Get to Know Your Amish Neighbors in Lancaster!
Southeastern Pennsylvania is widely known for its Amish community, and in fact is home to one of the largest Amish communities in the country. Here, you will find hundreds of Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonites who follow a lifestyle that is very much similar the lifestyle their ancestors followed several hundred years ago when the lands were first settled. This is unique because several very large cities are located less than an hour's drive away, including Harrisburg, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.
While the large Amish community in the Lancaster area has made a huge effort to retain the ways of yesteryear and has resisted following the modern ways of their nearby neighbors, the community largely does welcome tourists to the area to learn more about their way of life. If you pay a visit to an Amish community on your trip to the Lancaster area, you will find that these communities are very tight-knit and largely rely on themselves and the local community for sustenance. They largely live without electricity and use hand pumps or gas-powered pumps bring water into their homes. They shun television, radio, and telephones as a means to communicate with those outside the community and instead embrace their family and local community wholeheartedly. Generally, they grow their own food and they make their own clothes. They do not own cars, but instead use horse-drawn carriages for transportation and use horse-drawn plows for farming.
The Amish community does invite visitors to partake in special celebrations, festivals, and events throughout the year. For instance, in May, you can partake in the Annual Sheep Shearing Days at the Amish Farm and House. In September through November, this same venue opens its doors for Sunset Tours to mark the early days of autumn.
There are also year-round attractions and activities you can partake in, such as taking an Amish buggy ride or treating yourself to the Amish Experience Theater and Country Homestead Tour Combo. Both of these experiences will give you a unique glimpse into the simpler way of life that the Amish have embraced. You will absolutely want to take time to get to know more about the Amish way of life while you are visiting this beautiful area of Pennsylvania!