It is truly a gem to stumble upon a tomb of an unknown solider. My husband found this location on…read moreroadsideamerica.com, nestled in a residential area in the town of Bethlehem, Pa, found between 1st Ave & Market St. It is believed that the soldiers buried here fought during the Revolutionary War. The American Revolution took place between 1775-1783. It occurred between the 13 North American colonies and colonial government (who supported the British Crown) and the fight for independence from Britain. A lot of history worthy things occurred from this timeline which included the congress vote to adopt the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Battle of Saratoga (in NY) and the Treaty of Paris. Obviously there was a whole lot more going on during this time period and highly recommend that you do your research and do this war justice in learning the history. After the Declaration of Independence was established, General George Washington (yes that Washington) and his army were driven out of New York by the British, and across New Jersey, into Pennsylvania. Because of that, numerous of hospitals were established in New Jersey and Philadelphia. General Washington moved north to the Lehigh Valley, and so other hospitals had to be established, including a hospital in Bethlehem, which became the main hospital in this area (which now is part of the Moravian College). Bethlehem was the perfect place to set up camp and a hospital as it was far enough from the front lines that was beyond the reach of the British. Unfortunately as wounded soldiers were kept in such close quarters, illness spread. Unfortunately there were many soldiers that did not make it back to Philadelphia and were eventually buried here in Bethlehem. In 1932, a single set of remains was placed here at this site. And then in 1996, three more unknown soldiers were added, as you can imagine that over time, homeowners may discover unknown soldiers when they accidentally dig up remains. On the tomb, a plaque reads "Within this crypt rest the bones of an unknown soldier in the War for Independence. He was one of more than five hundred men who died in the Continental Hospital here at Bethlehem and were buried on this hillside." May the remains of four Revolutionary War soldiers lie in peace.

This reminded me of the stories my grandpa used to tell of when he fought in the civil war. When I…read moreentered the tomb I couldn't help, but start to cry. I felt the dark spirit of the unknown soldier enter my body and take over my soul and mind. I can still feel him with me today, he guides me. Highly Recommended, great for the kids

What a beautiful setting! Lovely park, bridge, playground and walkway. They are starting to…read moredecorate for Chrisfmas.

"Haines Mill, an example of the Lehigh Valley's agricultural heritage, is at the west end of Cedar…read moreCreek Park. It is a grist mill that dates back to the US colonial times. The mill uses water power to grind crop grains into flour. The original mill was built around 1760. The mill that stands now was built around 1850 and was reconstructed in 1909 after a fire gutted the interior of the building and operated until 1956. Lehigh County purchased the mill in 1972 for preservation. Two years later, it opened as a museum. In 1981, Haines Mill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. Today, the mill is owned by Lehigh County and operated by the Lehigh County Historical Society. Visitors can watch the mill operate as it did when it was a commercial facility." The above is from Lehigh County's website and in a very brief way explains the history of the site and the building. The mill is open for public tours from 1 to 4 PM on Saturdays and Sundays from May to September. Tours are given by volunteers from the Lehigh County Historical Society with Lehigh County picking up the bills for any maintenance and upkeep. The tour that we had lasted a little over an hour and a lot of that has to do with no one else being on the tour and I would imagine that no one else was going to be touring the mill that day. While interesting, this is a bit off the beaten path and off of most people's radar. The tour covers the first two floors of the building and a lot of what is there looks very much in tact as if with a little TLC it could be operated with very little effort. I read on line reviews from another site that if you ask the volunteer will per se turn the mill on so that you can see the belts/pulleys operate but the person who we had seemingly had very little knowledge of the site and no idea how to operate anything. Overall this is local D-List history and it's worth it I suppose because it's free and if you're a local your tax dollars support the upkeep so you might as well see what the hell is going on.

An old library book, Gardens of Philadelphia, made me aware of Highlands Mansion, and…read morecoincidentally friends wanted to have a play date at Kids Castle, so on our way home we checked out Highlands. The mansion is apparently under restoration so I did not tour it, but I did see the gardens. While these gardens are nothing compared to the scale of the Brandywine DuPont estates, they are impressive for a former private residence. The most remarkable thing about them, to me, is their use of dramatic tall freestanding walls. Designers seem to agree that the best tool for success in landscaping is creating outdoor "rooms" or dedicated areas with hedged/fenced/walled/etc. boundaries to delineate and discern one outdoor space from another. I've toured many gardens domestic and abroad and I've never seen such a liberal use of wall structures that were apparently built solely for ornamental landscaping purposes (as opposed to ruins or retaining walls). Yes, you see decorative walls employed at Longwood and Chanticleer, but none so gigantic as these. Highlands was working with flat plain meadow and the goal seemed to be to create multiple garden-framed large lawn spaces, free of tree debris or too much shade to affect the grass. The walls are designed to tower as high as ornamental trees, but without the maintenance, root issues, leaf drop, etc. and they green-ify these walls with ivy trained all over them. Voila, vertical garden, architectural interest, height, and allowance for terrain diversification. I grew up adjacent to the trove of magnificent DuPont estates in the Brandywine Valley. I'm now fortunate to live 2 1/2 mi from Chanticleer and 7 1/2mi from Tyler Arboretum (Jenkins is closer but it doesn't appeal to me). I would recommend the destinations closer to me for full day visits, while Highlands gardens would only take a half hour for the formal area, and more if you choose to hike a trail or tour the manse. Still, it may be a half-day visit at most. While not a day trip destination on its own, it is a worthy stop if in the area, and I do recommend it to anyone interested in garden design who's already toured the others I mentioned. This is also an event venue, and the formal space is certainly made for such use, so it's lovely people can enjoy the space as it was intended when conceived.

