Fall 2018 Volume 15 • Issue 3

Published Quarterlyby LSTHS

Tour guide Sue Horiszny

welcomes visitors from

Abington Manor.

On Aug. 22, 2018, our Board member Sue Horiszny, conducted a tour of the recently repointed Lutz-Franklin Schoolhouse for a group of residents from the Abington Manor at Morgan Hill in Easton, PA. The group thoroughly enjoyed the experience and gave us a generous donation.

SchoolHouse

Tour

Fall 2018Page 2

Mission Statement:The Lower Saucon Township HistoricalSociety seeks to preserve and maintainthe Lutz-Franklin Schoolhouse as anexample of 19th-Century Pennsylvaniaarchitecture; to utilize it as a place ofpublic education; to acquire, conserveand archive artifacts, manuscripts,photographs, recordings and ephemerarelevant to the history of Lower SauconTownship, and to make them availablefor research, study and education.

Lower Saucon TownshipHistorical Society

LSTHS Executive Board 2017-2018President: Karen M. SamuelsVice-President: Sandra YergerTreasurer: Frank FabianBoard Chairman: Sue HorisznyBoard Secretary: Rita Ernst Corresponding Secretary: Sally MurphyIlhan CitakJody HijaziFran RobbGwen SingerMartha SterlingRobert SterlingHonorary Member: John Ortwein

LSTHS Offices Lower Saucon Town Hall 3700 Old Philadelphia Pike Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

For questions or research, please contact Cyan Fink, office manager at 610-625-8771 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.on Tuesdays—then on Wednesdays beginning the last week of August 2018.

The Look Back AgainPublished by the Lower Saucon Township Historical Society, the quarterly newsletter is distributed to the current membership.Design Editor: Kenneth F. Raniere Editorial Support: Karen M. Samuels

Visit the LSTHS website:www.lutzfranklin.wordpress.com

© 2018 Lower Saucon Township Historical Society

LSTHSPO Box 176, Hellertown, PA 18055

Phone: 610-625-8771Email: lshistorical@gmail.com

LSTHS is a 501(c)3 Non-profit Organization

Just a reminder…We always accept stories, photos and memories from our members for the LSTHS newsletter. To include your contributions, please contact me anytime by phone, email—or mail articles and photos, which I will scan and return to you immediately. Thanks!

Karen M. Samuels1545 Saucon Valley Rd., Bethlehem, PA 18015 (484) 515-3032 • karensamuels0@gmail.com

A Message from our PresidentGreetings members and friends—

The LSTHS Board of Directors recently approved my nomination to preside over the Historical Society.

I am not new to the Society . . . in the past, I served as president of the Board from 2003-2006; at present, I monitor our social media and continue to work with design editor, Ken Raniere on this newsletter, The Look Back Again.

I follow Sandra Yerger, who served as president from 2016 until the summer of 2018. Sandra continues to serve on the Board as vice-president and as our representative to the Lower Saucon Township Council.

This past year, Sandra headed the long-overdue and difficult repointing project of the Lutz-Franklin Schoolhouse. We are confident the repointing the stone will keep our schoolhouse in good shape for generations to come.

We have a busy Fall season ahead, beginning with our volunteers at the Lutz-Franklin Schoolhouse—Gwen Singer, Rita Ernst, Martha Sterling, Pam Philippe,

Deb Philpotts, Lucinda Dealtrey, Sue Horiszny and Sharon Jesick—educators eager to conduct hands-on activities with local school students in our nineteenth-century classroom, an experience each student enjoys when using real artifacts in the schoolhouse.

From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sun., Sept. 23, 2018, look for our table at the Saucon Valley Farmers Market at 90 W. Water St. in Hellertown. We will offer a basket raffle and sell books on local history. At Seidersville Hall on Election Day, Nov. 6, we will sell homemade baked goods—and later that evening, the basket raffle winners will be drawn. A big “thank you” to Rita Ernst and Gwen Singer for putting together two amazing baskets! All profits from these fundraisers will benefit the Archive Room, the office and maintenance of the Lutz-Franklin Schoolhouse.

