Road to Bethlehem

TIMEOFF PHOTOS/MATT SMITH

A historic water trough on Main Street.

   The road to Bethlehem, Pa., actually winds through Bucks County
— a 90-minute pilgrimage up routes 413, 611 and 412 — when you start
a block from the Delaware River way down in Bristol Borough.
   Just over the line into Northampton County, this city of 70,000
rises up the hilly banks on both sides of the Lehigh River — between sister
cities Allentown and Easton. Perhaps best known for the now-departed industrial
giant Bethlehem Steel, in this most wonderful time of the year Bethlehem celebrates
its more heartening reputation as "Christmas City USA."
   Although I’ve lived most of my life in the greater Delaware
Valley, I had never ventured to the neighboring Lehigh Valley until heading north
last week for a much-needed helping of Bethlehem’s Christmas cheer. Arriving at
midday on the chilly first Friday of December, I snaked past the massive shell
of Bethlehem Steel — which encompassed 15 percent of the city’s land mass
at its height — and headed for the historic district.
   I mapped out my afternoon and evening of activities at the Apollo
Grill on Broad Street, a cosmopolitan café that calls itself "New York
City in Bethlehem." Tucked between a boisterous table of lunching professionals
and a more subdued, shopped-out pair of women, I powered up for a stroll along
Main Street with a mountainous Waldorf salad and a pair of chipotle lobster ravioli.

The Colonial Industrial Quarter with the Monocacy Creek in the foreground.

   I bypassed most of the charming shops and headed for the Moravian
Book Shop, the oldest bookstore in the United States. (We’ll get to the Moravians
later.) I stumbled in from the cold to the jam-packed gift-shop portion, which
featured a large display of Bethlehem’s famous Moravian Stars. I moved quickly
to the book section, where I paged through tomes on Bethlehem’s railroad history
before discovering a collection of powerful Bethlehem Steel photographs by Andrew
Garn. I knew this would be right at home on my shelf next to a volume dedicated
to the abandoned train station in Buffalo that I purchased on a trip to Western
New York last month.
   Next up was the heated-tent comfort of Christkindlmarkt ("Christ
child market"), Bethlehem’s 12th annual arts-and-crafts exhibition benefiting
the Banana Factory artists collective and gallery. The event is modeled after
the famous Christmas market in Munich, Germany. I labored through five years of
Deutsch from grade 8 to senior year in high school, but only recalled enough to
exclaim that my piece of Helmut’s apricot strudel was "zehr gut"! I waved to St.
Nicholas, watched a man sculpt an ice bear with a chainsaw and hurried past the
bus groups to the "ausgang."
   Perhaps feeling a bit too spirited, I decided the fading light
demanded a late-afternoon inspection of the Bethlehem Steel perimeter. Ten times
more massive than I had envisioned, I struggled to comprehend the collective might
of this operation at its height. Surely, I thought, those tens of thousands of
jobs made for a lot of happy Christmases. Thankfully, Bethlehem has ambitious
plans for the site, including a National Industrial Museum under the auspices
of the Smithsonian, showing a steely determination to honor its past but not to
dwell on it.

A portion of the abandoned Bethlehem Steel, as seen from the parking lot of the company’s former headquarters.

   Rushing back to the historic district, I just made a 5 p.m.
lantern tour leaving from the Moravian Museum on Church Street, on the edge of
Moravian College. A guide in Colonial garb led a small group through the imprint
of the original Bethlehem — a 1741 settlement of German-speaking Moravian
missionaries who found religious freedom in the New World. The guide offered up
countless facts about the Moravians, who seemed quite progressive for the time.
I learned, for example, that boys and girls received equal education, and that
African-Americans and Native Americans were buried alongside the Moravians of
European descent, in flat graves: "Equal in life and in death," noted the guide.

An ice sculptor at Christkindlmarkt.

