to the Moravians, and the Whitefield House was completed in 1743., The first and second floors served as common, worship, and workshop spaces. The third story was a dormitory, the attic was for storage, and the basement held the kitchen and dining hall. The Whitefield House has housed Nazareth's first settlers, a girls' school, a children's nursery, French and Indian War refugees, the Moravian Theological Seminary, missionaries on furlough, and the Moravian Historical Society. In 1906, noted local architect A.W. Leh extended the building to provide additional rooms, electricity, plumbing, and heat. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places., The non-profit Moravian Historical Society (MHS), the third oldest historical society in Pennsylvania, was established in 1857 to share the story of the Moravian Church and its contributions to American history and culture., [Photo captions, left and right, right] , . Whitefield House prior to the 1906 A.W. Leh extension. The Moravian Historical Society operates the building as well as the Gray Cottage and the Ephrata Tract., . The Moravian Historical Society's exhibition spaces on the second floor of the Whitefield House in the early 1900s.