For those who first encounter the term, "The Four Farms" must wonder, "what farms?" and "where?" What may come as a surprise is that these farms developed into present-day South Bethlehem and Fountain Hill in Northampton and Lehigh Counties.

The story begins in the early 18th century with the arrival of settlers to the Lehigh River Valley - an idyllic setting of ancient forests with native trees that covered fertile land, where Shad freely swam unencumbered up the Lehigh River to spawn each spring, where flocks of raucous black crows dotted the sky.

In 1741, a group of Moravians arrived at the Monocacy Tract, a rise of land that overlooked the Monocacy Creek, the Lehigh River and South Mountain.

With the completion of their first log house, the Moravians welcomed Count Zinzendorf, who arrived in time for their Christmas Eve vigil. On this occasion, the settlement came to be known as "Bethlehem."

For the remainder of that century, the Moravians purchased up to 1,486 acres of land on the south side of the Lehigh River to establish a buffer against "outside" settlers. On this acreage, the Moravians cut down trees and removed the tree stumps. The cleared land resulted in four major farms in which grain, hemp, flax and orchards of fruit were cultivated.

Traveling north from Philadelphia, stagecoaches arrived on the Luckenbach Farm, where lodgers spent the night at the Crown Inn. The following day, the stagecoaches crossed the Lehigh River by ferry and continued their journey north through Bethlehem.

In 1756, during the French and Indian War, Benjamin Franklin departed from Philadelphia by stagecoach and arrived at the Crown, where he assembled local militiamen. They reviewed his plans to build Fort Allen east of Gnaddenheutten in Carbon County, where Indians massacred Moravians in that settlement. Fort Allen was built to prevent Indians from attacking other settlements north of Bethlehem.

Within the next twenty years, colonists sought independence from England during the Revolutionary War. In 1777, women and children were transported north to Bethlehem for safety as the British fleet neared Philadelphia. By September, sick and wounded soldiers arrived in Bethlehem, where Moravians tended them in the Single Brethren's house. Large numbers of soldiers also camped in the apple orchard southeast of the Crown Inn on the Luckenbach Farm. Soldiers who died from their wounds were buried in a small cemetery west of the Inn, thought to have been in the vicinity of present-day Cherokee and Brighton streets.

When British General William Howe threatened to commandeer all Philadelphia church bells to make cannons, colonists scrambled. They loaded the precious church bells, including the Liberty Bell, into waiting wagons and covered them with straw. The wagon with the Liberty Bell made the trip safely across the Lehigh River by ferry. As the wagon made its journey up Seminary Hill toward Main Street - according to tradition - it broke down in front of the Brethren's House. After repairs were made, the wagon continued to Allentown, where the Liberty Bell was safely concealed in the basement of Zion's Church on Hamilton Street.

In the peaceful era that followed the war of independence in the early nineteenth century, the new Republic saw increased industrial growth, though the country primarily depended on agriculture. In 1806, Moravians celebrated the completion of Central Moravian Church - its steeple a beacon seen by travelers who observed South Mountain on their way to Bethlehem.

During summer months, the beauty of Bethlehem attracted visitors and residents who strolled on pleasure paths along the south shore of the Lehigh River west of the Crown Inn. At this time, a hemlock bridge anchored on stone piers had replaced the ferry to the north side. Heavily wooded Calypso Island became a popular resort for those in love with nature.

In 1830, the Lehigh Canal had given newcomers easy access to Bethlehem. Boats filled with anthracite coal were quietly pulled by mules on towpaths, from Mauch Chunk, Carbon County to the Delaware Canal at Easton. Also on the canal, passengers in "packet" boats enjoyed natural views as they traveled past the church-village of Bethlehem.

The year 1841 marked a new beginning for the Moravians. With increased traffic over the Lehigh River into Bethlehem, a third bridge was built of sturdy oak, rested on three stone piers and was covered with a long slate roof. The Crown Inn having been converted to a farmhouse, travelers stayed in the newly enlarged Sun Inn, and later at the Eagle Hotel, both on Main Street in Bethlehem.

At this time, the Moravians abandoned their philosophy of exclusivity. Although they agreed to allow outsiders to own real estate from the sale of the four farms, the Moravian community still retained parcels of land in reserve for future growth on the north side.

The Moravians appointed Philip H. Geopp as land agent, who in turn sold the four farms to Moravian, Charles Augustus Luckenbach. Having made a profit on the sale of the Fuehrer, Jacobi and Hoffert farms, Luckenbach wisely retained his own farm. In 1852, he sold 35 acres along the Lehigh River to Asa Packer for use of the Lehigh Valley Railroad.

Luckenbach divided the remainder of his farm into plots for a town he named "Augusta." In 1854, Charles Brodhead bought the Jacobi Farm, including Luckenbach's town he renamed "Wetherill" in honor of Samuel Wetherill.

In 1855, Asa Packer completed laying tracks for the Lehigh Valley Railroad along the Lehigh River. Gone were the pleasure paths along the banks as coal and passenger cars rattled past Calypso Island. Three years later, in 1858, Brodhead renamed the town "Bethlehem South." Completion of the North Penn Railroad formed a junction at Bethlehem South on Luckenbach's farm. A vestige of the past, the former Crown Inn was converted to a farmhouse. In 1859, it was razed and Union Station was built with platforms that served both railroads.

By the 1860s, great industrial strides were made on the former Moravian farms with erection of the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc Company and the Bethlehem Iron Company. In the glorious year of 1865, Bethlehem's boys returned from the Civil War, Asa Packer founded Lehigh University on South Mountain, and "Bethlehem South" was incorporated into the Borough of South Bethlehem.

Though a fraction of the forest remains on South Mountain, and Shad may find it difficult to spawn in the headwaters of the Lehigh River, the sky is still dotted by flocks of raucous black crows - ancestors of those seen by the first Moravians who arrived in Bethlehem.