Fire

The 1784 Tavern that replaced the tavern that burned to the ground also in 1784

_____________

"About 3 AM, on January 31st, that our tavern burst into flames, no one knows why." (1)

"Our Brother and Sister Meyer, their children and associates and several guests, were sleeping peacefully, and all the Brethren and Sisters hurried to do what they could, partly to keep the fire from spreading and partly to save the furniture and the belongings of those who were in the house; but the fire increased so quickly that these purposes could only be attained in part."

"Thankfully ... no one received bodily injury, though the Brethren who were trying to put out the fire were in grace danger from falling burning wood and from the chimney. 

The escape of all who were sleeping peacefully in the burning house, the absence of wind, and that the fire did no further damage, are reasons enough for giving thanks and praise to our God and Lord." -- from the Wachovia Memorabilia, 1784.

(1) In the Bethania Church records there is the suggestion that the tavern may have been set on fire by evil-minded enemies of the Brethren, but in a letter to Brother Reichel, dated February 17, 1784, F.W. Marshall said that though such threats had been made there was no evidence of incendiaries.