Lancaster County

GREETINGS FROM LANCASTER COUNTY 7/15/2021

We drove through four states in just an hour today! We left Virginia, entered West Virginia, passed through a piece of Maryland to arrive in Pennsylvania, our stopping point for a day. It took us three days to comfortably drive through Texas and this spring we only went into three states to cover 6,000 miles and 13 national parks!

We are staying in the town of Ronks in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, a bit southeast of the city of Lancaster.

I have been interested in the Amish for many years. We were fortunate to have found a fabulous Amish family in Millersburg, Ohio who had a litter of Silver labs in April of 2020. Rangeley was 8 weeks old in June 2020 when we met his breeders, a young couple in their 20’s with an adorable 2-year-old daughter. We have hand written letters to one another ever since and returned to Ohio to visit them on our fall 2020 national park tour. We plan to see them in August on this trip as well.

In the 16th century, Anabaptist split into 3 “Plain” communities, Amish, Mennonite and Brethren.

The Plain communities arrived in Lancaster County in the 1720’s and the Lancaster County Pennsylvania Amish are the oldest and largest Amish community in America.  There are over 30,000 Amish here as of 2018. The Amish are the most conservative of the three communities. These spiritual folks live a simple life, living what the English (non- Amish people) most recently refer to as living “off the grid”. No electronics, some do not have electricity, some use solar or wind generated power for lights and sewing machines and propane is used by some for refrigerators and stoves. The main form of transportation is horse and buggy and their way of life has changed very little in 300 years. Primitive farming (agriculture and animals), quilting, wood working, canning and making their own clothes is still a daily ritual.

The term Pennsylvania Dutch, the language the Amish speak among themselves and in all religious services, is an inaccurate English translation of the German Pennsilfaanisch-Deitsch. Deitsch sounded like Dutch and it stuck.

Community; religion (practicing a simple way of life, not showing or visually boasting about what they have or believe); and humility are the values they live by. The “Cliff Notes” of their existence can be summed up as a slow, peaceful way to enjoy life. They believe God has called on them to practice faith and discipline in their everyday activities. An analogy in the English world could be those that practice yoga or the martial arts…it’s called a practice because you never stop, you do not arrive, you practice each and every day to be better for yourself and your community. School, work, family and community closely intertwine for the Amish. All teachings are connected and serve a specific purpose.

Please note, any pictures you see in this journal have been approved by the subject or are acceptable if facial individual identification is not the focus of the picture.

Technology: Amish do not believe that progress is always better.

Telephones:  As with many advancements and acceptance by the elders there is varying opinions on all issues as each generation grows.  One reason for not having telephones inside the house is to encourage face-to-face, live contact with family and community members.  You may see what appears to be an outhouse beside an Amish home but it is usually a phone shanty. Often there is one phone shanty for several homes.

There are several levels of Amish beliefs, i.e. there are groups of Amish people that have full working showers, toilets and sinks inside their homes by use of a well and septic tank or leach field. Other Amish do not have running water in their homes.

Our 1st stop was at The Red Caboose Motel. A private owner has 38 railroad cabooses turned into unique motel rooms. It is the largest private collection of railroad cabooses in the world. We had a couple of burgers and fries at Casey Jones Restaurant on the property. They have Amish buggy rides available but the highlight of this property, for me, was a steam locomotive passenger train chugging along on the tracks 50 yards from our lunch table! They were the only restaurant we could find that had outdoor seating and accepted dogs. I wanted to experience an Amish Smorgasbord (buffet) but we called several and they were not dog friendly.

After lunch we drove a short distance to The Lil Country Store and Miniature Horse Farm. I bought a quilted pot holder and an Amish patterned cloth sunglass holder. They had a lot of homemade food products, petting zoo, horses, the ponies and more.

