The Moravian Historical Society in the Morning Call Newspaper, 1984 to today

---

<< Back to Archives Home

Book looks to shed light on tunnel legend ** Historian researches possibility of labyrinths under Nazareth.

Morning Call - Allentown, Pa. Author: Nancy Averett Of The Morning Call

Copyright Morning Call Nov 28, 2003

Dozens of cities around the globe have mysterious underground tunnels: Paris, Moscow -- even Portland, Ore.

But rumors of secret labyrinths are not limited to larger metropolitan areas. For years, Nazareth residents have talked about their own possible network of hidden burrows.

Nazareth's tunnel legend has grown so popular in recent years that officials at the Moravian Historical Society decided it was time to investigate.

"The last few years people have been asking more and more about it and we really didn't know what to say because no one has done any formal research," said Mark Turdo, curator of the society. "We decided we really needed to spend some time on it."

The results are documented in this year's annual keepsake book: "Nazareth's Underground: A Search Through the Passages of Time." The small book is sponsored by four historical societies in the Nazareth area, including Moravian's.

Underground passageways are often used for secret purposes. Paris' tunnels were used by the French Resistance, Moscow's possibly by dictator Joseph Stalin to stash political prisoners and Portland's by kidnappers who later sold their victims into slavery on local ships.

Intrigue is one reason Turdo believes Nazareth and other local communities, such as Bethlehem, have developed tunnel legends.

"People like to think there's something romantic about where they live," he said. "Certainly tunnels are fascinating. Right away it makes you think of something secret, and something secret means something interesting was going on."

Turdo begins his report by discussing possibilities for the tunnels' existence: protection from raids by American Indians, a hiding place along the Underground Railroad and storage for bootleggers during Prohibition.

In discussing each theory, he offers the reader interesting historical tidbits.

For instance, the Moravian Church owned slaves until 1781, when Pennsylvania abolished the practice. Turdo said Moravians were unusual slave owners. For instance, they often taught their slaves to read and write in English and German.

He also wrote that the Moravians had good relations with local Indian tribes until 11 Moravians died in a massacre north of the borough. Nazareth's Moravians fortified their community and took up firearms, though, in the end, nothing happened and subsequent peace treaties turned the natives into allies.

Turdo used historical documents, such as the Nazareth Diary, a journal of community events kept by the minister of the Moravian Church, to look for any mention of secret tunnels dug to hide from raids.

He also searched newspaper archives to look for arrests that might have occurred if people were hiding liquor stashes in the 1920s or, years earlier, smuggling former slaves on the Underground Railroad, a practice that was considered illegal even in a free state such as Pennsylvania.

Turdo also poked around in residents' basements, many of which contain architectural features that seem to suggest the existence of tunnels.

In basements along Main Street, a brick arch protrudes from a concrete wall, suggesting the entrance to a passageway. He also notes that in several buildings there appear to be small rooms, now filled in, that are adjacent to exterior basement walls.

After visiting many basements, checking building plans and written records, Turdo made his final conclusion about the tunnels - - one that he concedes may be controversial to some: It's up to the townsfolk to decide, from his evidence, whether tunnels existed.

"The one thing I hope is that people will start asking questions ," Turdo said. "I hope people will accost me on the street and say, "I want to talk to you about that.' All I can say is here's what we found. It's up to them to make their own conclusions."

There will be a signing for the book 3-6 p.m. next Friday at Keystone Nazareth Bank & Trust Company on Main Street in Nazareth. It costs $5 for paperbacks and $10 for hardcovers and will benefit Nazareth Heritage, the Moravian Hall Square Museum Craft Shop, Jacobsburg Historical Society and Moravian Historical Society.

The Morning Call has graciously allowed us access to their electronic archive. The articles are presented here as they appear online.

This article is © copyright The Morning Call Online.