It’s all about time…
Spring is coming, so for this month’s blog article we’re going outside to enjoy the views. Some of the best include Bethlehem’s belfries, but we’ll start with a sight few people know about—one of Bethlehem’s best kept secrets right above your head!
The Sisters’ House Sun Dial
The oldest timepiece in Bethlehem is not a clock, but a vertical sun dial on the side of the Single Sisters’ House. A metal angle extends horizontally from the building and its shadow crosses radiating lines marked with Roman Numerals. A barely visible “1744” appears at the top of the sun dial, identifying the year the house was built.
You need to look carefully to see the metal jutting out from the Church Street side of the building, and that’s one reason why the sun dial is one of my favorite secrets of Bethlehem. I always wonder how many people pass by never dreaming that a little piece of Bethlehem history is right above their heads!
Bethlehem’s First Town Clock
In 1746, Bethlehem’s first town clock was placed in the tower of the Bell House, a Germanic-style building that once housed a school for girls and is still occupied today. The clock was designed by Augustine Neisser and must have been quite impressive since the famous colonial astronomer and clockmaker David Rittenhouse (for whom Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia is named) is said to have made two trips to Bethlehem solely to inspect Neisser’s achievement.
The tower bell is still in use, and the weather vane portrays the Moravian seal with the Lamb of God victoriously triumphing over sin and death. Neisser’s clock would have faced in two directions, north and south, and remained in the belfry of the Bell House until 1806.
Central Moravian Church’s Bell Tower
In 1806, Bethlehem’s town clock was moved to Central Moravian Church, a new structure the Moravians had built a few years earlier in an impressive show of optimism. The new church was large enough to accommodate 1500 people—at a time when fewer than 600 people lived in the town. Patterned after Moravian churches in the Old World, Central Moravian had a generous belfry, perfect for housing the town clock. When the clock was moved from the Bell House, two more faces were added so the time could be visible from all directions.
The clock face is enormous with dials that measure five feet in diameter, a large hand that “clocks” in at thirty-six and a half inches long, and a small hand measuring thirty and a half inches.
Attribution: Bestbudbrian, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The mechanism has been serviced over the years with parts replaced as needed, and in 1946, the clockworks were replaced with electric machinery. However, the rest of the clock has remained intact. This Bethlehem landmark has been in continuous operation since 1746, making it the oldest continuously operating town clock in America!
References
Sketches of Early Bethlehem by Richmond E. Myers, published 1981
