Amish, Chocolate and a State Capital

We are staying for several days in a central location in what is known as Amish country so that we can do several day trips. We visited Harrisburg the State Capital, Hershey the chocolate capital, Lancaster and Bird-in-Hand an Amish community.

Harrisburg is the site of the state archives and we spent two days researching their records.  I found some information on the Pennsylvania Civil War regiments, but overall, I was disappointed in the lack of modern features of the research department. The microfiche machines were very old – we had to use a hand crank to advance the microfiche and the digital machines were so slow to print, we resorted to taking pictures of the screen instead. I had a difficult time understanding how the indices were organized, they were in 3-inch binders and I wasted a lot of time looking at lists that weren’t useful. This has happened before with state archives – they don’t seem to be set up for genealogical use. I get better and more relevant information by visiting county archives.

The archives are part of the same square containing the state capital and so we walked over there after the archives closed at 4 pm. We had to dodge rain showers on our way. The capital is a National Historical Landmark and is absolutely beautiful. The front fountain and stairs/walkways were added much later. We were able to walk everywhere in the building, there is a strong ethic that the capital is open to the citizens of the state.

We drove through the historical part of Harrisburg which was interesting, but a bit run down and somewhat overcome by the modernizing of the city. On the outskirts of the city is the National Civil War Museum. We visited it on a very rainy Sunday. It has some very interesting exhibits and is not just a chronological discussion of the war. It was more a description of what it was like to be in the war from the perspective of the soldiers, government, people and other groups. I learned a lot from the exhibits, but I have to admit I skipped the exhibit about the medical practices of the day – way too graphic with their life size dioramas.

One major disappointment I had was Lancaster and I have to say it was all my fault.  I have always thought of Lancaster as a market town for the Amish, similar but larger than Shipshewanna, Indiana.  I was totally wrong.  Lancaster was a railroad center for the area at the time of the Civil War and it has grown during the Industrial era. It is not a particularly clean city; the historical section seems to be overcome by conversion to hip boutiques and restaurants and there is a large poor section. I did enjoy going through their Central Market though – we had a nice morning break there.

A total surprise was a visit to Lititz, a Moravian community. A very charming small village, the original occupants were refugees from Germany invited by William Penn to settle in the religious tolerant Pennsylvania. The village was closed for many decades meaning that only Moravians could live in the village and own businesses.  Eventually the village was opened, and there is an emphasis on coexisting peacefully with all people.  Lititz has more original buildings (from the 1700s) than Williamsburg.  There are lots of boutiques, quaint shops and cafes/restaurants. We got a personal tour of the Moravian museum and I was impressed with the sect’s focus on ministering to the poor. The Moravian religion predates the Protestant movement by many years.

A totally tourista stop for us was Hershey, Pennsylvania. Again, it was pouring down rain. We visited their entertainment center where there were activities, shows and a tour of the chocolate factory. The most fun thing we did was making our own chocolate bar. They had a great automated process which we initiated, personalized and walked along the assembly line watching our personalized chocolate bar come into being. I think I might have enjoyed being an Industrial Engineer had I known what that entailed.

Finally, a nice day! We used it to tour the real Amish country. We headed for Bird-in-Hand, a small community that caters to tourists with stores containing Amish/Mennonite crafts and Amish restaurants. We ate dinner at a very nice large restaurant that was like the Blue Gate restaurant we enjoy in Shipshewana. At one of the shops, the clerk told us about a road that is lined with Amish farms, so we drove through that area and enjoyed the beautiful afternoon and prosperous farms. The Amish in this area dress a little differently than the groups in Indiana.  The women’s caps are heart shaped in the back instead of being circular. And their dresses seem to have more pleats around the waist. Whereas bikes were used for transportation in addition to buggies, this area allows the use of adult sized scooters. I enjoyed the day immensely and hope we can go through this area again.

Our next stop is in west central Pennsylvania where Russ’ Hessian soldier 4 times great grandfather settled. I am hoping to find out more about this branch as well as the Kauffmans who came from the same county. Sure hoping the rain stops soon, the state is like 100% over average rainfall for the summer.

