Monday, October 15, 2018

Lancaster County Pennsylvania: The Amish Village

Lancaster county transportation.
Somehow in all of our journeys up and down the eastern part
of the country we have missed Amish Country.
It was time to correct that omission and are so glad that we did.  

Lancaster county is some of the most beautiful farm country
that we have ever seen. Talk about country roads!
It seemed like we never found a way to get from one address to
another without driving over and around a mountain.
We started our visit with a trip to The Amish Village.

Cultivating corn.
The drive took us past several farms and were lucky
enough to see the corn field of an Amish farm being cultivated
with a horse drawn wagon. The farmer was balancing in the
moving wagon with a dog running along beside him.
It was like a look into the past and we were thrilled by the
spectacle.

The banked barn has entry on two levels.
The Amish Village is an authentic Amish homestead.
It currently serves as a museum that showcases the house and
banked barn.
There is a covered bridge on the 12 acre property as well as a
small dam with water wheel and a wind generator that
demonstrate methods of generating energy that are acceptable
to the Amish way of life.
There are a blacksmith shop and a one room school built
according to a standardized plan. These buildings are typical
of a Plain community.
Premium admission included a bus tour of the surrounding
countryside and one was getting ready to leave as we checked in.
Amish farm
Margaret was our bus driver and tour guide for the day. She is
a long time resident of Lancaster County and has many friends
within the Amish community.
We learned that the Lancaster County Amish came here to
Pennsylvania after being invited by William Penn himself.
They arrived between 1720 and 1730 seeking religious freedom.
Members of the thriving community of over 30,000 continue to embrace a simple life free of materialism and dedicated to God. The Amish way of life is focused on service.
Margaret's stories helped us to understand some of the Amish
customs and traditions. It was interesting to learn how a culture
has learned to do business with the English while protecting
themselves from becoming too worldly.

Scooters outside the one room schoolhouse.
Margaret took us past a number on one room Amish school
houses. She told us that all were built from the same approved
plan. It was interesting to see the childrens scooters all parked
outside.
Thats not an outhouse its a phone box, outside the house.
We learned how to recognize Amish homes by the lack of
phone and electric wires, the type of clothing hung to dry and
sometimes a telephone box near the end of the driveway.
Kitchen gardens were meticulously tended, neat and ordered.
We drove through miles of Lancaster County backroads
observing the Amish lifestyle without intruding upon it.

Lydia's Country Store
We stopped at Lydia’s Country Store where the baked goods
were a huge temptation. Molasses sugar cookies are my
weakness and oatmeal raisin Fred’s. Its going to be tough
sticking to our food plan in Lancaster County.
The bus dropped us back at The Amish Village and we
toured the 2 story homestead built in 1840.
This stand mixer runs using air as power.
The kitchen was pretty amazing. Propane lights and a mixer
powered by air were a couple of the innovations we found
fascinating.
The lamp base hides a propane tank.
The bathroom was surprisingly modern.
I had pictured hand pumps for water but learned that a wind
generator supplied power for the water pump.  
There was a laundry and separate kitchen area for canning
in the basement.

Beautiful quits were on all of the beds.
Outside was a Spring house where milk cooled in metal cans.
The banked barn built into the side of a hill, allowed entry on
two levels. 

Basement laundry
We enjoyed the tour and then headed to Deinners for a late
lunch at Margaret’s recommendation. The food was plentiful and
the service great just as she said it would be.


The Amish Village
199 Hartman Bridge Road
Ronks, PA
(717) 687-8511

2 comments:

  1. I wonder why there are differences between the Pennsylvania and the Indiana Amish. Keystone State Amish have nicer buggies and colorful houses. Hmmmm...

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  2. We are heading that way in a couple of weeks and looking forward to seeing that beautiful countryside!

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