Pennsylvania’s Amish Country: tour the culture of these old fashioned people
If you visit the farmlands of Pennsylvania, known for prize winning dairy cattle and rolling landscapes, you will eventually encounter the Amish people who were among the first to settle this part of the USA, and have been the last to change their original methods of living. Although around them the land prices have gone up, technology has changed the way the agricultural business is done, and the centuries have passed, the Amish people themselves have stuck to their roots and their old, religious lifestyle. They are one of the most self-sufficient communities on earth, and are skilled crafts people and excellent farmers. They generally avoid using electricity or motorized machines, instead doing their chores with hand tools and traveling by horse and buggy. Some of the old school carpenters still use block and tackle weights and drawing knives, instead of modern power tools, and the Amish not only grow the animals and crops they use to make their yarn and thread, but they also make their own clothing. You can visit their farms, buy fresh produce, home made cheeses and other dairy products, furniture that is hand made, and add books about Amish arts and crafts to your library, while touring the Amish countryside of Pennsylvania. Along the way you will enjoy viewing the state’s old covered bridges, tasting the hard pretzels that have long been a staple of Pennsylvania, and you can stay in one of the many old inns that dot the rural countryside.