Part 3
Two additional properties in Lancaster County are being developed and will be administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission:
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania at Strasburg is now under construction on property adjacent to and joining the Strasburg Rail Road.
Robert Fulton birthplace near Wakefield, in Little Britain Township. This is an authentic restoration of the original farmhouse where Robert Fulton was born November 14, 1765.
The Susquehannock State Park, administered by the Dept. of Forests and Waters, is located on a high observation site on the mighty Susquehanna River. Opened in 1965 primarily for picnickers, sightseers and nature lovers, it affords a magnificent view both up and down the river. The Park is near the huge Muddy Run Hydro Storage Electric Generating Plant. In addition, several atomic power plants have been built or are being built on the banks of the Susquehanna River in this area.
Foods—And How We Like Them
By EDNA EBY HELLER _Pennsylvania Dutch food columnist and lecturer._
Lancaster County cookery definitely reflects the way of life of the Pennsylvania Dutch. They are a people who are hard working, creative and thrifty. A great many dishes common in today’s Dutch Cookery were created when a housewife felt compelled to utilize rather than discard. She wastes nothing in the garden, neither in the kitchen. That favorite little Milk Pie, she makes from left over pastry!
Generally speaking, Pennsylvania Dutch cooking is simple. There are few salads, but quantities of cookies, cakes and pies. With only a few exceptions, salads are limited to greens, served with a sweet sour sauce. Although not many daughters bake bread today, the grandmothers still set their dough to rise twice weekly. With her bread she will probably bake Cinnamon Sticky Buns or Moravian Sugar Cake. The latter is one of the yeast bread delicacies that is slightly fancy and extremely rich. Butter is the extravagance of Lancaster County cooks, and they themselves recognize this. One woman told her daughter-in-law: “You better close your eyes while I add the butter to the vegetables.”
You may have heard of the Sweets and Sours of the Pennsylvania Dutch. These include the spiced fruits, pickled vegetables, jellies and preserves. Because the Dutchman craves sours with every meal, the women-folk not only can many pickles, but pickle eggs, red beets, bologna and other meats. Dutch farmers make great quantities of cider vinegar for their own use and would not want to have to do without it.
Molasses, too, is indispensable. Twenty-five years ago each grocer had a molasses barrel or two, but there are only a few left. Barrel molasses is the table molasses that is spread on butter bread, fried mush, scrapple, egg cheese, fritters, doughnuts and many other deep-fat-fried foods. For cookies, cakes and pies, baking molasses is used. In the pie category alone there are many uses. We use molasses for Shoo-fly Pies, Molasses Crumb Pies, Molasses Custards, Funny Cake Pies, Montgomery, McKinley, Quakertown, Union, Lemon Strip Pies, Shellbark Custards and Vanilla Pies. Yes, we like our molasses! Perhaps, for this craving, we are indebted to our great-grandmothers who religiously gave their children molasses and sulphur for a “necessary spring tonic.”
It might be noted that we like boiled dinners. Vegetables are frequently cooked in the same kettle with the meat and potatoes. The favorite combinations are: cabbage and beef, sauerkraut and pork, green beans and ham, turnips and beef. More unusual, though, and favorites of any season, are our Boiled Pot Pies. Squares of dough are dropped into boiling broth to cook with either chicken, veal, pork, or beef. And again, potatoes are in the same kettle. Some cooks choose to use both Sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes in the same Pot Pie. You will find baked meat pies, but they are outnumbered by boiled ones of which the Chicken Pot Pie is the most popular.
There is a chicken specialty in Lancaster County that attracts great crowds. Every August and September when the Ladies of the Fire Company Auxiliaries serve Chicken Corn Soup suppers they make gallons and gallons. Plenty of chicken and plenty of corn in a rich chicken broth is tops on our list of soups.
Have you heard about our Funeral Pie? It is none other than a Raisin Pie. It may be Raisin Crumb or a two-crust Raisin Pie; either is called Funeral Pie. For as many years as our grandmothers can remember, this pie was made for the meal that was served to relatives and friends who had gathered for a funeral. Today, in this age of travel, there are few of these suppers served excepting among the Amish who still travel by horse and buggy.
The Shoo-Fly Pie is a common subject of inquiries. Everyone wants to know the translation of its name, but there is none. The discussion of whether the name actually came from an occasion when flies were chased from this molasses pie or whether its rough textured topping gave it a name similar to the French _choufleur_ meaning cauliflower, has not yet been reconciled. There are many varieties of Shoo-Fly Pies. The Dutchman who likes to dunk wants his “dry as punk” and others like them “gooey as can be.” The latter is often referred to as the “wet-bottom shoo-fly.” Basically, this pie is made in an unbaked crust that is partially filled with a molasses mixture and covered with a thick topping of crumbs, which may or may not be spicy.
