The "Beisselology: The Cloister History & Conrad Beissel's House" Story

One of my altered Polaroid photographs of the Ephrata Cloister.  
This photograph was taken over 30 years ago, but the Cloister
 still looks the same today.  Click on photographs to enlarge them.

Foreword:  I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Ephrata Cloister.  Beautiful historical location in the town of Ephrata, Pennsylvania which is about twenty minutes to the north of Lancaster, PA.  I had been meaning to visit ever since I began my blog, but never actually took the time.  I spent almost two hours with my guide Sue.  Just so happened that I was the only visitor that afternoon, so I had Sue all to myself.  She was extremely knowledgeable about the history of the Cloister and rattled off many stories and documentation about the Cloister.  My only wish today is that I haven't changed history due to memory loss or not being able to read my notes.  So, a big "Thank You" to Sue ... and here goes ...

It was an ordinary day.  Beautiful fall day in the state of Pennsylvania.  The air had a wisp of coolness to it while the sun reached toward shadows as it warmed the earth one last moment before dusk.  I had just handed Sue my camera so she could take a photo of me in the Sisters house on the land known as the Ephrata Cloister.  My story actually begins in 1681 when England's King Charles II repaid a debt to William Penn's late father, Sir William Penn, by giving the elder's son a monumental piece of land which later was part of the states of Pennsylvania and Delaware.  

This sketch of the Ephrata Cloisters by nineteenth century
portrait and landscape artist Isaac L. Williams is dated July'
1879 and features a Cloister building that no longer exists,
but in the lower left margin is listed as "Conrad Beissel's
house at Ephrata, Pa."  It has an edition number of 3/8.

The Ephrata Cloister, developed on a minute part of that land, personified the dream that William Penn had for the land chartered by the king years before.  The Cloister was a true example of what has become known as Penn's Holy Experiment.  But, the Ephrata Cloister was originally the vision and life of one man by the name of Johann Conrad Beissel.  

The house to the right in this recent photo is marked with
a plaque as "Home of Conrad Beissel."  Perhaps it is a
second home where Conrad lived on the property. 

Conrad, as he is commonly known, was born in Eberbach, Germany in 1691 at the end of a century of devastating religious wars.  His father had died two months before he was born and his mother died when he was eight years old.  He was raised by older brothers and sisters until at the age of 24 he had a religious awakening.  

The weathered boards are held in
place with hand-made nails.

His refusal to promise to attend the government supported church at the time caused his expulsion from his homeland and in 1720 he left Germany for America, landing in Boston.  He drifted around until he arrived in Germantown, near Philadelphia, and became a weaver under Peter Becker.  Religious discontent caused him once again to leave, so he departed Philadelphia and fled to what at the time was known as the Conestoga territory (Lancaster).  In 1724 a group of Brethren from Germantown arrived in the Conestoga territory and convinced Conrad to allow them to rejoin him in Conestoga where he eventually became the leader of this group.  As time went on, Conrad was able to get his congregation to accept his own mystical interpretations of spiritual living.  

This interior wall shows what all the walls may have been.

His doctrine featured, among other things, adult baptism, celibacy and a Saturday Sabbath.  In 1728 he declared his indepen- dence from the Brethren, was rebaptized in Lancaster County's Conestoga Creek and moved to Ephrata where he soon established a formal colony in 1732.  That semi-monastic colony, or cloister, called the Camp of the Solitary, is what I am visiting today.  

On the first floor is is desk with a cabinet to the rear.  The door
are very low, made that way to reflect servitude and humility. 

My tour guide, Sue, has been trying to explain to me everything I should know about Conrad Beissel and the Ephrata Cloister, but I'm sorry to say, I can only comprehend so much.  I hope the rest of my story will give you an idea of what life was like at the Cloister during the leadership of Conrad Beissel.  As you might have noticed, my story is titled exactly what I believe the charismatic Conrad Beissel, referred to as The Superintendent by his members, wanted his followers to believe and what his theology should be considered.  

The interior walls feature hand-made wooden pins.

Conrad died on July 6, 1768 and soon after the Cloister membership began to decline.  The last celibate member died in 1813 and the last non-celibate member through family ties, Marie Bucher, died on July 27, 2008 at the age of 98.  In 1814 the remaining Householders, or married members of the Cloister, incorporated into the German Seventh Day Baptist Church.  In 1941 the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission assumed administration of the Cloister and began a program of research, restoration and interpretation of this important historic site with the support of the Ephrata Cloister Associates.  

This is the fireplace for heat and meal prep.

What began in 1732 and looked to be a one-generation society at the beginning, lasted close to 300 years.  By the 1750s nearly 80 celibate Brothers and Sisters were housed in impressive Germanic log, stone and half-timbered buildings.  At the same time nearly 200 family members known as Householders, occupied nearby homes and farms.  They decided to settle along the Cocalico Creek since it allowed the group a chance to  build needed mills along the creek.  The celebate members followed a life of work balanced with hours of private prayer and at times a vegetarian meal.  Cloistered living was austere and members wore plain white Hooded Cloaks to disassociate themselves from the distraction of individual clothing styles.  They adopted sparse diets and slept little all in an effort to provide discipline as they prepared for the anticipated daily arrival of God.  Labors included farming, papermaking, baking, carpentry, textile production and printing.  

This early photo shows more of the original structures
with many of them no longer on the property.

In 1790 there were about 40 buildings, but only 9 remain today. Parts of the remaining original buildings have been restored, but the construction of the buildings was such that they were meant to last for years so restoration wasn't as difficult as it could have been.  My first visual stop will take you to Conrad's home as well as the nearby cemetery, God's Acre,  that holds the remains of Mr. Conrad Beissel.  Tomorrow I will take you to a few other buildings and show you the austere living conditions they endured.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

A view of the onsite cemetery with Conrad's grave close to the center of the photo covered with a plexiglas cover.

Tough to take a photograph through the plastic, but if you look closely you will see Conrad's last name spelled as Beiffel.

This stands next to the gravesite.

After Conrad died, Peter Miller took responsibility for the Cloisters.  He is buried next to the grave of Beissel.

This is next to Miller's gravestone.