Nazareth Hall

Nazareth Hall (1752–1929) was a school in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1754 in hopes that Count Nikolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf would return from Europe and settle permanently in the community; he never came back to America. It is located in the Nazareth Hall Tract, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

In 1759 Nazareth Hall became the central boarding school for sons of Moravian parents. Later it attained wide fame as a "classical academy." This eventually led to the founding in 1807, of Moravian College and Theological Seminary now at Bethlehem.

Nazareth Hall developed into a first-class academy during the Civil War era. Under the guidance of Edward H. Reichel, the school was enlarged and attained a notable scholastic standing. Under the military influences of the Civil War, this school adopted a program of military drill for exercise, but it never was a regular military academy as it was sometimes called.

Toward the close of the century its methods and discipline were considerably altered. Laboratories were set up, a regular program of athletics was introduced, and the handsome old Moravian church building on its campus was converted into a gymnasium. The long and valued service of Nazareth Hall came at last to an end in 1928-1929.

The Bethlehem Digital History Project notes that, "In the interval between 1754 and 1767, the only set of trombones(2) in the Moravian Church (North) was the one at Bethlehem; and so it came to pass, that the "Bethlehem Trombonists" were frequently called from home to discourse music on their instruments in other Churches. They were present for instance, and performed at the laying of the corner-stone of Nazareth Hall, in May 1755; on the anniversary of the birth of King George II, (October 30, 1754,) that fair complexioned but to art indifferent Hanoverian, who was more than once heard to growl in his German accent, that he saw no good in "bainting and boetry"; at the dedication of the second grave-yard on the Nazareth Tract, in February 1756"

Nazareth Hall advertised nationwide, copy of an advertisement from Harper's Weekly, August 31, 1861 read:

Nazareth Hall. Boarding School for Boys. Nazareth, Northampton Co., Pa.

Easy of access from New York by Central R.R. of New Jersey to Easton, and thence seven miles by stages. Terms, payable quarterly in advance.
Board, and Tuition in the English branches and the German language, per quarter ...............$50.00
Lessons on the Piano Forte, Violin, Flute, and Organ, with use of Instrument, each, per quarter ................$6.00
Lessons in Drawing, Painting, French, Latin, and Greek, each, per quarter ...............$5.00

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