Town #68: Bethlehem

Every year since the 1930s the Bethlehem, Connecticut post office has supplied special stamps to decorate holiday cards. We decided to go this year. We found a few tables with numbered stamps everywhere. There are 69 individual designs. It was a bit overwhelming, but we settled on a few that we liked and got to work.

One group of women came prepared with cardboard sheets to layer their table and plastic gloves to keep the ink off their hands. They were the pros. We were less so. I have a bruise on my palm from all the stamping. I did not even know it was possible to do that to yourself!

This was one of our favorite designs:












There is also a Christmas festival but we must have missed that or we were too early. All the activity we saw was at the post office.

We plan to come back here to visit the Abbey of Regina Laudis. More on that later.

Bethlehem stats:
Population: 3,595
Size: 19 square miles
Villages/Other Communities: n/a
Historic Places: Joseph Bellamy House, Bethlehem Green Historic District, Caleb Martin House