Mo Green
30-08-2004, 22:35
Day 3 - Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Another dull day but at least it was not raining. We left early to drive to Lancaster County home of the Amish and covered bridges.
As we left Philadelphia we passed 30th Street Station, famous for the murder scenes from the film Witness which featured the Amish people. We knew a little about the Amish people who do not use anything connected to the 20th Century if there is an alternative, speak in a German dialect and use horse-drawn enclosed buggies. Obviously a computer is thought to be necessary for running a B&B as we made the booking over the Internet directly with an Amish family!
After an hour of steady climbing we were on the huge plateau which is Lancaster County. We left the motorway and it was like stepping back 100 years in time. We were immediately into open farmland with small farms and quaint little towns. Within the first few minutes we saw a man sewing seed by hand. We were excited at seeing our first horse-drawn buggy but soon realised that this was far from a rare sighting.
Our first stop was the town of Intercourse, the town in the film Witness. Along the main High Street there were plenty of shops selling beautiful quilts and craft products which had been produced by the Amish. There were also several Amish buggies passing through and just off the main street we discovered general stores with horses and buggies tied outside. I was delighted to see three little Amish boys, with blonde pudding basin hair-cuts, black suits and straw hats getting into one of the buggies.
As there were lots of tourists and coaches, we decided it was too ‘touristy’ and stayed only long enough for a coffee and the local speciality ‘Shoo Fly Pie’ which is a like a sickly Bakewell Tart made with Molasses, Corn Syrup and currants. The quaintly named towns of ‘Bird-in-the-hand’ and ‘Paradise’ were also extremely busy – we discovered that we had arrived for the annual Lancaster County ‘Quilter’s’ shows!
We decided keep to the minor roads through the beautifully kept arable land. Each farm was small and built to a very similar pattern with farmhouse, tall silage tower and, of course, a barn. In the gardens women and children could be seen working all dressed in plain dresses, and the women wearing pinafores and their heads covered with starched muslin caps. Saturday was obviously ‘Washing Day’ as each farm seemed to have a long line of clothes – all very sombre colours and no patterns to be seen anywhere. We also passed a huge timber yard with the wooden trusses which would be used in ‘Barn Raising’ - the making of traditional barns by the community which still takes place to-day.
Stopping at one farm to take photographs of a covered bridge we suddenly heard the whistle of a train. This led us to the highlight of the day for Cliff - the railroad museum at Strasburg. This is well worth a detour for any train enthusiast with a display of old steam trains and restored carriages along side the old (circa 1915) East Strasburg Station. Even I enjoyed seeing an old American steam train (complete with cow-catcher and bell) set off pulling several old carriages. Unfortunately we discovered it too late to take one of the lunch/dinner trips – something to save for another visit.
At the end of the afternoon we set off to find our accommodation for the night. We had already booked a night at an Amish Farm in Kinzer. We were greeted by the owner, Eli, who lived in a large farmhouse behind the guesthouse. Eli took us to our room which we were grateful to find had electricity. It also had the most beautiful modern bathroom we have ever come across in a B&B complete with Jacuzzi bath. On the bed was a beautiful quilt and, having said that we had looked at some but they were too expensive, he quickly sent us off to his mother-in-laws farm a couple of miles down the road.
In the semi basement she ran a small shop with dozens of beautiful local made quilts at half the price of those we had seen in the tourist shops. We chose a quilt but had to take it outside to see the colours as the
Another dull day but at least it was not raining. We left early to drive to Lancaster County home of the Amish and covered bridges.
As we left Philadelphia we passed 30th Street Station, famous for the murder scenes from the film Witness which featured the Amish people. We knew a little about the Amish people who do not use anything connected to the 20th Century if there is an alternative, speak in a German dialect and use horse-drawn enclosed buggies. Obviously a computer is thought to be necessary for running a B&B as we made the booking over the Internet directly with an Amish family!
After an hour of steady climbing we were on the huge plateau which is Lancaster County. We left the motorway and it was like stepping back 100 years in time. We were immediately into open farmland with small farms and quaint little towns. Within the first few minutes we saw a man sewing seed by hand. We were excited at seeing our first horse-drawn buggy but soon realised that this was far from a rare sighting.
Our first stop was the town of Intercourse, the town in the film Witness. Along the main High Street there were plenty of shops selling beautiful quilts and craft products which had been produced by the Amish. There were also several Amish buggies passing through and just off the main street we discovered general stores with horses and buggies tied outside. I was delighted to see three little Amish boys, with blonde pudding basin hair-cuts, black suits and straw hats getting into one of the buggies.
As there were lots of tourists and coaches, we decided it was too ‘touristy’ and stayed only long enough for a coffee and the local speciality ‘Shoo Fly Pie’ which is a like a sickly Bakewell Tart made with Molasses, Corn Syrup and currants. The quaintly named towns of ‘Bird-in-the-hand’ and ‘Paradise’ were also extremely busy – we discovered that we had arrived for the annual Lancaster County ‘Quilter’s’ shows!
We decided keep to the minor roads through the beautifully kept arable land. Each farm was small and built to a very similar pattern with farmhouse, tall silage tower and, of course, a barn. In the gardens women and children could be seen working all dressed in plain dresses, and the women wearing pinafores and their heads covered with starched muslin caps. Saturday was obviously ‘Washing Day’ as each farm seemed to have a long line of clothes – all very sombre colours and no patterns to be seen anywhere. We also passed a huge timber yard with the wooden trusses which would be used in ‘Barn Raising’ - the making of traditional barns by the community which still takes place to-day.
Stopping at one farm to take photographs of a covered bridge we suddenly heard the whistle of a train. This led us to the highlight of the day for Cliff - the railroad museum at Strasburg. This is well worth a detour for any train enthusiast with a display of old steam trains and restored carriages along side the old (circa 1915) East Strasburg Station. Even I enjoyed seeing an old American steam train (complete with cow-catcher and bell) set off pulling several old carriages. Unfortunately we discovered it too late to take one of the lunch/dinner trips – something to save for another visit.
At the end of the afternoon we set off to find our accommodation for the night. We had already booked a night at an Amish Farm in Kinzer. We were greeted by the owner, Eli, who lived in a large farmhouse behind the guesthouse. Eli took us to our room which we were grateful to find had electricity. It also had the most beautiful modern bathroom we have ever come across in a B&B complete with Jacuzzi bath. On the bed was a beautiful quilt and, having said that we had looked at some but they were too expensive, he quickly sent us off to his mother-in-laws farm a couple of miles down the road.
In the semi basement she ran a small shop with dozens of beautiful local made quilts at half the price of those we had seen in the tourist shops. We chose a quilt but had to take it outside to see the colours as the