Early American Trades in Christian's Spring
Curated by Susan Orr
On view from September 29, 2020, through December 2021.
Experience a once thriving, now lost, community of Christian’s Spring
Located two miles west of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, Christian’s Spring was a Moravian community of master craftsmen and apprentices that operated from 1749 to 1796. This exhibition explores this lost community, the people who lived and worked there, and the tremendous activity that took place in a relatively short period of time.
Moravian leaders kept detailed records of each community for administration purposes, and many of these records have survived. Portions of the diary of Christian’s Spring from 1757 through 1769 were translated into English in the early part of the 20th century.
Surviving inventories and daybooks allow us to know what was being sown, harvested, manufactured, slaughtered, and traded between Christian’s Spring, Bethlehem, and the surrounding communities.
We also know who lived in the village during various years, their occupations, and anecdotes from daily life. Using these records and objects from our collection, we invite you to experience this once thriving, but now lost, community of Christian’s Spring.
Founding of Christian's Spring
On December 17, 1749, the quiet wilderness road between Bethlehem and Nazareth was disturbed by the sound of horns and trumpets. A procession of 22 single brethren, along with a Moravian congregation of well-wishers, walked from Bethlehem, past the Whitefield House in Nazareth, to their destination of Christiansbrunn (Christian’s Spring).
It was here, two miles southwest of Nazareth, that a new Moravian settlement was established. For the next 50 years, Christian’s Spring was a thriving community of single brethren.
General Economy
Christian’s Spring was named after Christian Renatus Zinzendorf, the spiritual advisor for all Moravian single brethren. Along with Nazareth, Gnadenthal, Friedensthal, and the Rose, it was one of the “Upper Places'' that supplied agriculture for Bethlehem during the General Economy (1742-1762). Under the General Economy, everyone worked for the common good without pay. In return, the Moravians received food, lodging, and clothing.
Many trades were practiced in the settlement. Most of the men were farmers, but master craftsmen in this unique community also included butchers, tailors, brewers, bakers, cabinet makers, carpenters, locksmiths, masons, pharmacists, shoemakers, saddlers, coachmen, smithies, tanners, weavers, and gun stockers.
Beginning in 1757, the village of Christian's Spring also served as a trade school for apprentices to learn from master craftsmen. In addition to agriculture and trades, Christian’s Spring had its own saw mill, distinguished brewery, and brandy distillery. Today, only one building and a few ruins of the barns remain of this once thriving 18th century community.
During the five decades that Christian’s Spring operated as a Moravian settlement, its residents included African, Native American, and European immigrants who worked, worshipped, lived, and learned side by side. The traditional Moravian belief that all of God’s children should be valued and encouraged to pursue their vocations in the world meant that Moravian communities were among the most egalitarian and integrated in the Western world. Here in Pennsylvania, this allowed a unique freedom for those marginalized by mainstream society where enslaved people lived side by side with freemen.
Farming
Farming at Christian’s Spring was accomplished with hand labor. The fields were plowed with wooden plows pulled by oxen and then sown and cultivated by hand. Grains and hay were cut with sickles, and flails were used to remove the chaff from the grain. The diary of Christian’s Spring mentions that single sisters, Native American converts, and children came from surrounding Moravian communities to help during sowing, reaping, and threshing seasons. These diary entries provide an intimate knowledge of what it took to produce food for numerous families.
Daily Diary Entries:
March 7, 1757: The brethren went to work again; two brethren were taken out from thrashing and with three others were sent to break flax. The masons were working in Nazareth, and the carpenters were continuing with cutting wood for the Gnadenthal barn; our wagon took wheat to Bethlehem.
April 26, 1757: With sowing the oat-seed we have finished today and we have sown in all about 60 acres. Now the sowing of the barley begins.
April 10, 1758: We are sowing on about 68 acres oats seed.
April 9, 1760: We were thankful to the Saviour for his rich blessings which He has poured out over our fields. We have reaped this winter over 3700 bushels of wheat, corn, oats buckwheat and have threshed it out.
