God’s Acre Cemetery

Location: 

67 West Market Street
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18018
United States

What makes Gods Acre truly remarkable is how it embodies what UNESCO recognized as "outstanding universal value to humanity." The most powerful of these is the principle of equality and human dignity, manifested in what the Moravians called the "democracy of death." Every person buried here - whether European settler, Native American convert, or African Moravian - receives the same simple, flat headstone. Social status, wealth, race, and background become irrelevant in this final resting place, creating a radical statement of human equality that was revolutionary for the 18th century and remains profound today.

This physical equality reflects the broader Moravian commitment to what UNESCO identified as the "ageless values of education, equality, industry, integrity, and spirituality" that shaped their community from 1741 onward. The cemetery's organization by choir rather than family demonstrates their democratic principles in action - people were grouped by life stage and spiritual community rather than blood relations or social hierarchy. This created a space where a Native American teacher might rest beside a German craftsman, where converted Indigenous families were fully integrated into the community's spiritual and social structure

For a complete listing of early Moravian community members buried in the Bethlehem, PA God's Acre, please see Auguste B. Schultze's Guide to the old Moravian cemetery of Bethlehem, Pa., 1742-1897.