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The Moravian Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Market

Many of the buildings and traditions centre about the old Market Square, in the centre of the town, only a few hundred feet from the Delaware. This square dates from the days of Petrus Stuyvesant, in 1658. At one end of the square is the old stone-paved courthouse, which has been in use since 1672. To this building William Penn was welcomed, as a tablet on the outer wall relates: "On the 28th Day of October, 1682, William Penn, the Great Proprietor, on His First Landing in America, Here Proclaimed His Government and Received from the Commissioner of the Duke of York the Key of the Fort, the Turf, Twig, and Water, as Symbols of His Possession."

From the steps of the courthouse, as a centre, was surveyed the twelve-mile circle whose arc was to be the northern line of Delaware, according to the royal grant made to Penn. This arc forms the curious circular boundary, unlike any other boundary in the United States.

In the rear of the courthouse, though still on the green Market Square, is old Emmanuel Protestant Episcopal Church, which was organized in 1689, though the building now occupied was begun in 1703. This cruciform structure is the oldest church of English building on the Delaware, and services have been held here continuously since 1706, when it was completed. Queen Anne gave to the church a "Pulpit and Altar Cloath, with a Box of Glass." A memorial tablet on the wall tells of the first rector, Rev. George Ross, who came as a missionary from England in 1703, and served for fifty years. His son, also George Ross, was one of OVER THE MASON AND DIXON LINE 205 the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. His daughter Gertrude married George Read, another of the Signers. The tomb of George Read is in the rear of the church.

Across the street from the Market Square is the Presbyterian church, whose first building, erected in 1707, is still in use as a part of its ecclesiastical plant. The pastor and many of the members of this church had a prominent part in the War of the Revolution.

The visitor who crosses from one of these churches to the other is attracted by a stone pyramid, on the edge of the Market Square, whose story is told by a tablet: "These stones were sleepers in the New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad, completed in 1831, the first railroad in Delaware, and one of the first in the United States."

The fire of 1824 which burned a large part of New Castle destroyed many of the old houses, but there remain enough to make the town a Mecca for those who delight in studying things that are old. Most of these houses are on the square, or are within a short distance of it. All are remarkable for the beautiful entrance doorways and wonderfully carved interior woodwork.

Artists from all parts of the country turn to these houses for inspiration in their work.