Lancaster County: Land of the Amish and Mennonite! Land of Serenity.
The owners of the Country Haven RV Park in New Holland, PA keep a strict eye on their park. The park has terraced sites on a slope of land that overlook the Amish and Mennonite farms below. From inside our rigs we watched the buggies travel up and down the road. At night you hear the clip clop of the Tennessee Trotters that pull the buggies. Most buggies now have lights and sometimes signal lights to indicate turns. We enjoyed the time we spent here.
Trees line many of the county roads. Near the park the trees form a canopy over the road that is awesome to behold.
Just past the canopy a lovely house sits down below the roadway. A two car garage attaches to the side of the two story house. A circular drive leads to the garages. One day both garage doors were up and I saw a buggy in each garage. This is most likely a Mennonite home.The other thing that was plentiful was stink bugs. Beetles with shield shaped backs were everywhere. They like to hang on the screens and the side of the coach. They are not harmful to humans, but deadly to crops. They came in with transports from China. The wings make a whirring sound. We cleaned off the coach before we went to DC, who also had some. We continue to look for them daily and rid the coach of them. Then find their way inside and create a YUK! feeling.
Still skirting rain showers we chose to visit Hershey, PA first. On the way we passed through Ephrata. The brick buildings of Main Street present a neat clean and inviting town. Well kept Victorian homes sit close to the road. During our travels I've noticed how close the house sit to the roads and wondered why. One of the books I'm reading mentioned that taxes were based on the size of the front yard, so Maine residents made sure the front yard was as minimal as possible. Perhaps this is true? 
In the town of Hershey we followed the signs to Hershey's Chocolate World and found miles of white canopies, RVs and cars. Something big was happening! That something was the biggest Antique Auto Club of America Flea Market there is! The AACA makes its headquarters in Hershey and stages this event each year.Milton Hershey's story captivated me, so I have a separate update for what we learned in Hershey # 35.
From Hershey we drove up to Harrisburg. The Capitol building, like so many, is currently under renovation, but still stunning. 
We drove down by the water and through town, before returning to the RVs.On the corner we found this cow. A lot of cities seem to be doing this sort of thing. We 've seen several on this trip.
The movie depicts the battle of July 1, 2, 3, in 1863. The battle left over 51,000 men dead, wounded, or missing. The movie exits into the cyclorama. The Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama allows visitors to stand or move around a circular platform to view various parts of the 360 degree painting around the outside walls. Paul Philippoteaux of Pickett's Charge painted the spectacular work in 1884. The story of Gettysburg is told through a series of lights and sound in about a 30 minute presentation.
Next we went through the museum. The museum tells the Gettysburg story and shows artifacts from both sides. Several large screens talk about specific parts of this three day, three front battle. Being surrounded by that much inhumanity to others overwhelmed me and I quickly finished up and went outside to wait for the others. I also had time to visit the museum bookstore and gift shop.
Next we boarded the park tour bus. Our tour guide, Ann, made the battle come alive with her expressive storytelling. She explained what happened where. We disembarked at some sites to better visualize troop movement. Ann gave us a good understanding of how the battle occurred and why some things happened as they did. We found it fascinating that miscommunication and private agendas could have easily changed the outcome of the war and ultimately what our country is today.Downtown Gettysburg invited exploration. I regretted not having more time in this area. As dark descended several "ghost walking tours" opened along the street trying to entice people to join the tours through the graveyards. We opted for dinner at the Avenue Cafe. Just as we sat down Lynn received the call that her mom had fallen again. Later in the evening when the seriousness of the accident were confirmed Lynn and Jay packed up and left for Sacramento early the next day. We will hopefully see them again in February when we too are in Arizona.
this was about 1/10 the size and not a neat, clean or well organized. However we enjoyed wondering through and looking at the wares. One vendor sold frozen bananas dipped in chocolate and nuts. I love frozen bananas dipped in chocolate and nuts!
We drove on to Lancaster, the city, to check out another suggested flea market. We never did find that one. We didn't see a lot of Lancaster, some of the attractions offered we have seen elsewhere. Evidence of the Amish and Mennonite culture wasn't seen in the areas we traveled. To us Lancaster is just another larger city. To be accurate, the Amish and Mennonite followers live in Lancaster County. Bird-In-Hand a little burg smaller than Gorst, WA claims a great bakery. Had Jay still been with us, we would have stopped, but Derrille and I opted to skip the calories and drive on to the town of Intercourse.
Originally called Cross Keys and then Enter Course for a race track. The named morphed over the years to Intercourse and the town developed into a tourist Mecca. 
Derrille and I walked through the Kitchen Kettle Village. A small band played music under the trees while people listened and ate their ice cream. A lane of interesting stores invited shoppers in. The Jam and Jelly store sold all kinds of foods and had close to 100 samples out for tasting. The tee shirt shop had a black tee with two beaded cats on it. One cat in silver, one in black. Didn't I hear it call my name? Other areas of shops line the main street. We could have spent a couple of days exploring more of them.
Right across from the village we spotted a buggy with the horse tied to the hitching rail provided for themAlso this scooter is very popular in this area.
Fall is in the air! Signs advertise Pumpkins, Mums and Gourds. Some signs advertise pies. The Amish children were coming home from school as we passed by.
Fall harvesting is also happening in the Amish/Mennonite way.
The tour took us around Valley Forge where we stopped at points of interest. At Washington's headquarters we walked around the rail office then out to where replicas of the log huts made by the soldiers were standing. 
We could walk through Washington's house which served as the headquarters during the encampment.
Up on the ridge by the Arch, we spotted some deer. Some of them were so skinny their ribs were straining against their hind. 
As we headed around a meadow, we spotted a stag with about 15 very healthy does in his harem. During our drive through the park we counted at least 100 deer. It appears that a hunt may be needed to maintain a healthy herd.
We viewed the artillery park and the statue of von Stuben, the man who took the raw recruits and turned them into an army.
The Washington Memorial Chapel is open to the public during certain hours, but were too late to enter.
We finished the drive and headed home.
Next: Washington D.C.
No comments:
Post a Comment