2 posts tagged “lancaster pa”
For my second day in Lancaster I walked through the town centre (town centres are generally known as 'downtown' in the US and the high street is known as main street I think) and on to a park.
The town's authorities are clearly keen to sell Lancaster as a tourist attraction and encourage visitors. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that the main reason people come here is, like me, to see the Amish. But Lancaster is one of America's oldest towns and I can't blame the town for trying to cash in on this. There are signs saying 'Historic Downtown Lancaster' all over the place.
There is some really beautiful architecture, much of it not unlike that which you might see in England.
The similarity to English architecture goes further unfortunately. Like in England, there are some home owners who believe that the character of their beautiful old brick houses can be greatly improved by a nice bit of stone cladding and don't consider that this would look ludicrous at all. In the below example, note the fine stone cladding to the left.
I love America and Americans, but some of them really know how to take a tasteless idea and push it to the extremes. Here is an example of the result of a home improvement enthusiast who has boldly clad where no Englishman has (hopefully) clad before. The lovely yellow brick terraced house to the left in the picture below has been clad in blue vinyl. God Bless America.
The park was really lovely. I sat in a quiet area next to a stream and a waterfall, read my book and slept for a bit.
Here is a quick video of the tranquil sounds I listened to.
On the train journey on the way back, the man in the seat across from me did not appear able to take his eyes off me from Philadelphia to New York. So I felt very uncomfortable but I suppose I should be flattered.
I went to Lancaster, Pennsylvania on Wednesday and came back on Thursday. A colleague from work grew up there and he told me that because of the Amish community, people still drove around in horses and buggies and eschewed modern technology. I thought that it would be really interesting to see such a different way of life so I decided to visit.
I went there on an Amtrak train. It was very comfortable and there was even a buffet car. They call these 'cafe cars' in the US it seems. I prefer this name I think, as it's snappier and alliterative. I remember that British Rail buffet cars were a subject of national ridicule and mockery in their day. They were supposed to have hard and tasteless sandwiches amongst other low quality fare. But after the disastrous mess created by the privatisation and splitting up of BR I think that the mood of the British people is now more on the lines of 'Come back BR, all is forgiven, even for your sandwiches'. I went and had a look at the Amtrak cafe car but I was really full so I didn't get to try their sandwiches. The man working there was very friendly and gave me a big smile for the photo.
Having arrived in central Lancaster, I was rather disappointed to discover that there were no horses and carts to be seen. Just lots of cars like anywhere else.
Either my colleague had painted a rather exaggerated picture of it, or, more likely, I had misinterpreted him. I went for a walk around the town for about an hour, keeping my eyes peeled, but saw nothing at all out of the ordinary. I started to fear that I'd gone all that way to see nothing more remarkable than a buffet car. I stopped in at the central bus station and asked whether I could take a bus to an area with more Amish, and they gave me a map and suggested a spot. I duly followed their advice but still saw nothing unusual at all. It was just an out-of-town shopping mall. I asked in a shop and the man said he had never even heard of the Amish, but added that he'd only just arrived from India. His friends, who had been there longer, also didn't know but one said that he'd once seen a horse round the back. Clutching at straws, I went round the back. This is when I 'lucked out'. This US phrase actually means to be really lucky, and not to be out of luck, as a British person might think.
I saw a sign. I don't know whether it was a sign from God, but it was certainly a sign. It said 'Mennonite Information Center - Amish Tours'.
I hurried in. A friendly lady told me that there are lots of Amish (thousands) in the area but they lived spread out and not within walking distance. She told me that the Center offers a 2 hour car tour of them. This car tour is a one-on-one tour in that you are driven round by the guide in his own car. You might think that this would be too expensive but it wasn't - it cost about $50 (£25) including a mileage charge and included being dropped off back at my hotel. So I jumped at the chance.