We stopped at The Amish Village and the Amish Farm and House. They all do tours and some do horse drawn buggy rides operated by volunteers and staff, often Amish family members, the owners of the property. Gary and I are very surprised how commercial Ronks and Strasburg, PA are. Not knowing what to expect, I was imagining a lot more farm land an primitive properties in a very rural area. What we have seen thus far is a lot of commercial properties, commercialism and busy roads. The front yard of The Amish Farm and House is literally in the parking lot of large box stores and a Marriott, Wyndham and Hilton hotel across the street. We will be driving around the area of Bird In Hand and Intercourse, PA in the morning. We will make a point to drive on back roads and search for a more low key Lancaster County.

Lancaster County – Day 2

We left Lancaster County this morning with an Amish bakery in mind as our last stop before heading northeast. More on that in a minute…

A sure “sign” we were in Amish county: “Buggy Parking in Back” signs in Home Depot and Walmart parking lots and legal street caution signs with a picture of buggies on it as the roads are not wide enough for a car and a horse drawn buggy, in most places. Plus, it’s summer and the hotels are full and traffic is crazy. This is nothing like the much more rural Millersburg, Ohio that we love so much. 

Unfortunately, I would have loved to have taken pics of the above mention signs but we were going 45 mph in traffic, no convenient place to stop. 

We saw Amish women on foot-powered scooters and bikes (not e-scooters/bikes) with basket carts being pulled behind to carry goods and wares from in town.

There are beautifully manicured lawns of 1800’s well-maintained farm houses and 1770 restaurants still serving today, but sadly, many are surrounded by hotels and just off new, well-traveled, multi-lane roads 😬

Finally, after New Holland, to East Earl PA we saw large farms in more expansive rural areas. There were many homemade farm stands with Amish or Mennonite families selling their freshly grown veggies and flowers as well as offering eggs.

We arrived at the Amish owned and run Sunnyside Bakery in East Earl and were greeted by Dana, a sweet black lab owned by Sunnyside’s owners.  Rangeley was barking at her at first but Gary was patient and let the two dogs meet one another. The bakery is in a separate building of a working Amish farm. We saw it online and agreed with the high reviews! (I think these businesses hire English or Mennonite friends to set up online sites for them). We bought an oatmeal Whoopie Pie and blueberry fritter for an on the road snack; sticky buns and a loaf of apple cake to share with Glenn and Donna in Maine and a cream filled donut with loads of shredded coconut on top for breakfast. Did I mention we were going for a hike today!?

Whoopie Pies are popular in the North East. They are a lot like Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies…on steroids! They are often made with chocolate cookie or cake type product on top and bottom and, in Maine, they are made with a store bought ‘Marshmallow Fluff’ in the middle. In Pennsylvania they are made with a homemade marshmallow creme filling. They come in all sorts of cookie flavors as well. Either way, they are high in calories and one of the best sweets ever made!

We arrived in Delaware Water Gap, PA where the Appalachian Trail passes through. Gary stopped in this town while thru-hiking the AT in 2014 and again this past June while section hiking the AT. We took Rangeley on a section of the AT where he enjoyed a Lilly pad covered pond and a stream to exercise and cool off in. The trail is a lovely wooded, typical Appalachian Trail hike as Gary informed me, with dirt, mud and many rocks on the trail. It’s always fun retracing where Gary has been on his adventures without me. He always has fun and wonderfully memorable stories to tell.

In our usual fashion, we talked with thru hikers we came across on the trail and gave one woman a ride into town for which she was very grateful. She’s completed roughly 1,300 miles on foot and has about 900 more miles to go till she reaches Mt. Katahdin in Maine!

We finished our day’s adventures having lunch at The Village Farmer and Bakery in town. Gary ate there on both of his previous stops in Delaware Water Gap. During his thru hike in 2014 he met his step mother Mary, her daughter and the not yet 2 year old twins there.

We stayed in the Hartford, Connecticut area one night. We’re moving on to Gary’s brother’s house in Freeport, Maine tomorrow.  Stay tuned to “Roaming Rangeley” for an authentic lobster roast recap coming soon!

We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us!