On the menu of the restaurant that serves Pennsylvania Dutch meals you are quite likely to see “Schnitz un Knepp.” Literally this means apples and dumplings. Specifically, “schnitz” are dried apple slices that are cooked with the dumplings in ham broth and then served with ham. Dried apple slices can be purchased in many stores, but on the farm each cook dries her own, just as she dries her own corn and beans, in the oven, on top of the coal stove or in the sun. Schnitz are also put into pies or served alone as stewed fruit.
Probably more apples go into Apple Butter which in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect is called Lottwaerick. Hand in hand with Lottwaerick goes Smiercase, the Dutchman’s version of cottage cheese, but much creamier than the commercial cottage cheese. Wherever Lottwaerick is served, there will be Smiercase. They were made to go together, we think. A thick slice of homemade bread when spread with Lottwaerick and then a layer of Smiercase is a joy to man, woman or child in the Dutch country.
Lancaster countians enjoy the flavor and color of saffron. This is the dried stigmata of the crocus-like flowers that bloom from a saffron bulb. Although it is almost extinct in our own cultivation of herbs, we now purchase the imported saffron and use it in breads, potato or noodle dishes, and always with chicken. This is one of the items that is regional within this region. Natives of Lancaster and Lebanon Counties delight in the flavor of saffron as well as its butter color, but no other Dutch cooks seem to appreciate it as we do.
Throughout all of the Pennsylvania Dutch territory, there is much deep-fat frying. On Shrove Tuesday everyone eats doughnuts called Fasnachts, around which hang many folklore tales. But, apart from this day, there is much frying of doughs and batters. In Lancaster County there is a dough that is rolled to one-eighth inch thickness and cut into strips which are fried in deep fat. They are called Plow-lines, Streivlin, or Snavely Sticks. A generation ago these were made for the mid morning “nine o’clock piece” that was carried to the farmer in the fields. In recent years, however, this indulgence is almost a thing of the past, and so are the Streivlins. What a shame!
The visitor will notice that our food is abundant and our appetites are hearty. Traditional cooking that is really an art has been passed from mother to daughter by word of mouth for generations. Each cook uses “a pinch of this and a handful of that”; “sugar, to sweeten,” “butter, the size of a walnut,” and “flour, to stiffen.” Only recently have many of these recipes been written and standardized. More must be done, but there has been some progress made for the preservation of this “wonderful good” cookery.
Lancaster—A Prosperous Center of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry
By GERALD L. MOLLOY _Manager, Lancaster Chamber of Commerce_
Lancaster has long been noted for its unusually stable economy. The factors which contribute to this stability are numerous but perhaps can best be summarized by pointing out that in this historic area one finds a unique balance between agriculture, commerce and industry. Lancaster County ranks in the first five of the 3,073 Counties in the United States in the value per acre of its agricultural production; more than 600 industrial plants provide employment for approximately 55,000 industrial workers; and Lancaster City, strategically located in the center of this prosperous agricultural-industrial County, serves as the commercial trade center for more than 318,400 persons. Thus with commerce, industry and agriculture complementing each other, Lancastrians traditionally have enjoyed a particularly healthy economic climate.
Since the days prior to the American Revolution, Lancaster has been famed for its skilled industrial workers and the wide diversity of precision products manufactured in its factories. With its workers largely drawn from fourth and fifth generation Lancaster families of English and German origin, local industry has established a far-flung reputation for the uniformly high quality of its labor.
Among the products manufactured in Lancaster plants are such nationally distributed items as Alcoa screw machine products, Armstrong floor coverings, Black & Decker tools, R. R. Donnelley & Sons printing, Eshelman feeds, Hamilton watches, Howmet aluminum products, Hubley toys, Lambert-Hudnut cosmetics, New Holland Farm Machinery, R.C.A. television and electronic tubes, Raybestos asbestos products, Schick electric shavers and Trojan power boats.
Side by side with industry in Lancaster County, retail trade and wholesale distribution has grown and prospered since Colonial times. There are now 450 wholesale firms and over 3,000 retail outlets serving this thriving area. Attesting to the stability of the local economy is the fact that included among the retail groups are the oldest department store and oldest tobacco store in America, each of which is still operated by the same family interests which founded them and each is still situated at its original location.
The traditional stability and prosperity of Lancaster industrial and commercial enterprises form a sound economic base upon which to build a fine community. This becomes apparent as the visitor views the excellent schools and hospitals, the recreational and cultural facilities, the beautiful residential areas and other community assets which are a hallmark of the good living in Lancaster County.