   She also offered more than one advertisement for some of Bethlehem’s
other yearly attractions, including Musikfest in August. When pointing out the
hard-to-miss Star of Bethlehem across the river in South Bethlehem, she noted
that in her youth it was only lit at Christmas and special occasions but now shines
year-round to welcome all weary visitors. The star, like the omnipresent Christmas
lights and window candles, seemed to take on a sacred glow in the crisp night
air.
   One stop on the tour was the 1810 Goundie House, residence of
Bethlehem’s first mayor, a brewer by trade. Needing only the flimsiest excuse
to sample a local draft, I hurried down Main Street to Bethlehem Brew Works to
warm my bones with a powerful "Black Friday" microbrew and knockwurst plate from
a perch at the bar. I caught a snippet of Shawn Colvin’s version of "Little Road
to Bethlehem" in the constant din of the busy bar crowded with tourists, locals,
and Moravian and Lehigh University students. Feeling a bit tipsy from just one
beer, I finished with a steadying espresso and left for my final destination.
   After getting a bit twisted up finding my way across one of
the bridges to South Bethlehem, I finally located the bustling "First Friday"
event on Third Street. I peeked into the aforementioned Banana Factory complex
and a few neighboring galleries, but found myself weary from a day spent in and
out of the cold. On my final trip by Bethlehem Steel, I was chilled by the eerie
shadow of the buildings, but warmed by the thought of the city’s proud past and
promising future.
Apollo Grill, 85 W. Broad St., (610) 865-9600, www.apollogrill.com.
Moravian Book Shop, 428 Main St., (610) 866-5481, www.moravianstar.com.
Christkindlmarkt, Spring and Main streets, (610) 861-0678, www.fest.org.
(Runs through Dec. 19, except Dec. 13-14.)
Moravian Museum, 66 W. Church St., (610) 867-0173, www.historicbethlehem.org.
(For lantern tour information, call the Christmas Tour Center: (800) 360-TOUR.)
Bethlehem Brew Works, 569 Main St., (610) 882-1300, www.thebrewworks.com.
Banana Factory, 25 W. Third St., (610) 332-1300, www.bananafactory.org.
By: Matt Smith
   The road to Bethlehem, Pa., actually winds through Bucks County — a 90-minute pilgrimage up routes 413, 611 and 412 — when you start a block from the Delaware River way down in Bristol Borough.
   Just over the line into Northampton County, this city of 70,000 rises up the hilly banks on both sides of the Lehigh River — between sister cities Allentown and Easton. Perhaps best known for the now-departed industrial giant Bethlehem Steel, in this most wonderful time of the year Bethlehem celebrates its more heartening reputation as "Christmas City USA."
   Although I’ve lived most of my life in the greater Delaware Valley, I had never ventured to the neighboring Lehigh Valley until heading north last week for a much-needed helping of Bethlehem’s Christmas cheer. Arriving at midday on the chilly first Friday of December, I snaked past the massive shell of Bethlehem Steel — which encompassed 15 percent of the city’s land mass at its height — and headed for the historic district.
   I mapped out my afternoon and evening of activities at the Apollo Grill on Broad Street, a cosmopolitan café that calls itself "New York City in Bethlehem." Tucked between a boisterous table of lunching professionals and a more subdued, shopped-out pair of women, I powered up for a stroll along Main Street with a mountainous Waldorf salad and a pair of chipotle lobster ravioli.
   I bypassed most of the charming shops and headed for the Moravian Book Shop, the oldest bookstore in the United States. (We’ll get to the Moravians later.) I stumbled in from the cold to the jam-packed gift-shop portion, which featured a large display of Bethlehem’s famous Moravian Stars. I moved quickly to the book section, where I paged through tomes on Bethlehem’s railroad history before discovering a collection of powerful Bethlehem Steel photographs by Andrew Garn. I knew this would be right at home on my shelf next to a volume dedicated to the abandoned train station in Buffalo that I purchased on a trip to Western New York last month.
   Next up was the heated-tent comfort of Christkindlmarkt ("Christ child market"), Bethlehem’s 12th annual arts-and-crafts exhibition benefiting the Banana Factory artists collective and gallery. The event is modeled after the famous Christmas market in Munich, Germany. I labored through five years of Deutsch from grade 8 to senior year in high school, but only recalled enough to exclaim that my piece of Helmut’s apricot strudel was "zehr gut"! I waved to St. Nicholas, watched a man sculpt an ice bear with a chainsaw and hurried past the bus groups to the "ausgang."
   Perhaps feeling a bit too spirited, I decided the fading light demanded a late-afternoon inspection of the Bethlehem Steel perimeter. Ten times more massive than I had envisioned, I struggled to comprehend the collective might of this operation at its height. Surely, I thought, those tens of thousands of jobs made for a lot of happy Christmases. Thankfully, Bethlehem has ambitious plans for the site, including a National Industrial Museum under the auspices of the Smithsonian, showing a steely determination to honor its past but not to dwell on it.
   Rushing back to the historic district, I just made a 5 p.m. lantern tour leaving from the Moravian Museum on Church Street, on the edge of Moravian College. A guide in Colonial garb led a small group through the imprint of the original Bethlehem — a 1741 settlement of German-speaking Moravian missionaries who found religious freedom in the New World. The guide offered up countless facts about the Moravians, who seemed quite progressive for the time. I learned, for example, that boys and girls received equal education, and that African-Americans and Native Americans were buried alongside the Moravians of European descent, in flat graves: "Equal in life and in death," noted the guide.
   She also offered more than one advertisement for some of Bethlehem’s other yearly attractions, including Musikfest in August. When pointing out the hard-to-miss Star of Bethlehem across the river in South Bethlehem, she noted that in her youth it was only lit at Christmas and special occasions but now shines year-round to welcome all weary visitors. The star, like the omnipresent Christmas lights and window candles, seemed to take on a sacred glow in the crisp night air.
   One stop on the tour was the 1810 Goundie House, residence of Bethlehem’s first mayor, a brewer by trade. Needing only the flimsiest excuse to sample a local draft, I hurried down Main Street to Bethlehem Brew Works to warm my bones with a powerful "Black Friday" microbrew and knockwurst plate from a perch at the bar. I caught a snippet of Shawn Colvin’s version of "Little Road to Bethlehem" in the constant din of the busy bar crowded with tourists, locals, and Moravian and Lehigh University students. Feeling a bit tipsy from just one beer, I finished with a steadying espresso and left for my final destination.
   After getting a bit twisted up finding my way across one of the bridges to South Bethlehem, I finally located the bustling "First Friday" event on Third Street. I peeked into the aforementioned Banana Factory complex and a few neighboring galleries, but found myself weary from a day spent in and out of the cold. On my final trip by Bethlehem Steel, I was chilled by the eerie shadow of the buildings, but warmed by the thought of the city’s proud past and promising future.
Apollo Grill, 85 W. Broad St., (610) 865-9600, www.apollogrill.com.
Moravian Book Shop, 428 Main St., (610) 866-5481, www.moravianstar.com.
Christkindlmarkt, Spring and Main streets, (610) 861-0678, www.fest.org. (Runs through Dec. 19, except Dec. 13-14.)
Moravian Museum, 66 W. Church St., (610) 867-0173, www.historicbethlehem.org. (For lantern tour information, call the Christmas Tour Center: (800) 360-TOUR.)
Bethlehem Brew Works, 569 Main St., (610) 882-1300, www.thebrewworks.com.
Banana Factory, 25 W. Third St., (610) 332-1300, www.bananafactory.org.