letter 17 Amish country

Harrington Travels East 2009
Letter 17: Amish Pennsylvania

Tuesday, June 16 we had a delightful adventure. We rendezvoused with Bob & Janet Phillips, whom we met several weeks ago on the tip of the DelMarVa peninsula.They were working at the nature preserve as volunteer hosts. They had told us of a Methodist Church at Oyster.
We met them at the Ephrata Cloister north of Lancaster. This cloister was started by Conrad Beissel in 1732 in Ephrata in the middle of a forest where he could live in quiet religious solitude. Soon friends followed him. They collectively chose to live a life that would prepare them to join God in Heaven. They were celebite, they didn't marry. Those who were already married lived as neighbors.

Several of the buildings are still standing and we visited the women’s dorm and meeting room. In all of the buildings the ceilings were about

6’ and the door ways about 5’ tall. The 5 story building

didn’t look to be so crowded from the outside. Conrad believed you should bow to the Lord as you entered your house. The sisters wore white robes similar to nuns.

Their daily (except the sabbath) life was extremely structured, starting with 5 am prayers, work, prayers, work, prayers and finally about 6 pm (only meal of the day) supper of mostly bread and oatmeal. Singing and study was until 8 pm and 3 hrs sleep until the midnight watch for the expected second coming of Jesus. They slept on an 18” board against the wall, with a 4"x4” board for a pillow. We called this a bed and board, new meaning to what we are accustomed.

The bakery building had an unusual architecture. Their roots were German Baptist and were early Pennsylvania Dutch. Their meeting day was Saturday.

We then drove through the Amish (and Mennonite) countryside to Intercourse and Bird-In-Hand. Their

farms are beautifully

manicured and clean. We saw the Amish (Mennonite?) in their daily life farming, with

tractors with lug wheels. They use

open air and closed-in buggies. Young ladies are not allowed to be in the closed in buggy until she is married,

unless she is with her family.
Olivia is especially attracted to their

beautiful

Belgium horses.

In Intercourse we saw

quilts and scooters for sale. The quilts

are beautiful and in one store the owner said their quilts start ed at $450. Even a table centerpiece was $80. The patterns and the colors are artistic. We thought of

Angie and wished she could see all of these pretty quilts.
We also learned to be very careful when buying an Amish quilt as Asians have learned the skill and are also making the quilts.

We also enjoyed seeing the young Amish riding bicycles and

large wheeled scooters (they look like bicycles, but have no peddles or seats) and yes even

inline skates or rollerblades.

In Bird In Hand we went to the Quilt Museum and were pleased to see two quilt types that we have at home. The first one we

have was made by a great grandmother. The second was a

stain-glass window made like the one Olivia and her mother made and is currently on our king size bed. Others caught our eye. We didn’t write down the

names of them all.

The zig-zag

one looked especially difficult because each square was pieced with long triangles of different sizes. This piece was a wall hanging about 4’ square and was $900. The pattern shows up more in the

purse made in the same way.

Wednesday, June 17 was another adventure! This one not so pleasant. Our priority was to find a place that would order our awning roller tube, it has to come from Indiana, and make an appointment for the appropriate day to have it installed, so we could travel safely and still get to Montreal in time to see Genni before she leaves on vacation. After many calls and visits to RV service locations we hope we have accomplished it. We even had to drive 80 miles on the toll road to place the order in Carlisle, PA. For sure this work will hold us up at least one day. The schedule is pending receiving the part from Indiana.

While waiting on calls to be returned we did visit the Shady Maple grocery store. We wished we had found it the other day when we were on our search. This store had a huge produce department and we finally found a place to purchase some fresh stuff. They seemed to have everything imaginable. Their bakery department had yummy looking pastries that we resisted.

Olivia also went into a Good’s store and actually found a king size light weight bedspread for our bed at home. It is a print similar to the one in the curtains. Here’s hoping it is compatible.

This is a short letter so enjoy!

Let us hear reactions to any of the sights we see.

Love to all,