Sign Of Bethlehem ...

“Life is one big road with lots of signs.”

            ~ Bob Marley

               ~ 1945 ~ 1981

 

The iconic Hotel Bethlehem sign atop the historic hotel lets travelers on various roads leading to the Pennsylvania town know they’ve arrived in The Christmas City. A trace of snow can be seen below the chimney as winter prepares to segue into spring on this mid-March afternoon in this monochrome capture.

During the Prohibition in 1922, Charles M. Schwab built the Historic Hotel Bethlehem as it’s known it today. However, that little spot in the town of Bethlehem has a history with deep roots.

In 1741, a group of Moravian missionaries built, on that very spot, the famous First House of Bethlehem. It was a log house, built to shelter the Moravians as they expanded their presence in the area. The structure also served as a stable. On December 24, 1741, the leader of the Moravian missionaries, Count Nicholaus Ludwig Von Zinzendorf, sang a song about Bethlehem, which inspired the citizens to name the town.

The Moravians were very dedicated to their mission. Using this spot as a home base, they started “schooling the unschooled” and converting the “heathen” indigenous people. The Moravians were so passionate and dedicated that within 20 years, they had built 50 more buildings and were working on several different industries. All from within the structures they had built.

In the late 18th century, under the first presidency, George Washington, the First House of Bethlehem was converted to the Golden Eagle Hotel. The hotel operated in this incarnation until 1919, when the building started housing convalescing soldiers returning from World War I.

In 1922, Schwab’s fortune was on the rise and he was one of the stars of American Steel. Schwab built the hotel to cater to the clients of the enormous Bethlehem Steel Company and even back then, it featured amenities equivalent to modern day luxuries, such as, a fitness center, a barber shop, shoe shine, and coffee shop.

Nowadays, the Historic Hotel Bethlehem proudly displays its story in its lower lobby's Hall of History. Artifacts from the town’s history (religious settlement to industrial boomtown) such as photographs and printed materials are showcased as well. A 1936 George Gray painting located in the Mural Room depicts the transformation of the culture surrounding the building.

Historic Hotel Bethlehem, a member of Historic Hotels of America since 2002, dates back to 1922. The year 2024 marked the fourth consecutive year Historic Hotel Bethlehem was named America’s Best Historic Hotel by USA Today – a grand slam. Bruce Haines is the longtime owner of the hotel.

Bethlehem is known as The Christmas City. Since that Christmas Eve 1741when a small group of Moravians were singing a hymn with the stanza “Not Jerusalem, Lowly Bethlehem” Count Nicolaus Ludwig Von Zinzendorf christened this little town “Bethlehem.” Since that time Christmas in Bethlehem has been central to the city’s identity. From the first documented decorated Christmas tree in America to the efforts of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce to get Bethlehem nicknamed “Christmas City USA” in 1937, to the current time when both sides of the river boast Christmas markets filled with artisan craft, retail and food vendors, Bethlehem is rife with one Christmas celebration after another.

 

Northern Flicker On The Edge of Spring ...

 “A forest bird never wants a cage.”

   ~ Henrik Ibsen

            ~ 1828 ~ 1906

I spotted this yellow-shafted Northern Flicker – the first I’ve ever captured in a photo – nestled in the grass gazing upon the looming late winter sunset of a March day at Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

According to All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Northern Flickers are large, brown woodpeckers with a gentle expression and handsome black-scalloped plumage. On walks, don’t be surprised if you scare one up from the ground. It’s not where you’d expect to find a woodpecker, but flickers eat mainly ants and beetles, digging for them with their unusual, slightly curved bill. When they fly you’ll see a flash of color in the wings – yellow if you’re in the East, red if you’re in the West – and a bright white flash on the rump.

Vanilla Ice ...

“I got all my boyhood in vanilla winter waves around the kitchen stove.”

              ~ Jack Kerouac

                ~1922 ~ 1969

Winter’s icy beauty infuses Wehr’s Dam with a frozen splendor that makes the waters of the Jordan Creek look like vanilla ice on a late January day.

The dam, built in 1904, is next to Wehr’s Covered Bridge, which dates back to 1841, at Covered Bridge Park, Orefield, Pennsylvania.

 

Snow Cardinal ...

“Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.”

    ~ Rabindranath Tagore

     ~ 1861 ~ 1941

 

A beautiful male North American Cardinal brings a pop of red to an early March snowfall on a beautiful late winter afternoon at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.