10/28/2026
For , we are highlighting our enigmatic glass trumpet, unearthed 31 years ago by archaeologists investigating the Ephrata Closter.
Reporting on the 1995 investigations at Ephrata, lead archaeologist Stephen Warfel noted that “because the trumpet was found in a fully articulated position, special care must have attended its disposal in the refuse deposit”. Despite early speculation that it was an alchemist’s device, Darcy Kuronen, the Curator of Musical Instruments at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, confirmed that it “mimics the type of so-called ‘natural trumpet’ that was used throughout Europe and America until the early 19th Century.” However, since it is of glass construction, it was apparently intended for a decorative or ceremonial purpose.
But where did the trumpet originate, why was it in the ground, how did it remain so well intact?
Writing in the March 14, 1835 issue of Hazard’s Register of Pennsylvania, Dr. William M. Fahnestock, the son of Ephrata householders, noted that Cloister members once sang for “Commissioners who were sent to visit the society by the English Government, after the [French and Indian] War.”
Fahnestock then explained the following: “About twelve months, afterward, a box was received of three or four feet long, and two or two-and-a-half wide, containing a present. What the present was is not now certainly known – none having seen it but Friedsam [founder Conrad Beissel] and Jaebez [Peter Miller], who was then Prior, and into whose care it was consigned. It was buried secretly by him, with the advice of Beissel.”
Unfortunately, that was the extent of Fahnestock’s knowledge on the subject. While we can’t prove his tale references the glass trumpet, it is worth noting that the dimensions align (the trumpet is 3’9” long), and the story provides plausible answers.
Our working theory is that, given their desire to live simply and reject materialism, Beissel and Miller felt that the trumpet (regardless of when of from where it originated) was too worldly.
What do you think? Did the box in Fahnestock’s story contain the glass trumpet?
Photos 2&3: Craig Benner
