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Lancaster County: Plain, Simple, Special Amish buggies share the road with automobiles on the byways of Lancaster County. The rich countryside of Pennsylvania Dutch Country was settled in Colonial years by religious groups seeking freedom of worship. Many of today’s residents maintain the old-world convictions and customs of their ancestors, including wardrobes featuring the plain and simple look. Pennsylvania Dutch Country is dotted with charming towns bearing unusual names such as Bird-In-Hand, Intercourse and Paradise. The area is best known for its Amish and Mennonite communities, its picturesque and pure farms, and its handmade crafts and homemade food products. In the early 1700s, Lancaster was one of the largest inland cities in the colonies. In fact, it was even the nation’s capital for one day in 1777, when Congress stopped here after fleeing Philadelphia after the Battle of Brandywine. Today, Lancaster is the unofficial capital of Pennsylvania Dutch Country. To get a feel for the town, take the 90-minute Historic Lancaster Walking Tour, led by costumed guides. Covering a six-block radius, there are plenty of points of architectural and historic interest. The highlight is Central Market, a cavernous covered food market dating back to 1742. Now located in an 1889 Romanesque building, Central Market is still the place in Lancaster for everything from freshgrown produce to shoo-fly pie. The Amish Farm and House explains the Old Order Amish way of life. The working farm dates back to 1715 and features a stone-lined well, a windmill, a waterwheel and other non-electrified buildings and equipment. The Landis Valley Museum, just four miles outside of town, is an outdoor facility interpreting Pennsylvania German rural life and folk culture from 1740 to 1940. There are more than 20 structures, including farmsteads, a tavern and a country store. Traditional crafts demonstrations take place throughout the summer. On the way from Lancaster to Strasburg, stop at the Hans Herr House, the oldest house in the county and the best example of medieval-style German architecture in North America. It is also the oldest documented Mennonite meeting house in America. Strasburg is the railroad center of eastern Pennsylvania. The Strasburg Rail Road provides a scenic nine-mile round trip excursion to nearby Paradise on a rolling antique train originally chartered in 1832. The train has wooden coaches and is pulled by an iron steam locomotive. Across the street from the Strasburg Rail Road is the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, with historic Pullman sleepers, turn-of-the-century engines, and memorabilia documenting the history of the state’s railroads. Nearby, the National Toy Train Museum is the showplace of the Train Collectors Association, with toy trains dating back to the 1800s. The Choo-Choo Barn/Traintown USA is an elaborate 1,700 square foot display of Lancaster County in miniature, with more than 135 animated figures and 17 operating trains. Ephrata is located northeast of Strasburg. The town is best known as the home of one of America’s earliest communal societies. The Ephrata Cloister was formed in 1732. Today, several of the property’s medieval-style buildings have been restored and are open for touring. Ephrata is also a good stop for shopping. The Green Dragon Farmers Market and Auction sprawls over 30 acres of land and includes an auction, a flea market and 400 stalls selling homegrown and handmade goods from local Amish and Mennonite farmers. Meanwhile, at Ten Thousand Villages, sales of handcrafted items from developing countries benefit the artisans who created them. From the Ephrata Cloister, drive west on Route 772 about eight miles to Lititz. Lititz was founded in 1756 by Moravians who settled in Pennsylvania to do missionary work. Moravian life is outlined at the Lititz Museum, the restored 1792 home of tradesman Johannes Mueller. Traces of the culture also remain around the main square, where Moravian communal residences dating back to 1787 still stand. Nearby Main Street is lined with 18th century cottages and shops selling antiques, crafts and gifts. Walking around downtown, you can’t help but notice the smell of chocolate wafting out of the Wilbur Chocolate Factory’s Candy Americana Museum and Factory Outlet. The factory produces 150 million pounds of product each year. A large retail store sells the chocolate by the pound or by the piece. And for another twist on incredible edibles, take a tour of the Julius Sturgis Pretzel House. Located on the site of the first pretzel bakery in the United States, circa 1784, the Pretzel House offers 20- minute tours where you first watch the old-fashioned process of pretzel-making and then get to attempt the art yourself. Tranquil Columbia lies along the Susquehanna River Valley. The highlight here is the National Watch and Clock Museum. The collection, with more than 12,000 pieces, provides an entertaining history of timekeeping. Take your time checking out early sundials, earlier mechanical timepieces, watches through the ages, and futuristic atomic clocks. Another area attraction is Wright’s Ferry Mansion, which reflects upon the life of an 18th century Pennsylvania Quaker household. This restored 1738 home contains a collection of period furniture and furnishings, including needlework, ceramics and glass. Stop for
lunch at the Market House and Dungeon, another of the oldest continuously
operated farmers markets in the state. As for the dungeon part, yes, the
basement of the building once housed prisoners, who were unceremoniously
shoved via chutes through ground level windows into their cells. Today,
you can just take the stairs. From Columbia, circle back to Lancaster
to complete this plain and simple, yet enriching journey. |