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Amish Country - Part 2
Written by: Janet Pope
Photography by: Donald
A Peaceful Day with Peaceful people.
If yesterday was "train" day, today might have been called "Amish" day. Our first stop was the Amish Farm and House on Route 30. Originally built in 1805 on a 1,000 acre parcel of land, the stone house now sits among massive commercial land development, and through the years the land has been whittled down to only twelve acres. This is a tale of historical survival amidst modernization and in a way reminded me of the story of David and Goliath. The little farm and its manager, Mark Adams has struggled to preserve this small piece of history up against the large looming developers and the tidal wave of growth.
After we literally found our way past bulldozers and construction crews, we discovered the farmhouse open for business. Mark met us and confirmed that the real struggle for land in Lancaster is now between the Amish and the developers. With a Target as its new neighbor, Mark is holding steadfastly on to as much history and land preservation as he can.
The Amish Farm and House tour is celebrating its 50th year of tours, and Mark expressed pride that most of his guides are retired teachers, who have a simple earnest desire to share knowledge about the Amish.
Our guide Jan gave us a lot of background on the Amish in general and the house in particular. A quick Amish lesson--the Amish originated in Switzerland and Germany as Mennonites. The Amish broke away because they felt the Mennonites were getting too liberal. The Amish sought refuge here from religious persecution and now live in 28 different states, with 22,000 living in the immediate Lancaster area. They are divided up into districts, with 25 to 30 families in a district. There are no churches per se, as church is in the home. The Amish preach out of a German bible and live strictly by the Scriptures in the Bible. The Amish also believe in a communal society, with everyone ready to help their neighbors-- the famous barn raisings come to mind. Their focuses are to not cause attention to oneself and to live life simplistically, thus the wearing of black and the limit on modern conveniences.
Everyone seems to have a natural curiosity about the Amish way of life which continues to exist today despite media, technology and mass communication. We learned that the Amish refer to everyone else as The English, and though they themselves cannot drive cars, they can use what they refer to as English taxis. They do not pay Social Security taxes, nor do they collect from Social Security, since they take care of their elderly themselves. With the state of Social Security the way it is, the Amish might have the safer bet. With no electricity, they spend a lot of their time reading, sewing, playing games, canning and woodworking.
There are no divorces among the Amish and the marriages are not arranged. If that statistic is surprising, even more surprising was to learn about "Rumspringer." This is the time after age 16, when an Amish teenager can experience the world by wearing modern clothes, dating and even buying a car. After they sow their wild oats, only 5% of Amish teens decide NOT to return to the fold. This was amazing to me and to everyone else on our tour who ever had a teenager in their household.
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Amish Farm and House Tour | |
The tour was fascinating. and hopefully, Amish society will continue for at least another 50 years.
We grabbed a quick lunch among one of the many places to eat along the main streets. In the afternoon, we had a scheduled bus tour called the Witness Movie Experience Tour. Run by he Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitor's Bureau, this tour was put together to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the movie Witness. The movie, starring Harrison Ford, sparked a lot of interest in the Amish, and this tour-- which runs only until November 2005-- hopes to revive some of that interest.
Our first stop was at The Cultural Center in the heart of downtown Lancaster. The first floor contains Amish artifacts- Bibles, crafts, toys, plaques, etc. The second floor has Witness memorabilia-- props, photos, posters and costumes from the movie; and the third floor has a simulated barn and the actual workbench used by Harrison Ford in the movie. Every middle aged woman passed by the bench and touched it lovingly, thinking like school girls, "My hands touched the wood Harrison Ford touched."
Our main stop was the actual farm used in the filming of Witness, but along the way we passed other filming locations in the area. The farm was owned by Mennonites at the time of the film, but the current owners are an Amish family--Ivan and Martha and their nine children. Most of the scenes in the movie were filmed in their summer kitchen and their barn, and the tour let us go through those areas . It was interesting to hear that over 350 farms were looked at before deciding on this one. The director liked this one for its secluded location. It took eight weeks to prepare the house for the shooting and six weeks to film. Because it was owned by the more liberal Mennonites, electric fixtures and switches were in the walls and all needed to be covered.
It was also fun to see that the front of the house was painted for the movie, not the back and it remains that way today. That's Hollywood.
Perhaps the best part of the tour was getting to speak for a while to Martha, the lady of the house. She came out to greet us with one of her toddlers. Martha was so gracious and patient, as she answered questions from all the curious among us. I am sure she is tired of being wondered about and wonders herself, what all the fuss is about. The goal of the Amish is to live simply, but they are open and friendly people, and Martha seemed to be as warm a hostess as she could be. We all left with a sense of amazement and respect for the Amish way of life.
We stopped at one of the famous area buffets, Family Cupboard, on Harvest Drive Intercourse and enjoyed an array of soups, salads, entrees and desserts. The restaurant was recommended by locals and sitting among us were "English" as well as Amish customers. Everything was homemade and delicious.
We headed back to our B&B and were happy to find Witness in the DVD collection in the library. We settled in for the night, to re-watch the movie. Today was definitely a "Witness" day.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
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