I wish to thank you for your continued support to help with the educational activities we offer at Lower Saucon Township Historical Society.

Best regards,Karen M. Samuels

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H a u n t e d • S a u c o n • V a l l e yBased on a Halloween talk by Karen M. Samuels

Right, an undisturbed burial ground in a wooded area.

Why do so many ghosts haunt Saucon Valley? Historians say at one time, the number of Indian

burial grounds too numerous to count were all over Lehigh and Northampton counties. The Lenni Lenape

organization says over ninety percent of these burial mounds had been destroyed by the infiltration of

human habitation over the centuries.

In the 1760s, this historic 41-mile colonial road, the “Minsi Trail” evolved into “The King’s Highway.”

The King’s Highway. The road on this map that parallels Rte. 476 shows the route traveled by local Delaware Indian tribes between Phila. and Northampton County. The “MinsiTrail” was named for one of the three Delaware tribes who lived in the area for two-thousand years before European settlers arrived in the area.

Bucks County

Northampton County

Lehigh County

Philadelphia County

City of Philadelphia

Lost Sites. European settlers followed the Indian trails from Phila. to the

frontier on the “King’s Road.” In 1742, German immigrant Christoph Heller,

his wife Veronica and their six children settled in Lower Saucon Township.

Between 1988 and 1998, the remains of the Christoph Heller farm—along with

Indian burial grounds nearby—were bulldozed for Interstate-78 highway and development of Saucon Valley

Square on Rt. 378 respectively.

Did you know there are countless haunted places you pass by everyday in Saucon Valley? After you

read about these strange tales, your hometown may never seem quite the same again!

Fall 2018Page 4

Forgotten Cemeteries. Before churches were built, residents fenced small family cemeteries on their properties. A few examples still exist in Lower Saucon Township, like the Shimer Homestead on Helms Rd. and Applebutter Rd. Over time, land was sold and transferred out of families, their graveyards forgotten and lost. Without knowledge of previous owners, developers who acquired the land most probably built new homes on these forgotten family burial sites.

During the Revolutionary War, Bethlehem became a hospital for thousands of wounded and sick soldiers who

fled British invasion of Phila. Any men who died along the way were buried close to where they fell. In freezing weather, an estimated 500 to 1000 half-naked soldiers streamed into town in open wag-ons. Those who died in Bethlehem were buried in a plot along First Ave. near the Monocacy Creek.

Uncovered Remains. In 1963, three brothers exca-vated an Indian burial ground near the canal in Upper Black Eddy. Although smallpox, influenza, bubonic plague and pneumonic plagues devastated the Native Americans, they had no immunity to these Eurasian diseases. By the end of the seventeenth century, ninety percent of the Native American population died from casualties of war—and these diseases.

Wydnor Hall, now a private residence, was once Bordaria Plantation built in 1807 on Old Phila. Pike. In 1990, Charles and Kristina Taylor bought the property and turned the house into a Bed and Breakfast. On one account, Kristina recalled seeing the featureless face of a man flash in front of her. In another account, the staff witnessed the image of a young girl, said to have drowned in nearby Black River Creek. The girl passed through the same wall each time, corroborated by previous occupants who saw the same ghost of a girl.

In yet another account—a guest saw a ghost clad in an old tweed jacket with elbow patches smoking a pipe in front of the fireplace in the sitting room. The guest said she smelled pipe tobacco smoke even before she entered the room.

The Leithsville Hotel was built next to a graveyard in the late 1700s. The town of Leithsville at the southwestern area of the township acquired its name from the Leith family. The ghost of a man lynched for an unknown crime haunts the barn—now a garage. The victim was reportedly dragged from the hotel while he proclaimed his innocence. Owners of the inn and visitors experience a presence they believe to be the ghost of this man. Employees leave the TVs on to keep the ghost happy.

