{"id":149876,"date":"2026-06-09T22:36:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T02:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=149876"},"modified":"2026-06-09T22:36:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T02:36:55","slug":"commonwealth-awards-75000-grant-to-historic-bethlehem-for-1761-tannery-restoration-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=149876","title":{"rendered":"Commonwealth Awards $75,000 Grant to Historic Bethlehem for 1761 Tannery Restoration Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Featured Image: The 1761 Tannery taken last week. Photo credit Katelyn Boburka.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Work Begins This Summer to Reopen Building That\u2019s an Integral Component of U.S. World Heritage Site<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

BETHLEHEM, PA\u2014Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites has been awarded $75,000 to support the restoration of the historic 18th<\/sup>-century Tannery located in Bethlehem’s Colonial Industrial Quarter. The grant, secured by State Rep. Steve Samuelson through the state\u2019s Local Share Account grants program, will allow the nonprofit to start restoration work this summer on the building, an integral part of the\u00a0Moravian Church Settlements\u2013Bethlehem<\/em>\u00a0World Heritage Site.<\/p>\n

“The 1761 Tannery has been closed to public tours for over\u00a0a decade,” said\u00a0Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites President & CEO\u00a0LoriAnn Wukitsch. “Thanks to the support of Rep. Samuelson and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,\u00a0HBMS\u00a0now has the funding\u00a0necessary to kick off the next phase of restoration\u00a0work necessary to reopen this\u00a0historic treasure to our community. This project is\u00a0especially\u00a0important\u00a0since\u00a0it coincides with the development of the adjacent\u00a0Overlook on History, the\u00a0enclosed\u00a0glass and steel\u00a0connector\u00a0that\u00a0will\u00a0join\u00a0the Luckenbach Mill and Grist Miller’s House when it opens\u00a0this fall.”<\/p>\n

Built in 1761, the Tannery was essential to Bethlehem’s early Moravian community, with craftsmen transforming approximately 3,000 hides per year into leather goods such as shoes, boots, saddles and harnesses. During the American Revolution, the building played a pivotal role in the creation of supplies for the Continental Army. Originally restored between 1968 and 1971, it is the only extant 18th-century Moravian industrial building in the world. In recent years, HBMS has undertaken additional restoration of the building, including the restoration of doors and windows.<\/p>\n

The upcoming Tannery revitalization project will involve both stabilization work and restoration of the building to prepare it for public use and educational programming.\u00a0 When the building reopens, it will become an integral part of HBMS programming, including Birthplace of Industry tours, new Maker’s Retreats, student programs and Community Heritage Day in April.<\/p>\n

“I’ve long been aware of the 1761 Tannery’s historical significance as the only extant building of its kind not only in the U.S., but in the world,\u201d Rep. Samuelson said. \u201cPreservation efforts like this are critical in maintaining our Colonial Industrial Quarter. I am especially excited about this project when you consider how many of our school students will be able to see history come alive in this building, as well as for tour visitors and the general public.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Tannery was the center of an important industry in its time, and the efforts to restore the building will allow it to remain an important center of learning for years and years to come.”<\/p>\n

In addition to the $75,000 Local Share Account grant, the Tannery restoration project has received $63,600 from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission through its Keystone Historic Preservation Construction Grants program. To learn more about the Tannery and Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites, visit\u00a0historicbethlehem.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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About Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites
\n<\/strong>Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites is a nonprofit institution preserving over 275 years of local history across 20 historic structures and 60,000-plus artifacts. It is a Smithsonian Affiliate and part of the\u00a0Moravian Church Settlements-Bethlehem<\/em>\u00a0World Heritage Site. Learn more at\u00a0historicbethlehem.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nMark Demko<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Featured Image: The 1761 Tannery taken last week. Photo credit Katelyn Boburka.\u00a0 Work Begins This Summer to Reopen Building That\u2019s an Integral Component of U.S. World Heritage Site BETHLEHEM, PA\u2014Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites has been awarded $75,000 to support the restoration of the historic 18th-century Tannery located in Bethlehem’s Colonial Industrial Quarter. The grant, … Continue reading Commonwealth Awards $75,000 Grant to Historic Bethlehem for 1761 Tannery Restoration Project<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149877,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Katelyn-Boburka.jpg?fit=672%2C372&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=149876"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149878,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149876\/revisions\/149878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/149877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=149876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=149876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=149876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}