Rotary Rose Day Event

Thanks to the Rotary Club for sending this announcement along:

Nazareth Rotary Club celebrates community history with its annual Barony of the Rose sale on June 19th and 20th in the greater Nazareth area. Rotarians and members of the Nazareth High School Interact Club will be at various locations throughout the Nazareth area selling commemorative roses in honor of annual “payment day”.

Originally, Nazareth was a tract of 5,000 acres owned by William Penn’s family. The tax to the Penn heirs on this land was one red rose payable on June 24th to the Feudal estate trustees. This tradition led to Nazareth’s moniker “The Barony of the Rose”.

George Whitefield, a well known English evangelist, purchased the Barony in 1740. He planned to establish a school and hired a group of Moravians, a Protestant religious group from Germany, to oversee the project. In May of 1740, the Moravians began construction on the stone building known today as the Whitefield House and nearby Grey Cottage. Financial circumstances forced Whitefield to sell his Nazareth property, and the Moravians purchased the
entire 5,000 acre tract in 1741. Nazareth and the accompanying farm communities became the “breadbasket” for nearby Bethlehem, founded in 1741 as an education and vocational center for the Moravian communities.

Club President, Patrick Russamano reports the long stemmed red roses sell for $3.50 and will be available at Center Square in Nazareth, KNBT on Broad Street, Moravian Hall Square, North St., Nazareth 7-Eleven, Wal-Mart on Rt. 248 and Nazareth Diner. Sale times are Friday, June 19th from 3 to 6 p.m. and Saturday, June 20th from 8:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. Proceeds from the rose sale will benefit the Nazareth Community projects. Assistance from Nazareth Floral Design - Nancy Donohoe.

Visit the Nazareth Rotary website at www.rotarydistrict7430.org/
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