H a u n t e d • S a u c o n • V a l l e y

Off Flint Hill Rd., a stone farmhouse at the Beethoven Waldheim was the original

homestead for the Leith family in the mid-1700s. During Prohibition,

bootleggers took over the farm. The men’s singing group Maennerchor,

bought the tract in 1932. An unknown black shape roams the halls, the barn and the bar of this

singing club—the staff named its ghost ‘Beethoven!’

from Bethlehem was ordered to stop at Bingen and investigate—the brakeman and conductor found the ticket office door wide open. Seated in the chair with his feet on the table, Wurster’s head was crushed—blood splattered on his clothing and the wall, but no

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Hellertown Hotel. Braveheart Highland Pub, previously the Hellertown Hote was originally the Eagle Hotel built in 1906. Before it became Braveheart’s, the hotel was empty for a number of years. A few deaths had been reported in the hotel—a local homeless man used the abandoned building for shelter, his dead body later found in an upstairs room. In the past, the murder of a

Riegel House and Limekiln Cemetery. Jacob Riegel (1823-1880) was owner of Jacob Riegel & Co., a successful dry goods store in Phila. Jacob Riegel and his family spent summers in his large Victorian home he built on Creek Rd. west of Hellertown. From Phila., they boarded the North Penn Railroad to the Depot Ave. station and were driven back to the house in a horse-drawn surrey. In the 1930s, Aileen Werner lived in the house with her husband and infant child, followed by other families during the depression.

On several occasions, the ghost of a Revolutionary War soldier was seen guarding the basement of the house.

The same ghost had been seen at the Lime Kiln cemetery across Creek Rd. When the Riegel house was vacant for a number of years, locals called it “the haunted house,” “the castle,” and the “house of seven gables.” Today the house is owned by Lehigh University.

woman allegedly had taken place on the third floor, where employees recalled seeing a featureless female known as “The Lady of the Evening.”

Though the third floor is occupied by residents, they reportedly heard strange sounds in the middle of the night—doors slamming; scratching sounds along the walls and the ceiling; toilets flushing on their own and members of the staff hearing their names called out when they were alone.

In the basement bar, the jukebox turns on by itself, and the figure of a man is seen in front of the jukebox—but disappears when approached.

Bingen Station Murder. Built in 1856 for the North Pennsylvania Railroad, Bingen Station was the site of a horrible murder one night in January 1898. Twenty-five year old Harvey Wurster, a night telegraph operator at the station, could not be reached by the dispatcher’s office in Phila. A southbound train

Valley. When Stout’s shoes fit the footprints, he confessed to hitting Wurster three times on the head with the coupling pin. Stout had drunk a pint of whisky. When Wurster asked for a drink, they argued. Found guilty, Stout was hanged in Easton. Wurster left

evidence of a struggle. The money drawer was broken open and empty. A coupling pin under the platform was found covered with hair and blood.

From the station, footprints in the snow led to the home of seventeen-year-old Llewellyn Stout of Spring

behind a wife and small child. The shape of a man carrying a

lantern has been seen walking the railroad tracks near the station. People have suggested it is the ghost of Harvey Wurster—trying to find his way back home.

H a u n t e d • S a u c o n • V a l l e y

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In the Summer 2018 issue, Vol. 15, No.2 of The Look Back Again newsletter, we featured a photo of an unidentified schoolhouse. Since then, we promptly learned from Sally Murphy, who identified the teacher as Mrs. Miller—and from Danny Ruth, who identified the schoolhouse as the Furnace Hill School or the “Irish School.”

The school was built on the corner of Main and Thomas Sts. in the Borough of Hellertown, close to the Thomas Iron Works, where

Can You Name That Schoolhouse?

the student’s parents worked. The families were mainly Irish immigrants. In 1919, the borough erected a temporary two-room schoolhouse behind the structure to accommodate the increase in population. The structure behind the students in this photo is that temporary schoolhouse.

