NRHP Reference # 90000705 Phone +1 484-934-1156 Added to NRHP 2 May 1990 | Area 3 ha Architectural style Federal architecture | |
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Location 1461 Schoenersville Road,
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Address 1461 Schoenersville Rd, Bethlehem, PA 18018, USA Similar Moravian College, Moravian Book Shop, Lehigh County Historical, Allentown Art Museum, Baum School of Art | ||
The Burnside Plantation is a 6.5-acre (2.6 ha) plantation in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. It is also known as the James Burnside Plantation and Lerch Farm. The plantation is located 0.2 miles (0.32 km) southeast of the intersection with Eaton Road, on Schoenersville Road.
History
James Burnside bought a 500-acre (200 ha) tract of land from John Stephen Benezet in 1748. Burnside sold 200 acres (81 ha) a group of Moravians in 1751. In 1758, Burnside's widow sold the remaining 300 acres (120 ha) to the Moravian Church. The Church leased the plantation to individual farmers from 1765 to 1845. The plantation was sold to Charles A. Luckenbach, who sold it to William Lerch in 1853. It stayed in the Lerch family until 1928, when it sold and was divided between the Hafleighs and the Birks. Lehigh County bought the plantation in 1986 and leased it into a private corporation "to restore, develop, and manage [it] as a living and natural history resource". It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 2, 1990. The museum is an affiliate within the Smithsonian Affiliations program.