Pennsylvania Dutch Country

The core of this area is an area of about 20 miles by 15 miles east of Lancaster in the southeast region of Pennsylvania.  The Amish, Mennonite and Brethren religious communities are collectively known as the "Plain People".  All are Anabaptist sects who were persecuted in their native Switzerland and from the early 1700s settled in tolerant Pennyslvania.  Speaking German dialects, they became known as "Dutch" from Deutsch.

The Amish are the one group of the three sects that eschew modern technology including motor cars and electricity.  They drive horse-drawn vehicles both for transport and farming.  They mostly live on farms and they live simple Bible-centered lives.

The horse-drawn buggies and carriages are a rather delightful sight and the sound of the clip-clopping of the horse is also very pleasant.

We asked several Amish people why they did not use bicycles but they could only reply that it was tradition. On the internet we found that the Pennsylvania Amish church placed a taboo on the bicycle in order to keep youth close to home. However, non-motorized scooters are viewed as a compromise between walking and the bicycle, and many youth ride them to school with varying sized wheels.  The Amish in fact adapt bicycles to make them into scooters.  They are very fast on them.

A country store.

An Amish Walmart :-)  We sometimes stay in Walmart carparks overnight.  This amiable Amish store owner also let us stay in the carpark for a night.

We left the Dutch Pennsylvania area via the town of Intercourse which amongst other names of towns like Fertility, Paradise and Bird-in-hand seemed less strange here than they might elsewhere.