The Furnace Hill School was on the corner of Main St. and Thomas Ave. in Hellertown.

Recently found in the archive files by archivists Bob Sterling and Greg Baylock, this photo shows a one-story stone schoolhouse with a wide front porch. The teacher wears a full-length black dress; her class has fourteen boys and thirteen girls. An outhouse is seen at the right behind the schoolhouse.

Let us know if you can name that schoolhouse!

We have a new photo—

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Lower Saucon Township Historical SocietyP.O. Box 176 Hellertown, PA 18055

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LSTHS is a 501(c)3 Non-profit Organization

The Society meets on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at Seidersville Hall

(next to the Lower Saucon Town Hall) on Old Philadelphia Pike, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Stop by and join us!

Members of the LSTHS and our local community should take pride in what we have accomplished as we grow in recognition and reputation for both the restoration of the Lutz-Franklin Schoolhouse and educational programs.

Fall 2018 Page 7

LSTHS 2018 Memberships

Please send us your current e-mail address if you would like to receive notices of meetings, events, etc. Send your email address to: lshistorical@gmail.com.

Receive your newsletter wherever you are—just send your e-mail

address to lshistorical@gmail.com and your newsletter will be sent

electronically!

Fall Membership RenewalsStanley D. Sloyer; Rita Ernst; Deborah Hartwell; Dale Rice;Daphne and Filiciano Rodriguez; Jo-Ann Heil;Stanley Turel Jr.; Dennis and Debra Eisenhart; Evelyn Fischel (in memory of late husband John Fischel); James Strum (in memory of Margaret Strum); Roger and Marilyn Whiteley; David Eckert; Rose Marie Wagner;Frank and Bernice Fabian; Allan D. Johnson Jr.; Tim and Ann Collinsworth; Pam Phillippe (New Member).

On June 13, 2018, LSTHS members celebrated the completion of the repointing project of the historic Lutz-Franklin Schoolhouse with a lecture and demonstration by Preservation Works, Ltd. owner, Rob Wozniak. The audience was mesmerized by Wozniak’s explana-tion of repointing the schoolhouse stones with mineral lime. We thank the members who donated funds to this project—and Rob Wozniak for an evening of education and fun.

Completion of Schoolhouse Repointing Project Celebrated

Rob Wozniak (left, above) demonstrates the art of repointing.

From I-78 Take exit 67 (Hellertown/Bethle-hem), turn left on Rt. 412/ Main St. Go 1 block and turn left at traffic light onto Cherry Lane. Follow 4 blocks to end and turn left on Easton Road. Go 2.1 miles & turn left on Countryside Lane. Go 1.3 miles to the schoolhouse.

Non-Profit Org.U.S. POSTAGE

P A I DPermit No. 730

Lehigh Valley, PA

Lower Saucon Township Historical SocietyP. O. Box 176 • Hellertown, PA 18055

Lower Saucon Township Historical Society

Directions to the Lutz-Franklin Schoolhouse:

Lutz-Franklin Schoolhouse

Return Service Requested

Calendar of Events ~ 2018bA friendly reminder—Monthly meetings scheduled on the second Wednesday of the month begin at 7 p.m. in Seidersville Hall, 3700 Old Philadelphia Pike. Guests are always welcome and light refreshments are served.

Please note—Beginning the last week of August 2018, the office will be open on Wednesdays instead of Tuesdays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For further information, please call office manager Cyan Fink at 610-625-8771.

Keep up to date and visit us at -www.lutzfranklin.wordpress.com email: lshistorical@gmail.com or call: 610-625-8771

Split rail fence repairThis summer, an automobile accident damaged the split

rail fence and posts at the Lutz-Franklin Schoolhouse. The Lower Saucon Township Public Works repaired the

damage in July 2018. We express our appreciation to Public Works for an excellent job. Our Board member,

Fran Robb stopped by to observe the job.