Touring the Amish country

I left New York via the Lincoln Tunnel and headed into North Jersey, with my destination for the day being my cousin’s house outside of Doylestown, PA.  Once you get out of the immediate NYC area, the scenery gets pretty great, and it rivals anything I saw up in New England. I stuck to the back roads and crossed the Delaware River at Frenchtown on a barely-two-lanes bridge. The Delaware is small enough at this point that Washington could have probably just waded across if he had to, so it was a quick shot across and into Pennsylvania. I took River Road all along the banks down toward Lambertville, then cut across to Plumsteadvile to see my cousin.

We had a great time catching up, and she gave me a little tour around the area and through Doylestown itself, which had that neat mix of colonial/industrial charm that you get in a lot of the pre-Revolutionary War cities in the area. We cruised all around the area, and checked out notable spots like Fonthill, home of archeologist (and tile manufacturer) Henry Mercer.  It’s notable not only for its size, but also for being one of the earliest examples of poured-in-place concrete construction, which is pretty much the norm these days.

After my stay in Doylestown, I headed north a bit to check out the “Niagara of Pennsylvania”, Bushkill Falls. Like a lot of the waterfalls I’ve seen in the past few months on the trip, it was kind of past its prime from a flow standpoint, as it gets a lot of its volume from spring melt-off. However, it was still pretty impressive for an east coast waterfall, and the fall hike through the woods was really pretty great.

For the first time since June, my destination for that evening was my own house. I’ve got a home in downtown Lancaster, PA from my previous business endeavors in the area, and while it’s unfurnished (other than a couple of air mattresses and some random pieces) and unoccupied, it’s still my place, and it was pretty great to be able to pull up, go in, and just relax for a bit.

As I’ve got quite a few friends in the area, I stayed in Lancaster for almost a week. It’s really a pretty area, and it’s got not only the aforementioned colonial/19^th century industrial charm, it’s also right in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, so there are a lot of Amish and Mennonite people around driving buggies and tending to their farms. Layered in on top of all that is a newer, funkier note as Lancaster has sort of become an arts hub for eastern PA, with a number of downtown galleries and other artistic spaces. I’d also arrived for First Friday, so there was a lot of action, food, art, and other fun stuff going on downtown.

I spent the next few days catching up on bills and other “life” stuff, having dinner and getting together with old friends, and visiting the many places within easy walking distance of the house, like the nearby coffee shop and the Lancaster Central Market, which is the oldest continuously operating farmers market in the country.  However, Halloween was approaching…and it occurred to me that a giant, vacant Victorian house was probably one of the best spots to give out Halloween candy

My mom drove the 90 minutes or so up from South Jersey to visit for Halloween, and I went out and gathered up a whole lot of candy at the grocery store. My friend Caiti had carved some excellent pumpkins as well, so I had the makings of a reasonably decent haunting for Halloween.

I put a couple of torchieres with red light bulbs in them into the entryway, and distributed the spookier looking pumpkins on the steps. I also had an iPad and some computer speakers, so I got some spooky Halloween sounds together, put the speakers behind the lamps, and put it all on “loop”. After pouring what felt like about 100 pounds of candy into a bowl, we were ready.

 Halloween festivities were scheduled to run from 6pm to 8pm, and kids started showing up right about on time. It was pretty fun to watch the smaller kids come up the walkway…first they were all enthusiastic about the prospect of candy, then as they got closer and the house started to loom over them a little more, they kind of slowed down. Once they hit the porch and the lighting and spooky sounds hit them, many didn’t go any further, and a few turned back around and left, candy or no candy. I didn’t think I’d been able to haunt it up that well in 15 minutes of prep, but apparently the house itself was doing most of the work for me. It inspired me to put a little more effort into it next year, assuming I hang on to the place. (Side note: Anybody interested in buying a great Queen Anne home in lovely Lancaster, PA, drop me an email. Special discount for blog readers!)

After Halloween, I hung around Lancaster for a couple more days and handled a few more chores, but then it was time to be on my way. I took the scenic route toward South Jersey, going through a lot of the Amish farm country and also stopping in at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg to check out some of the big iron. The weather was doing its best to keep things uncharacteristically warm, and it was really a great fall drive through the countryside, over the Delaware Memorial Bridge, and into South Jersey.

Next: New Jersey, land of my birth