Teacher Overview | Background Essays | Steps | Learning Objectives | Strategies | State Standards

First Steps:

In learning about Bethlehem, teachers might begin with a list of colonial jobs or tasks. Building from earlier lessons on mills, mill technology, trades, and agriculture, teachers will identify how the community was organized. Teachers will discuss the relationships between fields, waterways, farms, homes, churches, stores, and manufacturing areas including modes of transportation.

[Provide hotlink button here with the various trades and crafts, with definitions/explanations]

To gain a greater appreciation and understanding of the organizational structure of Bethlehem, have children plot the various structures and places of work on a map. Teachers might also have their children color in the structures, fields, forests, water features, roads, structures, and other items:

[Provide hotlink button here with sample blank map and filled-in map]

To understand how milling is closely connected to waterways, teachers will show how millers used the water to produce energy (turn the mill wheels):

[Provide hotlink button here with diagram of mill race/run, use of ponds and other design features, as well as in-class waterwheel experiments, such as Steve Walton’s Smeaton redesign]

To understand and describe how mills operated, teachers will show basic models of mills:

[Provide hotlink button here with diagram of mill operation]

Next Step: What Products Did the Mills Produce and How Were These Marketed?

We know that mills were a central part of every colonial community, especially the gristmill. Everyone needed corn meal and flour to make bread. Manufactured flour was of higher quality than stone ground products done in homes by hand. Flour also came in different degrees of quality and was different depending upon the grains ground. Teachers will explain how flour was used in cooking and baking, the products produced in baking, and how these products were distributed or sold throughout the community.

[Provide hotlink button here with different grains, different quality of flour, and the various products produced with flour. Also provide information on how flour (and bread products) was transported and sold or traded in colonial communities]

There were other sorts of mills at Bethlehem and these were also very important to the community and its growth. In addition to the gristmill that made flour, a fulling mill and oil mill produced other needed products that were sold for cash and trade. Teachers will explain how the fulling mill featured advanced technology (power driven) that greatly increased the efficiency and quantity of wool products. The oil mill was used to produce linseed oil that was pressed from flaxseed grown locally.

[Provide hotlink button here for information on fulling and oil procedures and products]

Concluding Step (for this section): Bread Builds Communities

The backbone of every successful colonial community was the quality and quantity of its food supply. With its agricultural practices and applications of advance technologies, the Moravians at Bethlehem were able to achieve a greater standard of living than was available in Europe or in other parts of the colonies. The success of Bethlehem is due to the blending and application of agriculture and industry. It is also important to note that the revolution of new technologies, ideas, economics, and manufacturing came in advance of the coming revolution in government. During the Revolutionary War, patriots established a government that would support and encourage this amazing pre-industrial world. The lessons learned at Bethlehem and other communities proved invaluable as the new American citizens transitioned from the colonial period to the early nation era.

In thinking about the successes (and failures) of Bethlehem, teachers can lead students in discussions that require students to think about the inner-relationships necessary to build a strong community, the divisions of labor, the various tasks and trades, the importance of manufacturing, the need for genius of invention to improve technologies, increase output and wealth (capital), and rise the general quality of life for all.

[Provide hotlink button that demonstrates business relationships developed over time in Bethlehem showing how these relationships increasingly included more and more citizens outside of Bethlehem]