WATCH: The 'Christmas City' is also a new UNESCO World Heritage site this year

This summer, the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Moravian Settlement was inscribed as the United States 26th UNESCO World Heritage site, joining the list alongside cultural sites like the Statue of Liberty, and natural sites like Yellowstone National Park. The Bethlehem settlement joins three other Moravian settlements that are a part of the World Heritage site, in Germany, Denmark and Northern Ireland, tracing the rebirth and expansion of the church after a period of persecution.
The Moravians, who split off from the Catholic Church before the Protestant Revolution used Bethlehem, Pa., named after the Middle Eastern city where Christians believe Jesus was born, as a base to send out missionaries.
There, they created America's first pumped municipal water supply, and built a community that reflected their unique values, such as teaching women as equals to men, and caring for residents from cradle to grave.
The process for the so-called 'Christmas City' of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, perhaps best known for its Christmas charm and once-mighty steel mill, to become inscribed on the World Heritage list took over 20 years. Today, leaders hope that its new status draws tourists, including more international tourists, year-round, forming a World Heritage 'triangle' of nearby attractions-- the Statue of Liberty and Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
PBS News' Tim McPhillips travelled to Bethlehem to explore how the United States got its 13th cultural World Heritage site, who the Moravians were, and how Bethlehem's origin is helping to define its future.
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