October 12, 1765: Today we finished bringing in the buckwheat. We have also gathered the apples, which we want to have for the winter-season. This year we have been richly blessed with the most produce of the field and with the produce of the garden. If we only use all with a thankful heart.
July 6, 1767: Br. Lembke arrived here at 6 o’clock in the morning, and with pleasure he held the harvest lovefeast and he wished that everything among us may go in peace and with blessing, especially in such a scattered work as ours, and we noticed the presence of the Lord. The reapers went with joy to their work.
Brewing
The history of the Christian’s Spring brewery begins prior to the year 1752, when a 50-foot long by 21-foot wide hewn log structure was built. Maps of Christian’s Spring in 1758 list this building as the “Malt and Brew House as well as Father Rubel’s House.”
A brewery was an indispensable settlement priority in colonial times. Even though drunkenness was condemned, alcohol was considered a natural food and a necessity for life that people of all ages consumed. Ales were most common due to their quick brewing time of only a few days. Fruits such as apples and peaches provided ciders for those who did not have the ingredients for ales. Barley was widely grown and used for the fermentation process. The end product was often weak, about 1 to 4% abv.
The Christian’s Spring brewery was well known in the community due to the quality of the water from the spring and the knowledge of their brewers. This combination created a demand that supply could not meet. After the Revolutionary War, the Church Elders decided to close the Christian’s Spring brewery. Production was moved to Bethlehem where Church officials had more control over the operation.
Brewers
Christian Henry Beck (1757-1843)
Christian Henry Beck was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on July 17, 1757. At the age of 18 months, he was sent to the nursery at Nazareth, located in the Whitefield House. He attended Nazareth Hall and afterward was assigned to apprentice at Christian’s Spring in the shoemaking trade. However, he also gained knowledge in the craft of brewing, and in 1800 he built a personal residence and brewery of his own near Nazareth. Beck was a shoemaker, brewer, and businessman, as well as a musician and a member of the Board of Supervisors for Nazareth. The Nazareth Diaries mentions that on March 26, 1821, Beck’s brewery burned to the ground, but his house and barn, along with the town, were spared due to the winds dying down (Nazareth Diary, March 26, 1821).
Other brewers at Christian’s Spring include:
Christian Matthiesen (1712-1796) born in Jutland, Denmark. He also worked as a distiller. He came to Christian’s Spring in 1751.
Michael Ruch II (1727-1797) born in Eckendorf, Alsace. He was at Christian’s Spring from 1755 to 1788.
Christian Steinman (1739-1808) born in Epstein, Germany. He worked at the distillery until he left Christian’s Spring in 1785 to become warden at Gnadenthal.
Frederick Vogenitz (1765-1837) born in Salza, Germany. He came to Christian’s Spring around 1795.
John Vogenitz (1767-1837) born in Salza, Germany.
Matthew Wittke (1749-1803) born in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. He was a brewer at Christian’s Spring and Bethlehem. During his tenure at Christian’s Spring from 1764 to 1781 or 1783, his knowledge of the craft helped build the brewery’s reputation. He went to Bethlehem to help open the brewery there.
Excerpts from the daybooks:
April 27, 1759: Today we finished with sowing the oat. Philip Ranck relieved Brother Michel Ruch in the brewery.
April 30, 1767: From Bethlehem came the brethren George Slein and Horn from Lititz, and with them came also the beer-brewer Miller of Lancaster who had offered himself with some good advice for our brewery.
May 24, 1757:...one cart took beer and wheat to Bethlehem. Brothers Braun and Rapp came from Bethlehem to help do the work in the plantation.
July 25, 1768: Today we made wine of currants.
August 22 1760: Our apple mill and press we have used today for the first time.
February 1, 1768: This night the dear angels averted a particular misfortune from us when in the Malt dryer the inner timber work with the hair clothing, on which the malt is dried, was pretty burned. We were thankful to the Savior that the brewery with the flour mill and saw mill, which are closely together did not catch fire.
October 19, 1764: Today we finished our new flour mill so far, that we could make a trial with rough grinding grain. Now there are 3 new built buildings in this year, which we have finished. The saw mill can work when water will be there; in the brewery they are brewing, the flax house got the flax, which was cultivated this year, all under roof.
