Dreaming of Amish country

Just thinking today of the coming spring and summer and the RV trips we are planning. Nothing for sure except that we will probably like to go west. David will be at the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch in June so we want to be close to him, if possible, when he is there. If anyone is familiar with the area and knows of a good RV park to recommend, I would very much appreciate it. I saw a reporter on TV reporting from Paradise, PA, the other night and it made me smile to think about our trip there this past summer. Paradise, Gap, Intercourse, Bird in Hand, all are townships in Lancaster county and this is the Amish areas of the state. I understand that there are more Amish in Ohio but this area in Pennsylvania is filled with beautiful Amish farmland. And since I haven't posted any of the pictures we took while there, I thought I'd post some today.


In the picture above you can see how the road have special "lanes" on each side for the horse and buggy travel of the Amish. The RV park where we stayed was on US 30 but these roads crisscross all through the county. And they don't get out to pick up the horse droppings either. The old order Amish will walk, use horse/buggy, bicycle or scooter but they do not own cars. If they need to travel a great distance they can rent a car and driver but they don't own a car of their own. Oh, the black car Amish will but they have to paint the entire car black including the chrome. Let me back up a little. I bought a book about the Amish way of life while I was there so that I could understand a little more about them. The book was written by a professor who had grown up Amish but had such a thirst for knowledge that he left the faith. He is rare; about 85% remain within the community. (Amish only send their children through the 8th grade and then only to Amish schools; knowledge or anything new is from the devil) The Amish in one "sect" as I say of the Anabaptist. The other two are the Brethren and Mennonite. Now Mennonites will own and drive cars. But they dress much like the Amish except they will have more colors in their wardrobe. The Mennonites will also have electricity and plumbing but the Amish do not. The Amish women (old sect) will wear only black or navy blue dresses with no buttons or zippers. Nothing of any ornamentation at all. They do not bring attention to themselves at all. At least that is the original purpose of Mr. Ammons interpretation of the Bible. Seems to me that the way they dress now brings LOTS of attention to them. The more I learned about the Amish, the less I admired them. You know I told you they don't believe in education but one day as we rode I saw a huge Butler-type building on the road side. The building was the "Amish Genetic Research Center". That didn't seem congruent to me with the disdain for education and as I read the book I bought I learned that the center was a cooperative venture between the Amish and the University of Michigan (I think). It seems that years of inbreeding ( because Amish marry only Amish) has produced some genetic alterations that need to be corrected thus the research center. But I digress. There is a strict division of labor and roles within the Amish family and the woman is responsible for the house as well as the vegetable garden and yard work. And let me tell you there were some beautiful yards and vegetable gardens. The women mow the grass with push mowers in bare feet. They don't wear shoes until it is cold. The men will help by plowing the garden spot but the women are to tend, pick and preserve the produce. In the above picture you can see that wash is hung outside to dry. I used this picture to show you how high in the air some of the clothes lines were hung. Wash day is Monday. We arrived on Sunday so when we rode through the farmland we saw wash hung out everywhere!! The whites on this line much be bedding and towels. As you move closer to the lower end of the line on the right you begin to see the black clothes but what I wanted to show is the height of the line. These things are hoisted high in the air by a pulley system! Don't you know those clothes smelled sweet!I told you that we arrived on Sunday. When we went for a ride on Monday we saw this barn burning. People were coming from everywhere! By bike, on foot, on push scooters. I learned later that a couple of little boys were trying to burn a mouse! And with no phone to call the Fire Department, the barn was a total loss. By Friday of that same week, the barn was re-bulit! When a loss such as this happens the whole community works to replace the loss. The community bears two-thirds of the cost as well as the labor of replacing the building. You can see some of them on the roof top. That is one thing the Amish have that I do admire: a strong sense of community! They all pull together and take care of each other.
The corn fields were planted right up to the road and all the rows were straight as could be. All the farms looked like they had been laid out on a drawing board from space. Amazing! Well, I've palavered enough. Just a few more pictures which you can enjoy for yourself. Till next time!