My guide, Ben, came at very short notice after finishing his day job in a printing establishment. He was a Mennonite (explanation below), knew the area very well, knew all about the Amish way of life and seemed to even know most of the local Amish people personally. Often during the tour he would tell me the occupation of the inhabitants of the houses because he knew them. And everyone we passed where we were close enough for them to recognise us, gave him a big smile and a wave. He said modestly that the people were so friendly that they waved even if they didn't know you, but it seemed to me that they recognised him and all really liked him. It wouldn't surprise me as he was highly likeable; enchanting actually - a real sweetie.
Here is a picture of him next to a buggy (not his own - we toured in a car).
He asked my religion at the start, I told him (truthfully) that I was an atheist and he was fine about it. At no point during the tour did he make any attempt to influence me or convert me, but instead praised the high level of religious tolerance in the area. I was naturally pleased about this.
Mennonites and Amish are different branches of a similar Christian religion, with the Amish being more strict. For example Mennonites can drive cars and have a mobile phone. But they seem to get along very well with each other. The Amish prefer to keep themselves to themselves, don't like being photographed at all and don't particularly relish the tourist attention. At one point we even saw a sign saying 'No Tourists'. However, they appear to tolerate it and have some stalls and shops selling their produce to tourists. The Mennonites provide a go-between between them and the tourists and so it was no coincidence that Ben, my tour guide, was a Mennonite. Ben said that tours of Amish given by Mennonites were not a source of friction between them.
The weather was fantastic, Ben was a brilliant tour guide and I had a fabulous time. I learned lots about the Amish way of life and saw many of the people, many horse-drawn buggies, a few horse-drawn ploughs and many 'three-generation homes'. These are where a single, generally large, plot contains houses for three generations of the same family next to each other. This is fairly typical of Amish life and reflects their belief in looking after their families themselves rather than using retirement homes.
Because of the dislike the Amish people have for being photographed, out of respect to them Ben asked me to not photograph them. Therefore I have no photos of the people themselves to show. I was restricted to where there were no people recognisable in the picture.
Here are a couple of horse and buggy pictures.
They generally don't have mains gas or electricity running into their homes but use portable fuels such as oil and canned gas instead. They also generally don't have mains water running into their homes and often have a well and wind-driven pump to provide water. Their reluctance to use mains services is part of a desire for self sufficiency, possibly stemming from a period in history when they were persecuted by the state.
I saw many school houses. Because they walk to school there are a lot of small local schools of about 30 pupils rather than fewer large schools.
Ben pointed out a trailer of seating which circulates around peoples houses. The Amish have no churches but hold religious services in their own homes, taking turns as the host. As up to 150 people can be in each service, seating is needed and so is passed round.
The sight of a plough being pulled by horses is amazing. The power of the horses with the dust flying up and a lone man steering is quite remarkable. I couldn't take a picture close up and I don't think that the following picture does it justice, but will hopefully give you some idea. As you can see, it's not just one horse as you might imagine, but about 7 all in a row.
This is an example of a tractor with steel wheels.
We also saw many vehicles that were a cross between a bicycle and a scooter. It was like a bicycle but without the peddles and chain and instead had a low scooter platform and was ridden like a scooter in that it was propelled by pushing it along with one foot while keeping the other on the scooter platform. The elimination of the chain mechanism makes it acceptable to the Amish although the wheels are made of rubber just like a normal bicycle. I asked Ben the logic behind this and, as with several similar questions, he said that although he wasn't sure of the logic, the Amish were happy about it and that is what is important. I was very happy with this answer and was relieved that neither of us had any appetite for a theological debate.
The houses were invariably well maintained, as was the whole landscape. It was all very pretty. Here is an example landscape.
I briefly met a couple of Ben's Amish friends. They spoke German together as a demonstration for me of their native language (they still speak German at home even after generations in Pennsylvania). The accent sounded quite different to a contemporary German accent.
Ben dropped me back at my hotel as promised. I had such a great day and was feeling really elated by the end.