Inventories of Christian’s Spring moveables (products being taken from Christian’s Spring to elsewhere) in 1762 lists the beverages being made at the brewery. Cider, other spirits, and a beer-wine hybrid yielded over 550 gallons of beverages for the month of May. The Rose Inn and the Nazareth community received the largest amounts of alcohol from Christian’s Spring.
Interpreting the records
A hogshead is a barrel unit of measurement, either imperial or US, that is used for alcoholic beverages. In the 1762 inventory of moveables, hogshead is mentioned in regards to measuring cyder (cider). One hogshead would be about 54 gallons of cider.
Inventory in 1762: Im Brau Haus (in the Brew House)
1 Kupferner Brau Kessel - 1 copper brewing barrel
2 Grosse Buetten - 2 big tubs
3 Kuhl Buetten - 3 cool tubs
2 Buetten zum einweichen der Gerste - 2 tubs to soak the barley
1 Buette mit 4 Eisernen Reiten - 1 tub with four iron (undefinable)
9 Faesser zu 40 Gall: jedes - 9 barrels for 40 gall: every
3 Do. zu 37 Gall. Do. - 3 barrels for 37 gall: every
12 Barrell Faesser - 12 barrels
2 Faesser zu 12 Gall. - 2 barrels to 12 gallons
1 Zuber zum Bier im Keller fragen(tragen) - 1 tub asked for beer in the basement
1 Trage Stange mit 2 Ketten - 1 carrying bar with 2 chains
2 Alte Schopp Kubel - 2 old (undefinable) pails
16 Gute Saecke von Zwillich - 16 good sacks made of twine
10 Alte Säcke von Zwillich - 10 old sacks made of twine
Butchering
Butchering was primarily done in the winter months, so the meat could be kept cold before it was preserved by drying, salting, or smoking. The back and forth transportation of large herds between Christian’s Spring and Bethlehem indicates that the brethren were busy with managing their livestock.
We know of at least two butchers who resided at Christian’s Spring: Joshua and Michael Ruch (1718-1790). Joshua arrived at Christian’s Spring on March 5, 1752. Joshua was born in Nigeria, Africa. At the age of 14 he was captured and sold into slavery, eventually becoming one of two enslaved people owned by Timothy Horsefield. When the Horsefields moved from New York to Bethlehem, Joshua came with them and, in 1750, he was baptized into the Moravian Church. There are few records about him and it is unclear if he was free or not during his time at Christian’s Spring. In May 1761, he died from smallpox at Christian’s Spring and is buried in the Moravian graveyard in Nazareth, among the single brethren.
The Christian’s Spring diaries report:
February 1, 1758: The sawmill is still frozen. We have butchered pigs today.
November 16, 1758: We gave to Bethlehem 19 heads of cattle for butchering there and we received from there 23 calves for the winter. At the same time brother Abraham Hut is staying with us in order to take care of those calves.
February 5, 1759: Today we butchered also one of the draught-ox which has been fattened and which has a weight of over 900 pounds.
March 15 1759: Today we butchered the second of our fattened draught-ox, he weighed 976 pounds.
November 17, 1760: After the breakfast several of our brethren went to Bethlehem and took there 40 heads of cattle.
Gun Stocking
Prior to the opening of the gunstocking shop at Christian’s Spring, there was a small shop in Bethlehem. Many of the Moravian gunstockers were trained in Europe during times of war. Because Moravians were pacifists, their gunstockers primarily repaired the guns used for hunting instead of making new firearms. They also repaired the weapons owned by Native American and European settlers in the area. However, with the Revolutionary War looming, as well as fears of a second war with Native Americans, there was new momentum for Moravian gunstockers to begin making, instead of repairing, firearms.
Although no maps or photographs remain, the gunstocking shop at Christian’s Spring has been described as a one-story, 25½ feet by 20 feet log structure. Diary entries and other documents reveal that 1763 brought an escalation of tensions between Native Americans and European settlers to the area. As a major agricultural hub for the region, Christian’s Spring took precautions by palisading their barns and stables and by appointing night-watchmen and day sentinels.
