Amish Flashback

I've delayed this post for a long time. I'm a bit fascinated by the Amish and their culture, but I don't want to present them to you like some circus act because they are just people trying to live a good life in their own way and I respect that immensely.

We stayed at a campground in the small town of...well, near a town in the heart of Amish country in Pennsylvania. Okay fine - the town is named Intercourse. Let's get on with this.

We took a buggy ride through some farm land and our driver, an Amish teenager, told us about all things Amish. Our buggy meandered on small country roads past Amish farms - an idyllic way to spend an afternoon.


As we passed a small white building, a big gaggle of Amish children suddenly exploded from it and into the fields, going in all directions. School was out for the day! We progressed down the narrow road towards a farm near the schoolhouse, and behind us we noticed that a little girl, probably eight years old, was rapidly gaining on us on her push-bike.

Okay I have to interrupt myself. Amish people pick and choose different types of technology according to their interpretation of the bible. They deemed bicycles taboo because of the machinery involved with the gears, the chain, etcetera, and instead they get around on push-bikes that are very much like scooters.


So...our driver noticed the littler girl behind us and told us she lived at the farmhouse we were approaching. Ruthie, dressed in a dark dress of plain cut, shiny black shoes and a bonnet, was the youngest child in the family.

Kicking furiously on her push-bike, little Ruthie quickly caught up with us, realized she did not have enough room to pass the buggy on either side, and shot us a withering glare. She weaved back and forth behind the buggy until we passed her farm, and then she was past us like a shot, homeward bound up the driveway. I suspect little Ruthie was tough as nails and not one to tangle with.

The town itself was a disconcerting mixture of Amish folk, non-Amish locals, and pasty tourists. Horses and buggies mixed in with motorized traffic on the roads and highways, and the stores all had hitching posts in their parking lots.

We wandered around the community for a couple of days and I fell in love with an Amish furniture shop. I was very upset when Mark refused to allow me to buy huge pieces of Amish furniture and magically fit them into our already-full pickup truck. Stupid practicality, always trumping my fantasies with its uppity "reality checks".

Anyway we had a glorious time in Lancaster County, and if any of you are ever anywhere near Pennsylvania I would highly recommend you stop in and learn a bit about the Amish communities there.