Lancaster is known for its farms and the large Pennsylvania German population that live in the area. They have their origins as a somewhat radical wing of the Protestant Reformation movement actually from Zurich, Switzerland in 1525. Today there are over 25 different Pennsylvania German groups including Amish, Mennonite, Brethren, and Hutterites with many subgroups within these. They are also known as "Plain People". These farmers are different from most American farmers, by choice. In general, they believe worldliness can keep them from being close to God, and can introduce influences that could be destructive to their communities and way of life. Family, faith, and farm are their priorities, and they choose to lead a very simple life much as their forefathers did.
This farm was having an event (possibly a farm sale or family event) and there were many buggies parked in the field the weekend I arrived at my mom's.
Wash hanging out is a very common site. Hope these folks did not think I was some kind of stalker taking pictures of their laundry.
Old Country Store (It was Sunday and closed). No one works on Sunday here.
Farmer's Market that I love to get meats when visiting
There are also some very unique town names. Intercourse actually has one of my favorite quilting stores.
Of course if there are horses and buggies, there also needs to be places to fix the buggies. Not the typical auto repair shops.
Coaches (buggies) waiting for repairs.
One day we took my nieces to Sturgis Pretzel's for a little outing. Emily (5 years old) is on the left and Alison (8 years old) is on the right.
Sturgis Pretzel's in Lititz, PA was the first and is the oldest commercial pretzel bakery in the US. The bakery was started by Julius Sturgis in 1861 as a regular bakery offering all manner of baked goods. Using a traditional pretzel recipe of French Monks, Julius produced the typical soft pretzel of the time, however he found that by baking the pretzels a little longer and letting them dry; the product had a fun crunch and a longer shelf life. People liked the hard pretzels so much, Julius eventually began producing only pretzels in his bakery. The rest, as they say, is history. The "Pretzel Bakery" was tremendously successful and it has remained in the family ever since. The bakery is now much, much larger and located in Reading, PA; but the original house and bakery are on the National Registry of Historic Places and open for tours. The home was actually built in 1784 by Peter Kreiter and is one of the first homes built in Lititz, PA. It is a cute little slice of Americana.
Here are my nieces learning to twist a pretzel. Don't tell their mom that they each had samples to eat during the tour. Hope it did not ruin their dinner.
Thursday the 15th I went to see my youngest niece's school Thanksgiving concert. She is the one in the middle of the front row that is not wearing a turkey outfit. She said she did not want to cover up the squirrel on the front of her pink shirt with the turkey. Kids :)
During the concert it began to snow, and it kept snowing much of the day. Record early snow gave 8 inches at the nearby Harrisburg Airport.
Me making a snowball on mom's deck and wishing I had brought Pengi to enjoy the winter weather.
View behind mom's townhouse, winter wonderland.
About 5 1/2 inches in Lancaster
On my last day in Lancaster, my sister, mom, and I went to a pottery place and tried our hands at doing some painting. We are far from professionals, but worth it for a few laughs and some fun.
My sister, Jessica, (Jess to all of us) and I doing our best with the brushes and paints.
Product ready to be fired in the kiln. (Let us know if anyone wants a signed reproduction. :)
The week went much too fast, but hopefully I will be back again in the spring at some time as we are going up the east coast.
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