Amish Country

 

We arrived at White Oak campground outside of Strasburg in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and set up in a site with a beautiful view of the hills and fields of corn.  

Along the roadway we heard the clip-clop of the horses pulling the buggies. In fact, one had to be careful, especially when pulling a wide trailer. 

This is Amish Country.  In order to get a better understanding of the Amish, we took the tour of the Amish Village and a bus tour around the countryside. It was so interesting; and wonderful not to be in the driver/navigator seat. 

The Amish came to the US in the early 18^th century to avoid persecution in Europe for being Anabaptist and being pacifist.  In Pennsylvania they received some land grants that helped get them established. The Amish refer to anyone that’s not Amish as English, no matter what culture.  They don’t want to be tied to the English (outside world) in anyway and that is the reason they don’t use electricity. Joining onto the power grid, with power lines, literally ties them to the rest of the world. Instead, they have come up with the most creative ways to power their equipment and appliances using generators, batteries and solar panels.  One can identify an Amish farmyard by its lack of power lines and often with a solar panel on the rooftops.

The Amish also don’t use cars and tractors.  They have a variety of buggies, each with its own purpose just as we have a variation of trucks and cars.  The farm equipment is pulled by mules. Most of the farms are dairy farms but they also grow other cash crops.  As we were there, it was the middle of the tobacco harvest. 

Tobacco drying barn

The Amish also have many other industries that support farming and help them be more self-sufficient, as well as make products to market to the rest of the community. They sell lumber, furniture, metal work, hand-made arts and crafts, and lots of fresh produce and preserves. 

We saw many one-room school houses.  The children go to school until Grade 8, learning the 3Rs and some geography and health.  The teachers are young single girls who themselves only have a Grade 8 education.  Once they marry, their job is in the home.  

The Amish do a lot of gardening, cooking and preserving.  We stopped at a market and purchased some fresh baking and produce to enjoy for supper.  For lunch we stopped in at an Amish run restaurant and enjoyed a homestyle meal of meat loaf, mashed potatoes and cooked carrots.  We followed this up with their famous shoo-fly pie.  It reminded me of raisin pie, minus the raisins. 

Doing the tours left us with more questions.  The tourism aspect is focused on the Amish lifestyle, customs and traditions.  It doesn’t really get into explaining their beliefs.  And then again, maybe that doesn’t matter because they aren’t really that interested in converting anyone to their interpretation of the Bible.  

Then, for something completely different, we went to a wine tasting room just outside of Intercourse, Pennsylvania. That little town also had a wonderful shopping area which was closed by the time we arrived but we still enjoyed walking around the square.  

For supper we returned to our trailer and enjoyed a charcuterie of all the wonderful foods we'd bought.  It was delicious.