Ephrata Cloister

America’s First Communal Religious Society, Preserved in Lancaster County

Mystical Founders, Medieval-Style Architecture, the First Female Composers in North America, and a Revolutionary War Hospital — All in One Place

There are historic sites that preserve important events. There are sites that preserve important buildings. And then there is the Ephrata Cloister — which preserves an entire community’s way of life, complete with the architecture its members designed, the music they composed, the books they printed, and the cemetery where some of the soldiers they cared for during the American Revolution are buried. It is one of the most genuinely unusual historic sites in the mid-Atlantic, and it rewards visitors who arrive with more than casual curiosity.

Founded in 1732 by German immigrant and spiritual mystic Johann Conrad Beissel, the Ephrata Cloister was one of America’s earliest religious communal societies — predating the Shaker communities, the Oneida community, and most other experiments in intentional Christian communal living in North American history. Its members sought spiritual union with God through celibacy, self-denial, communal labor, scholarship, music, and a distinctive visual arts tradition. At its peak in the 1740s and early 1750s, the community numbered nearly 80 celibate Brothers and Sisters and approximately 200 married “Householder” families living on surrounding farms.

The Ephrata Cloister is open Wednesday through Saturday, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., and Sunday, 12:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.

The site is closed on Monday and Tuesday, and on major holidays. Always verify current hours at ephratacloister.org before visiting, as tour schedules may vary.

Admission: Adults (ages 12–64): $10 | Seniors (65+) and AAA members: $9 | Youth (ages 3–11): $6 | Children under 3: Free | Active Duty Military, National Guard, and Reserve personnel and families: Free. Free parking is available on-site. Reservations are not required for groups of 9 or fewer.

Johann Conrad Beissel and the Founding Vision

Johann Conrad Beissel was born in the German Palatinate in 1691, a region repeatedly devastated by religious conflict and military occupation. He arrived in Pennsylvania in 1720, initially joining a community of German Baptist Brethren (Dunkers) before concluding that their practices were spiritually insufficient and retreating to the wilderness of the Cocalico Creek valley to live as a hermit.

His personal magnetism — Beissel was evidently a charismatic and compelling personality — drew followers to his solitary retreat. By 1732, he had organized these followers into a formal religious community at a site they named Ephrata, after the biblical name for Bethlehem. His theological framework combined German Pietist mysticism with Seventh-Day Sabbatarianism (worship on Saturday, not Sunday), vegetarianism, celibacy as the highest spiritual ideal, and an intense focus on scholarly and artistic achievement as forms of worship.

The community Beissel built was genuinely remarkable. Its members wore distinctive white hooded robes. They maintained a near-vegetarian diet, sleeping on wooden benches with wooden blocks for pillows to mortify the flesh. They observed Saturday as the Sabbath and divided their days between communal labor, worship, and intellectual work. And they produced — in the 28 acres of Gothic-influenced Germanic buildings they constructed by hand — one of the most distinctive examples of early American religious community architecture on the continent.

Trivia: Beissel’s unique system of four-part harmony resulted in the Ephrata community composing over 1,000 a cappella hymns — making the Ephrata Sisters the first documented female composers in North America. The women of the Sisterhood wrote, composed, and performed music of genuine sophistication at a time when female musical authorship was virtually unrecognized elsewhere in colonial America.

The Architecture

The surviving buildings at Ephrata Cloister are among the most unusual examples of colonial American architecture in existence. Beissel and his followers built in a style derived from medieval German religious architecture — steep roofs, narrow doorways and passages designed for bowed, contemplative posture, and an aesthetic of austere severity that reflects the community’s theological values in every physical detail.

The Saal (Meetinghouse, 1741)

The central worship space of the community, its interior preserved to reflect the austere character of Ephrata communal life. The Saal is accessible only on the guided tour.

The Saron (Sisters’ House, 1743)

The dormitory and residence of the celibate Sisters — the women who formed one of the three “orders” of the Ephrata community. The Saron’s interior spaces demonstrate the combination of collective living and individual spiritual practice that defined Ephrata community life.

The Zion (Brethren’s House)

The residence of the celibate Brothers, the male equivalent of the Sisters’ community.

The Almonry (Bake House) and Other Outbuildings

Supporting structures demonstrating the economic self-sufficiency the community sought to maintain through communal labor.

The Printing Press and the Martyrs Mirror

The Ephrata Cloister operated one of the most significant printing establishments in colonial Pennsylvania. The community’s press produced works for both internal use and for neighboring communities — including, most ambitiously, a 1,500-page translation and printing of the Martyrs Mirror for the Mennonite community. The Martyrs Mirror was the largest book printed in colonial America, a massive undertaking that occupied the Ephrata press for years and demonstrated the community’s extraordinary intellectual and organizational capacity.

The community also produced fraktur — the decorative calligraphic art form that combines text and illustration and became one of the most distinctive artistic traditions of Pennsylvania German culture. Ephrata’s fraktur work is among the finest surviving examples of the genre.

The American Revolution and Ephrata’s Hospital

When the American Revolution came to Lancaster County in the aftermath of the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777 — the same battle that sent Washington’s army toward Valley Forge — the Ephrata Cloister was transformed into a military hospital. Nearly 260 American soldiers were brought to Ephrata for care after the battle. Many survived. Some did not, and they are buried in the Mount Zion cemetery overlooking the historic grounds — a quiet Revolutionary War burial site that connects this unusual religious community directly to the nation it helped found.

Touring Ephrata Cloister

Self-Guided Tours (Wednesday afternoons): The Visitor Center exhibit and seven historic buildings are accessible for self-guided exploration. The Saron and Saal are accessible only on guided tours.

Guided Tours (Thursday–Sunday): Tours begin with a 15-minute orientation film in the Visitor Center, then move through the historic buildings with expert interpretation. Tours last approximately one hour and require walking about two city blocks. Seating is available at each tour stop. Plan to spend at least 90 minutes total.

The Visitor Center exhibit is free to enter without a tour ticket, as is The Museum Store — making Ephrata worth a brief stop even for visitors with limited time.

Ephrata Cloister in the Lancaster County Context

The Cloister sits in the borough of Ephrata, approximately 15 miles north of Lancaster City and about 12 miles northwest of the Strasburg rail attractions. It pairs naturally with Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum for a full day of Pennsylvania German heritage, or with Dutch Wonderland for families seeking to combine living history with family entertainment. The Green Dragon Farmers Market in Ephrata — named by USA Today as the best farmers market in America — is less than a mile away and makes an ideal complementary stop.