Pennsylvania's State Capital. One of the most beautiful buildings in the country.

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The dome was modeled after the one over St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Russ thought the flyer on this representative's door was hilarious.

These side halls are where the legislator offices are located.

An inside view of the dome.

Some of the beautiful bridges in Harrisburg.

The state archives are located in this multi-story building with no windows. Researchers are allowed only in the first floor.  All the rest of the floors are hermetically controlled and accessible only by archive employees. The round building on the left is the state museum.  We didn't get a chance to tour it.

The National Civil War Museum had fascinating pictures of the Civil War showcasing the involved and affected people.

One of the exhibits was about the prisons on both side. The prison shown here, Andersonville, was one of the worst Confederated prisons. Overcrowded and filthy, many soldiers died there from disease.  One of Russ' 3rd great grandfathers, Amos Hill, was here for six months.  He survived but suffered with the effects of several diseases the rest of his life.

Even though I didn't particularly like Lancaster, this was a beautiful mural in one of the poorer sections.

Started in 1730, this is the country's oldest continuously operated public market. We enjoyed a morning break here.

We had to laugh when we read the information about this covered bridge.  It was built by two Kauffman brothers (a surname from Russ' mother's side of the family) so that it would be easy to get to their distillery.  The Kauffmans in Russ' family were Brethren and tee-totalers.

The main street of Lititz, a Moravian village. The inn is named after the Sutter of California gold fame.  He lived the last nine years of his life in Lititz.

Very detailed papercuttings displayed in a private home on the main street.

A very tempting display in a bakery. We were enticed enough to go inside and have a pastry and beverage.  Plus they had good wifi.

One of the original homes.  Almost all are privately owned.

An amazing piece of word working.  Over 5,000 pieces of wood were used to decorate this clock. This was in the Moravian museum and was donated by a local member.  He actually donated two clocks, the other was just as ornate.

This building is on the campus of the oldest girl's boarding school in the country.  Founded in 1746 by the Moravian church.

Russ loves his pretzels. We enjoyed the bag we bought for a couple weeks as we traveled to points west.

First geese flock we have seen on our travels. This was on a farm outside Lititz on our way to a Mennonite quilt shop.

Russ with his chocolate buddies. We were very proud of ourselves - outside of the customized candy bars that we each designed, we did not buy any of the candy offered in the store.

A simple process description for the making of our candy bars. We participated in each of the steps.  Lots of fun and very educational.

Lots of choices of what we wanted in the middle of our candy bar. Both Russ and I chose mini chocolate chips (can't have too much chocolate, right?)

The top is added.

Sprinkles are added, if desired and then the candy bar is cooled down.  That was about a 10 minute process.  There were windows at places so you could see your bar moving down the line.

In the mean-time, the cover we designed had been printing out and, after the bar was finished, workers put the cover on and presented us with our unique candy bars.

An entertaining ride, geared to children, took you through the process of making a Hershey bar.

A vat of chocolate being prepared.

Even though it is the end of summer, beautiful flowers were everywhere in Bird-in-Hand.

A small petting zoo featured a miniature pony, goats, and funky looking chickens.

Some Amish moms returning home with their purchases and some sleepy children in the back.

The Amish and Mennonite farms in this area of Pennsylvania were very prosperous.  The crops looked very healthy, better than some areas we had seen where the crops had been flooded out.

An ingenous clothing line. The left end was a very tall pole with a wheel mounted on the top.  The washer could stand on the porch, often under the porch roof, protected from the weather. They could pin the clothes on the line and by pulling the bottom of the line, move the clothes out to dry.  The clothes were high enough that they wouldn't get knocked down by playing children or animals.

A beautiful flower garden with grape vines.

A Mennonite graveyard. The sites are very close together.

Not the best picture, but shows the rain we were getting at the campground. We had just arrived home.  Russ jumped out of the car to put out the awning so the steps wouldn't be getting rained on when we entered.  I opted to stay in the truck for about 15 minutes to let the worst of the rain ease up.