Covered Wooden Bridges
By J. RICHARD GAINTNER _Local Authority and Lecturer on Covered Wooden Bridges See Official Pennsylvania Dutch Guide Map for locations of covered bridges._
Always picturesque and just rare enough to arouse interest, the old covered wooden bridges are growing in popular appeal as their number diminishes. In fact, collecting pictures and lore about these structures has become a hobby of many persons. In Lancaster County there still remain a sufficient number that will whet the appetite of the most avid hobbyist.
These romantic old spans are dwindling in number as a result of age, disaster or demolition because of safety or highway improvements, but it is gratifying to know that of the 108 covered wooden structures that at one time crossed the creeks and streams of this county, there are less than 25 still standing.
That so many ancient spans have weathered the years is proof of the value of the barn-like roof. Care was expended in construction, too, and a sign was placed at the entrance to “Walk Your Horse” in order to avoid excessive vibration which might be harmful to the bridges. Today the sign reads “Warning, this bridge unsafe for loads greater than 5 Tons.” Even though they withstand time and weather, flood and storm, they are highly vulnerable to fire.
Covered bridges are sometimes erroneously thought to date from the Colonial and Revolutionary War periods. Actually, many of the founding fathers, including George Washington, never saw a covered bridge. The first one was built across the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia in 1805. Nine years afterward, in 1814, a covered bridge was built across the Susquehanna at Columbia and Wrightsville which was then and still remains “The longest covered wooden bridge in the world,” with a length of 5,620 feet. This bridge was destroyed by ice in 1832. A second structure, built in 1834, was burned in 1863, during the war between the States to prevent the Confederate cavalry from crossing the river. A third covered wooden span was erected at this site in 1868 and was destroyed by a violent windstorm in 1896.
Most of the covered structures are maintained by Lancaster County, four jointly with nearby counties, and here are found some of the most picturesque and unique settings of all. They are well preserved, painted and repaired regularly, and with continued care will last another hundred years. You’ll find them on the back roads, off the main thoroughfares, back where the dirt roads twist and turn around a barn or a wood, you’ll go down a hill over a half dozen “thank-you-moms” and there tucked away in some of Lancaster’s most harmonious settings you’ll find the most romantic covered wooden bridges you’ve ever seen. And maybe, if you tarry a while you’ll see a couple of fishermen, because that’s where the biggest trout are found, or maybe it’s a favorite swimming hole for the neighborhood youngsters.
The shortest covered bridge in Lancaster County is just west of Long Park, near Oreville. It measures 53 feet long. The longest covered span in Lancaster County was destroyed by fire in 1970. This bridge, known as “Second Lock Bridge,” was 349 feet long and crossed the Conestoga just off New Danville Pike, south of Conestoga Memorial Cemetery. The last covered bridge to be built was in 1891 over the Cocalico one-half mile north of Akron.
It is hoped this bit of Americana, of which Lancaster County has been blessed with the second largest number in Pennsylvania—those romantic symbols of an earlier day—may be preserved for posterity as historical monuments.
The Plain People
By PROFESSOR A. FRED RENTZ _The late Professor Rentz was an Educator and Authority on the Pennsylvania Dutch._
Religion was one of the strong motives in the lives of our Pennsylvania Dutch forbears. It was upon the invitation of William Penn, who offered them a religious haven in Penn’s woods, that they came to America out of the Palatinate in Germany. The first ones to come were the Lutherans and Reformed, who even today form the largest segment of the Pennsylvania Dutch people. The Lutherans and Reformed were followed in quick succession by the so-called plain people, the Mennonites, the Amish and the [1]Brethren; the heart of whose life is still in Lancaster County, Pa. We speak of them as “plain” because they dress in a religious garb. They speak of us as “fancy” or “gay.” “Plain and Fancy.” Here they live having preserved the customs of our forefathers most faithfully over a period of two hundred and fifty years.
Of the three plain sects the Mennonites are the oldest historically and the most numerous. They stem from one Menno Simons, a Catholic parish priest, who seceded from the church of his fathers in 1536. He was one of that large group of Anabaptists who could not in good conscience join the Lutheran and Reformed movements because they believed in infant baptism. Menno Simons believed only in the baptism of the believer. “Don’t baptize a baby that does not know what it’s doing, but baptize only one who believes.”
The Mennonite woman will wear a trim little black bonnet (some are blue, brown, green) with no skirt on it. Her prayer cap is perched jauntily on the back of her head. The material in the cap is net, much finer than the Amish cap. The cap may have strings or not, dependent on the individual’s choice. Her dress may be a solid color, but usually it will be a print. Her cape is square and is fastened to the belt in front. Among our Mennonite friends, the apron has disappeared; except among the more conservative groups.
The Mennonite men usually wear black hats, not broad brimmed. They are, as a rule, smooth shaven. Their coats are Cadet type, no collars or lapels; buttoned up to the neck. Their trousers are styled like those of the gay people.