While the mansion is still undergoing renovations so we were not able to include that and so my…read morereview may change in the future. Don't expect to take even a full afternoon visiting but it is a lovely preserved estate around the city. There's some goats, and the grounds are enjoyable to take an hour or so to walk with nice historical signs for context. There is some parking but it likely gets packed in high traffic times. I can't put it in my top gardens available for Philadelphia, it's good to have treasures like these to keep the sense of history and love of horticulture the area has long held.

Amazing property, it is a hidden gem. Went with my family for the tour and everyone enjoyed it!read more

Purchasing tickets online and the sign in at the welcome center was easy. our guide was Kieran and…read morehe did an excellent job of telling the story of the Henry Mercer and the castle. The one hour tour was fascinating and entertaining. The castle was so unique with the amazing ceilings of tiles and artifacts from all over the world and a myriad of rooms and doors that one could easily get lost in. I'm so glad we made the time to come here. We want to return to walk the trails on the property as we ran out of time.

Very pleasant grounds, small but beautiful gardens, and lots of signage explaining the history of…read morethe site. Would be a nice place to drop a blanket and have a picnic lunch!

We came here on Community Day in April and I guess coming to a place like this so early in the…read moreSpring, one needs to remind thyself about potential as opposed to what you're actually seeing. Let me explain. They've got a large garden that naturally in April is nothing more than rocks and dirt so you have to imagine what it would look like later on in the year. On the gate they do have a breakdown of what was planted in days of yore but again, you need to use your imagination. There is also a small corncrib next to a few old rusty wheelbarrows that are falling apart. There is the main house on the grounds, the Burnside house, that is sparsely furnished at best and I have read that at certain times of the year you can fully tour it but on Community Day they have tables and chairs on the ground floor for kids arts and crafts, so no tours. The main barn has three parts. The main upstairs part has a collection of older farm equipment along with some pictures of when the building was moved to the site where it currently stands. (No, it's not original to the property by a long shot) The downstairs on the left has a high horsepower wheel that is very interesting and along the lines of what you would see at Mount Vernon in the sixteen sided barn. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oQ6ihOWS5o&feature=c4-overview&list=UUDCmdiGOSAMKYdpe_bybK3w The bottom right houses the stables where the City of Bethlehem keeps their horses for the police's mounted patrol. http://bethlehemmpu.wordpress.com/ The officer on duty that day was great with answering questions from both adults and children about their work with the horses. An unfortunate example of a real turnoff were the women in the Summer Kitchen. They were making some kind of soup/stew that day and several people, myself included, were asking questions and by-in-large they kept giving everyone the Sgt. Schultz answer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVG1q49yPaY That was a real drag but it also wasn't surprising since they seemed more interested in doing what they were doing as opposed to being bothered by the public. This year was the 3rd annual Community Day and to be honest even though I live only about a 1/2 mile from where this takes place I really hadn't heard about it because they poorly promote it. Based on the number of people that we saw I can tell that I'm not the only one who falls into that boat. Maybe next year we'll come back and the women in the Summer Kitchen won't be so grouchy or maybe we'll try to take part in some kind of activity/event there this summer that will show this place off when things are fully cooking. But in the meantime I can't go more than three stars along with giving this place a grade of incomplete.

Remnants of what enabled the American Dream!…read more The ruins of the Bethlehem Steel blast furnace is nearly 10 acres with the highest point over 230 feet! It has morphed into a venue for events. During my mid-September, 26 mid-week visit, it was largely empty. There was a setup happening for a brew event but I was able to drive and walk around. There is an elevated 1650 feet long public walkway along some of the blast furnace. I had a limited time so it was a quick 1/2 hour visit. Although the structures have deteriorated and become ruins, I'm glad this BS blast furnace(s) is repurposed. It's an Americana of the second industrial revolution that provided the American Dreams for so many for over a century. This plant closed in 1995 and the steel from here built the Golden Gate Bridge, the Chrysler Building, Madison Square Garden and the Hoover Dam. It's difficult to capture how massive, historic and magnificent this place is without physically being present! Enjoy!

What a unique opportunity to visit a factory from times past being used in the present! I had some…read moretime to spare passing thru Bethlehem, and google recommended for me to stop-by at this one-of-kind spot. It was a bit of a maze to find the parking lot (thankfully, FREE), but after that I had a quiet afternoon enjoying the SteelStacks. One of the suggestions I got was to enjoy the walkway --- which is an elevated path along the side of the ol' steel factory. It's odd to walk by a factory that in its glory days had 100's of workers, to now being visited by tourist in a solace stroll. In any case, it's always great to see the birthing place of the steel that has given us so many iconic US landmarks, i.e., like the Chrysler Building and the Golden Gate Bridge. See - bet you didn't know that! If you're ever around this area, take in this one-of-a-kind location, it needs to experienced to be believed.

Make sure you don't go on a Monday. Everything is closed!! lol…read moreBut we took a nice hike thru the woods to get there!!!

Great spot, excellent food, and friendly staff!! It's such a nice spot for a laid back evening.read more

What a fantastic piece of history, go, stop and read the plaques and take pictures. What an amazing…read morepiece of history

Well maintained space without signs of overt modernization make this place a worthwhile…read moreexploration. Industrial relics exhibit excellent decay and are easily accessible. Short walking trail takes you through the greenspace pebbled with old structures, into small wooded areas, over a bisecting stream, and along forgotten rail tracks. Quiet, and surrounded by development though you wouldn't know it.

Great little park with two playgrounds, a pavilion, grills, and fields. Also noticed a wheelchair…read morefriendly swing. Lost one star because the bathrooms were locked and I wish the playgrounds were either fenced in or further away from the road.