This story was originally published May 26, 2011 by former Reading Eagle reporter Darrin Youker. Conrad Weiser was a peacemaker. He was a guide, an Indian interpreter, a renowned diplomat, a landowner ...

The large, curious, quasi-medieval wood buildings that loom over their surroundings are among the few left from religious visionary Conrad Beissel’s mid-18th century communal experiment, now called ...

It's the winter of 1768 and the celibate members of the Ephrata Cloister are burdened by doubt and skepticism. The community's leader, Conrad Beissel, had died that July. For almost 40 years, this ...

EPHRATA, Pa. (WHTM) – Ephrata Cloister, a religious community in Lancaster County, was founded in 1732 by Conrad Beissel (1691-1768), who immigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania in 1720. It’s now part ...

EPHRATA, Pa. (WHTM) — It was one of Pennsylvania’s early experiments in religious freedom. “Ephrata Cloister was an early religious community, established in 1732 by a German immigrant named Conrad ...

They were deep into denial of bodily comforts: A block of wood served as a pillow, a narrow board protruding from the wall was a bed. In winter, it’s easy to grasp the severity of life at Ephrata ...

One of America’s earliest communal societies, the Ephrata Cloister, was founded in Ephrata, Pa., by Conrad Beissel in 1732. On March 1, Beissel’s 300th birthday will be marked at the cloister by a day ...

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... They were deep into denial of bodily comforts: A block of wood served as a pillow, a narrow board protruding from the wall was a bed. In winter, it’s easy to ...