771. Pennsylvania Dutch Country

Where: Lancaster, Pennsylvania
When: February 14 - 16, 2014
With: Dave

One of the things I liked most about living in England was the openness with which Dave and I felt towards traveling just about anywhere - the quirkier, the better. So why not apply this same logic in our own country?

Spending a weekend hanging out in Amish country may seem...odd...to us Americans. But if it was a different country, no one would bat an eye! So due to the close proximity and ease in getting there via train directly out of New York City, Dave and I decided to spend a weekend exploring the county of Lancaster, home to the famous Pennsylvania Dutch.

The name "Dutch" is actually a misunderstanding, as many of the Amish are actually descendants of the German immigrants who moved to the US for religious freedom. However, the word "German" in German is "Deustch" which has been Anglo-sized to "Dutch" over the years, giving way to the misunderstanding. Either way, German descendants have been settling here since before the Revolutionary War. And to be honest, when you see the horse and buggies on the road, it feels like actually being in pre-Revolutionary War days (minus the paved roads and LED turn signals).

For our stay, we picked a really great B&B, Silverstone Inn and Suites. Owned by a lovely couple (he was Dutch, she was Pennsylvania Dutch), they purchased an 18th century home and renovated it inside and out. They perfectly maintained the charm of the 1750 structure, but with all the modern conveniences you could want. It was truly a labor of love that is apparent throughout the stay. A nice big snowstorm the week before we got there meant that I could get some lovely pictures of the grounds (sadly, I failed to get the house itself! So distracted by the snow!).

We rented a car out of Lancaster to allow us to truly explore the whole area. There are quite a few little towns to see, each providing a unique experience in the area.

Our first stop was the adorable town of Lititz (apparently, it's pronounced LET-itz, but Dave and I were only able to pronounce it in a slightly more...offensive way). With an idyllic main street lined with boutique shops, it was the definition of small town America (made moreso by all the flags). 

The town was in the midst of their "Fire and Ice" festival, which resulted in many ice sculptures along the main street, each advertising for the shop behind it. Apparently, "fire" part of the name comes from a chili contest that is held at the same time the ice sculptures are carved. 

The center of town has a nice park, lined by historic old buildings. Included is Linden Hall, the oldest all-girls boarding school in the US, and the original Moravian Church built by the founders of the town. 

One of the main attractions of Lititz is the first ever pretzel bakery, Julius Sturgis. Founded in 1861, Sturgis was the first person to stop baking bread only once, and start baking it twice which, as it turns out, creates a hard pretzel. 

The tour through the old workshop allows you to earn a pretzel rolling and wrapping certificate. While learning these technique, you learn the history of pretzels. Originally, they were rewards for children who learned their prayers. The shape of the pretzel is meant to represent arms folded across a chest in prayer. 

While the ovens aren't used anymore, you can pretend to be hard at work. 

After our pretzel feast, it was time to move along to the next town on our Lancaster tour, Ephrata, home to the Ephrata Cloister. While this is considered an incredibly important historical landmark in the US, we had no idea what it was. We pulled into a parking lot on the edge of what looked like a giant park, and started making our way towards all the old, large wooden buildings surrounding us. 

A small museum/visitor's center gave us the basic history of the compound. It was established in 1632 by Johann Conrad Beissel, who arrived from Germany seeking (you guessed it) religious freedom. He founded this self-sustaining community of believers who lived in celibacy. Shockingly, celibacy is not a highly sought after lifestyle, and when you give up any means of pro-creating new members, it's not that surprising that you eventually run out of followers (the last celibate member died in 1813). Non-celibate worshipers continued to live on the complex and worship up until 2005 when the last member died. Now, it serves as an open air museum, showing visitors the very different way of life. 

The main building served as living quarters and church. Men and women lived in separate parts of the house, and worshiped on different floors.

The interiors have been recreated to show how life was back in the day. Work involved sewing and art that involved painting and calligraphy. To show constant penance, worshipers slept on blocks of woods instead of pillows. Ouch. 

The compound contained all kinds of buildings meant to help them be self-sustained community, including a bakery, a printing press, and an infirmary. 

 

Any structures that didn't survive through the years have been meticulously restored, right down to the method by which the side panelling was attached. 

Walking the grounds in the snow made this seem even more like a unchanging time capsule. 

After the cloister, it was time for lunch, and we chose to go traditional. Oddly, traditional is a homestyle buffet. While this didn't feel so much authentic as it felt Cracker Barrel-esque, the food got the point across. Lots of vegetables and fried chicken, but most important was the traditional dessert. Referred to as Shoofly Pie, this molasses and brown sugar pie was a little slice of heaven. It's name indicates the constant need to shoo the flies away from the sugary deliciousness.  

Back out on the road, we started to get into the real heart of Amish country, made apparent by the many horse and buggies along the way. While they remained incredibly novel as we drove behind them on the roads, we imagined the locals may only view their presence as frustrating, particularly if you're unable to pass them. 

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. We signed ourselves up to take a horse and buggy ride through the countryside to visit an Amish farmhouse. 

Inside the covered buggy, we bundled up under a blanket and went on a journey with our new Amish friend, a retired farmer who now runs these trips to the farm his son operates. 

We road along towards his farmhouse while he told us about his life. As we bumped along the road, wide spread fields covered in white stretched out around us. Eventually, we pulled up to his farm, parked the buggy, and headed into the barn to check things out. 

As you'd expect, pretty much every farm animal was in there - horses, mules, and cows. Many cows. 

This was my favorite animal - he just wanted to be loved. He was so eager to be pet. 

As we headed back to the buggy at the end of the tour, we got to see our driver's house, complete with laundry hanging out to dry and a giant gas-powered grill. It seemed so odd to have such a modern convenience...but as long as it's not electric, it's ok! 

It also seemed odd when he dropped off his groceries. Dishwashing soap and I think there was some mouthwash in there. 

To close out our day we made one more stop: at Intercourse. Because...of course. We went wine tasting (and bought a bottle of Intercourse's finest blueberry wine). Then we explored some of the town's shops, while giggling at everything that had the town name written on it. 

Overall, we had a jampacked day that felt like we were miles away from home. The snow only made it that much more magical. This was a great, easy trip out of New York and amazing to see how different of a lifestyle there can be not-so-far away.