Pennsylvania Dutch Country

Michael finally got a day off after working twenty in a row. Rather than stay around the house and do the stuff we needed to like mowing and weeding, he opted for a trip out of town just to get away. We went to Lancaster County which is southeast of us and not far from Philly. We had a heck of a time getting there because of traffic but we started in the city of Lancaster. We went to The Demuth Museum that is in the artist Charles Demuth's house. Big disappointment in that there were no works by Demuth displayed. Oh darn. But it was great to see his house. Michael is a big fan because Demuth was part of a movement called Precisionism. These guys liked painting pictures of factories and water towers. We also got to meet the director of the museum who had curated the exhibit we saw of works by Luigi Rist. Then we went to the Central Market. This is housed in a fabulous old building and you can buy goods ranging from foie gras to gummie bears. We bought lunch at one of the stalls, then had peanut butter fudge for dessert from another and bought plum jam to take home. Some of the stalls were run by Amish families, others were ethnic like Thai, African and Italian foods. It was one of the most amazing markets I've ever seen.

Then we headed down the road to the Pennsylvania Dutch country. I have to tell you that Michael and I felt like voyeurs. It seemed indecent to stare at these simple people in their buggies and on their farms. It was embarrassing to see people hopping out of their cars to take pictures of a family loading a wagon with hay. It's a real paradox. The Amish deserve their privacy and yet they depend on tourists to buy their goods. You can hardly make a living these days just by horse-drawn labor on a farm.

Michael was pleased to see that the Amish are able to live simple and healthy lives on beautifully kept farms. It was shocking to me to see farm houses unhooked to electricity even though the electrical poles line every road. You wouldn't think you would notice such a thing. But a house standing alone, with no lights on and with no electric or telephone lines is a pretty amazing sight. They do use electricity for some things like milking machines evidently. And they do use telephones although they do not have private lines in their homes. I learned that their objection to modern technologies are not that they are evil in themselves but that they detract from a simple lifestyle and that they make people prideful and covetous. This explains the odd rules that allow them to use gas powered string trimmers but not own an automobile.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow and tell about other stuff we saw.