Newark, DE 19711 - University of Delaware Library Institutional ...

in this part of North Carolina and reported that it was good,
"growing everything which has been planted." They were careful
custodians of the land and appointed a forester to superintend
the cutting of timber in the forests. They also surveyed the
native trees and plants to see which were useful for fuel, con-
struction, furniture, medicine, or food. (See Volume I, Records
_.- of the Moravians, pp. 557-587.)
2. Communal Gardening
Among the 15 Moravians from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania who
settled in Bethabara in 1753 were Jacob Lung, a gardener, and 4
other men with farming backgrounds. Within three weeks they had
prepared land and sown wheat, and by the following spring they
had cleared and fenced enough additional acreage to plant turnips,
corn, pumpkins, beans, and other vegetables. A sizeable orchard
of 150 peach and 40 apple trees was also planted.
In order to survive in the North Carolina wilderness,
Bethabara settlers adopted a system of church ownership of
property and common housekeeping - Oeconomie. A map of Bethabara,
dated July 1754, indicates a large community garden laid out in
two series of rectangular beds, all the same size, with small
work paths between the beds and a large central path ending at a
summerhouse. The garden was surrounded by a rail fence.
The community garden increased in size as Bethabara grew
in population, and included a Vegetable Garden (sometimes called
the Kitchen Garden) and the Medical Garden (Hortus Medicus). There
were also a vineyard, orchards, and fields of wheat and corn.
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