History & local legend
The Sun Inn on Main Street in Bethlehem was built in 1758 and accommodated travelers from 1760 into the late 1960s. Its recorded guests include George and Martha Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and the Marquis de Lafayette. Much of the building has since been restored to its eighteenth-century appearance.
Its ghost stories concern both the inn’s early guests and a much later caretaker of its history. Discover Lehigh Valley recounts visitors’ reports of figures resembling British or Hessian soldiers in the basement. Other traditions describe an unseen singer and a spirit said to guard valuables hidden inside the inn.
One reported apparition is identified as Hughetta Bender, founder of the Sun Inn Preservation Association. Her appearance in the lore connects the inn’s colonial-era stories with the preservation work that gave the building a new life. The restored entrance, guest rooms, and kitchen show the surroundings in which travelers once stayed.
