I collected some images from the recent week I spent in Lancaster County. Presented with some comments below, I hope you enjoy. First, a few signs.
Eggs 4 Sale.
Amish Road. And yes, Amish people live on it. There is also an Amishtown Road in the county.
This motel is located in Denver. Maybe you didn’t know Denver is in Pennsylvania. This photo combines two of my US travel/geography favorites – places sharing names with other much larger and better-known places (eg, Mexico, Missouri or Berlin, Ohio). And old-timey/kitschy signs.
This is a nice market stand on Route 10, south of Honey Brook in Chester County.
This sign at the Route 10 market directs customers to additional parking.
This scooter was parked around the side. It looks like it’s been around the block, so to speak.
Pies for sale inside the market. Peach, cherry, blueberry. They had shoofly as well.
Amish taxi service ad at the store counter.
And this is an Amish market stand & greenhouse just down the road from Elizabethtown College. Amish families have moved into that western end of Lancaster County over the past decade-plus.
They sell produce, canned goods, and of course plants.
I tried some of their root beer.
I like the simple glass bottles.
A couple of shots from the Amish conference at Elizabethtown College. These are both from a talk by Rachel E. Stein, on how Amish have experienced previous outbreaks of disease. Good presentation.
Amish in Pennsylvania were among those affected by a 1988 measles outbreak.
This Amishman looked to be returning home from a milk run. Leaving the town of Intercourse.
This bouquet was hand-picked by my friend to give to his wife (also a friend).
Overcast day but what a view.
Ever had Amish peanut butter-flavored popcorn? I’ll have a video coming filmed inside this Amish-owned business. Let’s just say I didn’t know you could make popcorn in so many flavors.
Roadside cemetery. Very simple headstones.
Finally, a buggy heads west on Route 340, which is the road passing through well-known towns in the heart of Amish Country like Intercourse and Bird-in-Hand.
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Geography
I noted your interest in place names sharing those names with larger geographical entities. I graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, Pennsylvania. The actor James Stewart was from there. It is also the county seat of Indiana County which itself has a significant number of Amish settlements, notably around the borough of Smicksburg, which has a population of fewer than 100 people. Also regarding your liking “old-timey” signs, I find Mail Pouch Tobacco signs a fascinating feature of rural areas and they are becoming harder to find as the guy who painted them is long gone. I think there are (or were) websites devoted to where to find them and whether the signs are being repainted and maintained. Personally I wouldn’t touch the stuff, but they certainly came up with pleasant, quaint signs; I don’t even know if the Mail Pouch brand is still around. Another brand that had bill board signs is 101 Bleach. I am positive that none exist today as 101 Bleach was probably run out of business by Clorox decades ago. The signs would say “Stains Run From 101”. As far as Burma Shave signs are concerned, probably all of them are reproductions. I don’t think Burma Shave is made anymore.
Great examples David, and happy to hear I’m not the only one. I know the Mail Pouch and seems you occasionally see those but I can’t recall the last time. Another one is/was “See Rock City”. Came across a neat Amish-themed photo with that sign a while back https://amishamerica.com/slice-of-amish-life-see-rock-city/
PS
I just googled “stains run from 101” and apparently the brand still exists and is marketed to a small area in the northeastern US. I gather you can also order online. Mail Pouch tobacco still exists and is owned by Swisher company. I have seen Amish men smoking–the first time I saw an Amish guy smoking a cigarette I was somewhat shocked as I guess many of us put the Amish on a pedastal and wouldn’t expect a vice like using tobacco or drinking alcoholic beverages for that matter to be well known among them. I wonder if some Amish men “roll their own” cigarettes.
Smoking, perhaps surprisingly, tends to be associated with the “lower”, ie more conservative Amish groups. Though the Lancaster Amish certainly grow a good bit of tobacco as a cash crop. Some communities have issues with drinking, including among baptized adults, though I wouldn’t call it a common thing across Amish society.
Amish Root beer
One of my fondest memories growing up in Berlin, Ohio was each summer Mom would take my sister and me to the Schlabach farm on the creek outside of town to buy their root beer. That was back in the 60’s and I’m so glad to hear it is still a thing amongst the Amish.
Seems I’ve seen it more in Lancaster County but wouldn’t be surprised to hear it is strong in Ohio as well. I’m what you’d call a very sporadic root beer drinker š Not my first beverage choice but fun now and again.
Thanks, Erik, for the great pictures.
We live here in Lancaster County but I enjoy seeing the pictures regardless. I have some of the same pictures which I’ve taken–the EGGS 4 SALE shot, the Penn Amish Motel, as examples. I still can’t believe Emma’s can make the popcorn flavors they do! You covered a lot of ground on your visit. Thank you again for the site and all the information and images you share.
Neat to hear you have shots of the same places Bradford. I wondered about the Eggs 4 Sale sign. Seems it’s been up awhile, though that was the first time I’d remembered venturing on that stretch of road, at least for a long time. I love the Penn Amish Motel sign. I don’t think I’d driven through Denver ever before. Emma’s has a new place opening up which you probably know about, on 340. I guess it will be the gourmet popcorn HQ of the county š