dare2go

Intercourse


Continuation from < Page 1 < !

On Monday we thought we would just have a bit of a look around at some of the tourist spots which explain the Amish way of life and then move on. We drove a roundabout route towards the Amish Farm and House. On the way we took more photos of the beautiful countryside, which included horse drawn farm implements at work, and also visited the longest covered bridge. This Bridge is called Herr's Mill Bridge and is located, unsurprisingly, right next to Herr's Mill. Hans Herr, after whom the mill and bridge are named, was one of the original Mennonite settlers in this area around 1710.
The Amish Farm and House is located right in the middle of a built up area, next to Target and a small shopping centre! Not exactly where we expected it to be, but a credit to the owners (not Amish), who have chosen to preserve the site, rather than sell it for the commercial development for which it is zoned. I'm sure it would have been much more lucrative for them! The house is from 1803 and its last residents were an Amish family back in the 50s. Since then it has been preserved more or less in its original state and now tours are led through it, which describe the Amish way of life. Since these tours are led by non-Amish people, one can't help but wonder how much they tell is fact and how much just makes a good story... But we spent quite some time wandering around the farm, and checking out the extensive quilt collection, and also visiting with the resident whittler - Chris Lubkemann - who uses a small pocket-knife to carve the tiniest objects, often roosters and chickens.
From there we drove, once again along the back roads, to Intercourse. Yes, there is a town with this name and it is in the middle of Pennsylvania Dutch Country, along with other curiously named towns, like Bird-In-Hand, Paradise and Smoketown! Intercourse is quite the tourist town, but also has a rich history. And it is possible to see the Amish in their buggies hurrying down the road and, if you're really lucky as we were, you might just see a bearded senior on his scooter!
There are actually quite a few funny facts and idiosyncrasies about the Amish that we picked up along the way:
• they don't use bicycles, because they could be going too fast, but scooters are rather popular, particularly for kids going to school.
• they don't drive cars (as most of you might know), but are happy to travel in a so-called "English Taxi", i.e. their non-Amish neighbour taking them to places they want to go for a small fee.
• teenagers of about 18 are permitted to explore the modern lifestyle, which surrounds them, for one year - this is not condoned, just permitted. They may even own a car, as long as they don't park it on the family property - they must not flaunt their behaviour amongst their family and community. After the year is up they are expected to join the church and marry and settle into the Amish lifestyle. Only a very small percentage decides to leave permanently for what the outside world has to offer.
• Amish houses are not connected to the power grid nor have electric wiring, but the use of generators (to cool milk or run tools) is rather common; in an Amish shop we even noticed a modern BOSCH food-processor, run by LPG instead of power. Other appliances, like washing machines and fridges, are also gas powered: a whole section of industry is probably doing well producing these special items.
• some bishops allow the use of telephones, but they are never inside the house; instead they have a little "outhouse" just for the phone.
 
Monday afternoon around 4:30 was kind of rush hour for Amish horse-drawn buggies going by in Intercourse, but unfortunately the battery in the camera was suddenly flat, so we left in search of a campground. We spent the night at nearby Beacon Hill Camping, which is very pleasant and run by its friendly owners. It is also an adults only campground, so there were no kids screaming around the place - and that is also welcome at times.
On Tuesday morning we went back into Intercourse with a fully charged camera. The reason we have so few photos of the Amish is that they don't like to be photographed and, except for a few shots taken with a long zoom (thanks to our new camera), we tried to respect this most of the time.
On our second visit we also discovered a store run by Amish women and serving Amish women. I think we were the only "English" in there. It was funny, particularly for Juergen, to hear them talk in their old-fashioned Swiss-German interspersed with some English words. The shop was selling all sorts of household items and we picked up a few things we needed - for a very reasonable price. Outside was a special parking lot for horse buggies complete with a hitching rail, and a scooter parking. We also noticed several groups of women being dropped off by some English Taxis...
Only one thing was left that we really wanted to do and that was to see the audio visual presentation entitled 'Who are the Amish?' For this we had to go to the Mennonite Information Centre near Lancaster. It was an interesting 30 minutes, with beautiful photos and useful information.
It was mostly curiosity that brought us to this part of the country, but we have been pleasantly surprised once again by the landscape, the pleasant people, and the quaint little villages and towns, as well as the 'Amish experience' that we came to find. And the weather has also been a surprise - the unusually warm days for the end of October have made it just perfect.
Rather reluctantly, we left Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and passed through York and onto Gettysburg, known for the famous civil war battle and the Gettysburg Address (history which doesn't really interest us that much), where once again we arrived at a campground after dark and suffered all the associated problems with getting set up for the night. But we eventually managed and ate well and then slept well in preparation for the next stage of our journey south, along the Appalachian Mountains and the Shenandoah River into North Carolina.