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Rare Moravian rifle to be displayed in Nazareth ** Friday is one of the few chances to view gun before it goes on tour.

Morning Call - Allentown, Pa. Author: Arlene Martnez Of The Morning Call

Copyright Morning Call March 16, 2005

Though they were pacifist by philosophy, Moravians had a thriving and highly profitable gun-making business in the Nazareth area in the mid-to-late 1700s.

The community's gunsmith in the 1750s was Andreas Albrecht, a German immigrant who had trained in the trade in his native country.

Today, there remain six known Albrecht rifles, and Nazareth is now home to one of them.

The Moravian Historical Society earlier this month acquired a Pike Smooth rifle, believed to have been made in the 1750s in Christian Springs.

The public is invited to see the rifle 6-9 p.m. Friday at the Whitefield House, 214 E. Center St., Nazareth. It will be one of the few opportunities to glimpse it before it heads to temporary exhibits in Pittsburgh, Ottawa and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

The rifle won't return to Nazareth for good until March 2007.

The society acquired the rifle after being alerted to it by a local gunsmith who makes replica 18th century firearms; The gunsmith happens to be a friend of curator Mark Turdo.

The previous owner, who had the rifle in his private collection, traded it for some tomahawks and other Indian weapons that had been donated to the Whitefield House.

Just one of the known surviving guns is signed. That weapon is in a private collection in Ohio, Turdo said.

But there's no doubt the gun is an Albright, he said. The long rifles are similar in design and size. The trigger guards are nearly identical, and the carvings on the stock are similar, though the ones on the Pike Smooth rifle have been worn down.

Because the 53-inch rifle is smaller than ones favored at the time, a child may have owned it. Turdo said it's also possible an Indian used it, based on how the butt has been scraped down and flattened, perhaps to make it lighter.

Though the rifle itself is somewhat plain -- Turdo calls it a "fairly workhorse kind of weapon, not showy" -- the firearm could provide a window into the Moravian culture.

"A modern day definition of a pacifist [is someone who] won't even touch a gun," Turdo said. "In the frontier in America, you needed to have a firearm. Not for protection, but it was a tool, as a pitchfork, hoe or horse was."

Like the greater American population, the average Moravian did not own a gun, but certainly some members of the then-closed community did, he said.

After 11 Moravians were killed in Lehighton in 1755 during the French and Indian war at their mission in Gnadenhutten, Moravians in Nazareth and Bethlehem moved to protect themselves.

They built a large wall around their community. Armed men guarded the settlements, but they were instructed to aim low if they were threatened by Indians, to scare them rather than hit them.

Still, Moravians continued to make guns, Turdo said, many of which were for American soldiers but also possibly for Indians. Moravians were known to be sympathetic toward Indians, many of whom they converted to Christianity.

The relationship between Moravians and Indians during wartime is unclear, but trade with the Indians appears to have stabilized after the war. Turdo hopes the rifle will prompt additional research.

An account book for the old Christian Springs gun shop exists, but it is written in old German. Turdo wants to get it translated.

Albrecht has ties to other area gunmakers. Most notably, William Henry II apprenticed under Albrecht in Christian Springs and served as master in the 1780s. In the late 1790s, Henry moved to Jacobsburg and began what would become more than a century of gunmaking.

"It is quite a significant gun. Our entire bunch will be very interested in seeing it," said Bob Sadler, president of the Jacobsburg Historical Society.

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