A landmark Lancaster County hotel destroyed in a gas explosion in December is making a comeback. Lancaster Online reports that the Bird-in-Hand Family Inn has “raised the roof” on its new building: Bird-in-Hand Family Inn began a “barn raising” Tuesday to rebuild hotel rooms and an office damaged in a Dec. 18 explosion. Weather permitting, workers from Upper Leacock Township-based Beechdale Builders will finish framing…
I’m visiting Lancaster County and the big news since yesterday is the explosion at a Lancaster County hotel popular with tourists to the area. The incident happened in the wee hours yesterday morning in Bird-in-Hand. From PennLive: A loud “boom” early Monday morning in Lancaster County startled Tom Dobbs, nearly knocking him out of bed. The Leacock Township resident lives near the Bird-in-Hand Family Inn…
The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities will soon publish its sixth issue. From time to time, we’ll be sharing interesting findings from articles published in JPAC here at Amish America. This is the first featured post, written by one of its co-editors, Joe Donnermeyer, who was recently a Snowden Fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pieties Studies at Elizabethtown College. ~Erik When No…
While in Lancaster County last month, I had the chance to film inside the buggy of a friend’s son (16 years old). He helpfully explained the controls and other elements of the buggy (useful for an English non-buggy-driver) so I could better explain them to you. In this video I give you a look at what all the knobs and other things in the buggy…
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…
I just returned from a week in the Lancaster County Amish community. While there I attended the 2022 Amish conference at Elizabethtown College, and spent a lot of time with Amish friends. I’ll have a post sharing some favorite images from the trip coming soon. I also recorded a short video from inside the buggy of a teenage son of one of my friends. It…
Just a snippet of a story, but one I found amusing. Tourist carriage horses from around Manhattan’s Central Park have been sent to Amish Country. Frank Riccobono, owner of NYC Horse Carriage Rides, explains: In mid-March, the entire industry made a decision to put our horses on furlough, and I sent my eight horses to Lancaster County on March 19. They are on a farm,…
I was going through some photos today from my June visit to Lancaster County. There are some nice odds and ends here I’d like to share with you. I don’t really have a theme for these, other than “photos I liked”. So without further ado… 1. Beware of Nuts This warning sign hangs by the lane going up to a home where I attended church…
Forty life-sized wax Amish figures, once residents of the Lancaster County Wax Museum, have been put up for sale, as reported at philly.com. They include adult and child figures, as well as a dog. The general impression is that these are some pretty unsettling effigies: Dana DiCicco, who’s selling them, said they didn’t seem “creepy at all” when she was a kid in Pennsylvania Dutch…
For whatever reason, I barely pulled out my camera while in Lancaster County last month. But reader Ed C. also happened to be there, about a week before me, and has a beautiful set of photos to share with you today. As you’ll see below, his trip started off snowy, but that gave way to warmer weather. He includes nice shots of the Bart Township Fire Company…