The National Park Service has awarded $669,300 to support a three-year project focused on preserving Bethlehem\u2019s historic 1761 Tannery and addressing invasive vegetation through the city\u2019s Colonial Industrial Quarter.<\/p>\n
The tannery has been closed to the public for 22 years due to damage resulting from water infiltration. The building originally processed hides for Bethlehem\u2019s colonial economy and later produced leather goods during the American Revolution, helping to supply the Continental Army.<\/p>\n
The grant will fund the third phase of ongoing preservation work, focused on the building\u2019s historic stone walls. A final phase will address heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and electrical improvements, with the goal of eventually reopening the space to the public.<\/p>\n
Funding will also support efforts to remove Japanese knotweed, an invasive plant that threatens several historic structures in the area. A mitigation plan will be established and native vegetation will be planted to prevent the weed from returning.<\/p>\n
The Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor will lead the project and administer the federal grant, working in partnership with Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites and the City of Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
The tannery is the world\u2019s only surviving 18th-century Moravian industrial building. It\u2019s part of Bethlehem\u2019s UNESCO World Heritage site, recognized for its international significance in global Moravian heritage.<\/p>\n
The grant is provided through the National Park Service\u2019s Semiquincentennial Grant Program, which supports historic resources associated with America\u2019s founding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The National Park Service has awarded $669,300 to support a three-year project focused on preserving Bethlehem\u2019s historic 1761…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-306752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}