Great Things About Northampton County

Let's have some fun. We all like to complain, but there really are lots of great things about Northampton County. I've decided to list some of them, but am sure I missed some. Feel free to add anything that makes Northampton County a destination. I've relaxed the comment settings to make it easy for you. Here's my list.

Fresh trout still swimming through the Monocacy Creek in Downtown Bethlehem.

The mahogany Victorian bar in Bangor's Colonial Hotel.

That Moravian widows still live in the Sisters House on Church St. in Bethlehem.

That Jayne Mansfield expressly desired to be buried in Pen Argyl and not Hollywood, that she described Pen Argyl as the setting of her happiest memories, that she was buried in a slate casket, and that people still put pennies on her grave after 41 years.

That the Whitfield House in Nazareth was originally built as a school for black children in the 1740s.

18th Century German crooked German graves with stars, hearts and flowers carved on them in Pennsville.

That people still put flowers on Jane Horner’s grave, a woman who was massacred by Indians on Oct. 8, 1763 when on the way to buy some fire for her hearth.

That the Roxy in Northampton hasn’t changed sine 1928 and still shows silent movies accompanied by an organ on special occasions.

That the valets at the Hotel Bethlehem wear uniforms again.

That we have the oldest book store in the world, Moravian Book Store.

That the Sands knew the only way they’d get a casino in Bethlehem was if they made it involve the historical abandoned Bethlehem Steel plant.

Preserved farmland in the country and protected historic districts in the cities of Bethlehem and Easton.

Abandoned limestone quarries and abandoned slate quarry piles.

The Bangor Public Library.

That Bethlehem named their two public schools Freedom and Liberty and dress their bands as patriots and grenadiers.

Restored old German stone farmhouses in Saucon Valley.

The Herman Simon Mansion (Third Street Alliance) on 3d St. in Easton.

Baklava and coffee at the diners.

The 1905 church on 611 in Raubsville.

How the County Courthouse looks on the hill as you complete Cemetery Curve.

The golden image of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania emblem on top of the bridge as you enter Easton from New Jersey.

Crystal Cave in Hellertown.
That Larry Holmes came back.

Slave and Indian graves in God’s Acre Cemetery in Historic Bethlehem.

The fact that more people are moving in than moving out.

The turret on the Mount Vernon Inn on Northampton St. in Easton.

Spring Garden St. in Easton and Market St. in Bethlehem.

Blue and gold onion domes on Slavic churches in Northampton.

The mansions on College Hill and Fountain Hill.

Musikfest and Heritage Day.

Lehigh Lafayette Games.

That Eugene Grace’s ballroom - where Bing Crosby used to sing - is now a chapel to St. Anne.

That so many of my friends who graduated with me moved away to big cities but came back.

The celebration queens at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Festival in Roseto.

The Steckel House B&B in Bath.