On your right, look for the low, wide red-brick house with crisp white shutters and a centered doorway under a small arched pediment, topped by two dormer windows peeking out of the roof.
This is the Goundie House... and it’s basically Bethlehem’s early-1800s mic drop in brick and mortar. Built in 1810 for John Sebastian Goundie - say it like “GUN-dee” - it’s believed to be the town’s first brick residence, and one of the first private homes here to show off the new American Federal style. In a place known for sturdy German Colonial stone buildings, this was a clear message: “We’re doing things a little differently now.”
Goundie’s story starts with a suitcase and a skill. He arrived in Bethlehem in 1802, a trained brewer from Neuwied, Germany, headed for a Moravian community in Salem, North Carolina. He tried it... and within months he was back in Bethlehem. Why? The records get a little foggy, but one story says he thought the site picked for the brewery down there was, “not ideal.” So Bethlehem’s leaders made a deal: Goundie would become the brew master.
He was ambitious, sharp, and not always thrilled with how the town made decisions. The Moravians often used a “lot” system - basically drawing a result from a box to decide important matters. By the early 1800s, folks were getting skeptical about leaving real estate to divine roulette. In 1808, Goundie wanted to buy a home lot... the lot draw didn’t go his way... and meeting notes say he had to be “calmed down.” He even threatened to teach brewing to somebody else and move out of town.
And yet... two years later, here it is: the house he wanted anyway. Somehow he secured a church lease for the property, though the paperwork doesn’t exactly spell out how that happened. Inside, the layout was practical - a central hall with two rooms on each side - but there was also a wonderful bit of old-school engineering: a beehive oven tied into fireplaces on multiple floors, the kind of feature that made a home feel warm, busy, and alive.
Goundie also worried about what went into his beer. In 1811 he complained that water from the creek near the old brewing site was being fouled by tannery waste. He pushed for a new brewery location closer to here, and by 1812 the town was praising his beer as better than the pricier Philadelphia method. Not bad for a guy who nearly stormed off.
This building had more lives than a neighborhood cat: doctor’s office, boarding house, shops, agencies - you name it. In 1968 it was almost demolished, until local advocates stepped in and Historic Bethlehem bought it for $22,000 - roughly about $200,000 in today’s money - then restored it carefully, even preserving an old connecting doorway and a pressed tin ceiling.
When you’re set, Moravian Book Shop is a 1-minute walk heading south, and it’ll be on your left.