In 1693 in the Canton of Berne in Switzerland lived Jacob Amman, in all probability a Mennonite bishop, surely a Mennonite clergyman. He seceded from the Mennonites on the question of church discipline. Said he, you Mennonites have lost the way of life of Menno Simons. You are far too easy on your people. If you excommunicate a brother or sister for transgressing the laws of God or violating the rules of the church, all that it means is that they can’t partake of the Holy Communion. It ought to mean far more than that. It ought to mean “meidung”—a German word meaning avoidance, shunning, ostracism. If we excommunicate some one, we will have no fellowship whatever with him. If we pass him on the street, we will ignore him. We will not buy from him, nor will we sell to him. If he’s a member of our family we will not eat at the same table with him. The Old Order House Amish carry on that tradition to this very day.
Let us first describe the dress of our Amish friends. The Amish man in the winter time will wear a broad-brimmed, low crowned, felt hat. In the summer time, natural rye straw. He will wear a beard after marriage, but no moustache. The moustache in former generations was the hall-mark of a soldier and, of course, he is adverse to anything that savors of the Military. His dress jacket will be fastened with hooks and eyes rather than buttons. The button is too characteristic of the Military uniform. The front of his dress coat (mootza) is usually cut in a V at the top and has the old fashioned Prince Albert coat tails. There are no collar or lapels on his coat. His trousers are broadfalls, buttoned on the hips like a sailor’s trousers.
The Amish woman’s garb is likewise interesting. Her headdress consists of a bonnet and a white cap. The bonnet in the case of adult women is black. Children often wear blue, purple, green bonnets. It is rather big, covers virtually all of her hair. “The hair is woman’s crowning glory” and to expose it, would be vain. There is a long skirt on the bonnet, extending down to the shoulders, over the nape of the neck. Underneath the bonnet, the Amish woman will wear a white cap, which she knows as her prayer cap. This she wears at all times. The cap has white strings which she ties in a neat bow when she is dressed up. When she is working the strings will probably float down her back. The prayer cap has good Scriptural authority, provided we are literalists in interpretation. St. Paul tells us that we are to “pray without ceasing” and that women are not to pray with head uncovered.
Her dress is always a solid color—blue, purple, violet, green, lavender, red—indeed any solid color. Over her shoulders she wears a cape, which comes to a point at the waist, front and back. The cape may be black or the same color as the dress. The young women may wear a white cape when they go to church. A black apron completes her garb. In the case of the young woman the apron is white when she attends morning worship.
They do have virtues that the rest of us would do well to emulate, to our own profit and the profit of society in general. For example, in the Amish community the writer knows an Amish blacksmith, one of the most God-like gentlemen that it has been his privilege to know. The blacksmith does more work, takes in more money on a Saturday than any other day of the week. Some years ago, his neighbor, a “gay” farmer, was ill. It was Saturday morning. The farmer’s hay was lying in the field, ready to be taken into the barn. What did the blacksmith do? He locked up his shop, took himself and his son into the hayfield and by evening the hay was in the barn of the ill farmer. The blacksmith sacrificed his best day’s wages to help his neighbor and brother.
Second:—As we drive through the Amish community and observe their farms and farm buildings we need to remember that there is no fire insurance on the buildings. They look upon insurance as an effort to thwart the will of God. But, let the biggest barn in the Amish community burn to the ground, in ten days or so after the fire, some morning a hundred, two hundred, as high as three hundred Amishmen, will appear; armed with hammers, hatchets, saws—whatever it takes to build a barn—and by evening a new barn will stand on the site. For the material, they will contribute into a common fund. The women will serve two dinners, one at noon, one in the evening. The writer saw a barn raising one day. At four fifteen o’clock in the evening the completed barn stood there. On this barn 201 men were helping. The writer said to the farmer “Uncle Isaac, this must have cost you a pretty penny, just to feed so many men.” Said Uncle Isaac, “It didn’t cost me a cent, the brethren furnished it all.” Mutual helpfulness is still a virtue.
Third:—During the economic depression of the thirties not one penny was paid to an Amish family out of public funds by way of relief. They took care of themselves.
Fourth:—When the Roosevelt administration came to power in 1932 and its department of agriculture found too much wheat, too many pigs, they said, “Let your land lie fallow. We will pay you a subsidy.” The answer of our Amish farmer was, “Nothing doing. This land is a trust from God. Farm it, we will. If you don’t want wheat, we will not farm wheat, nor will we raise pigs, if they are not needed, but farm our land we will, and we don’t want your subsidy. Self reliance is still a virtue.”
The third sect of plain people is the Church of the Brethren or Dunkards. They stem from Alexander Mack, a Mennonite clergyman who seceded from the Mennonites in Schwarzenau, Germany in 1708 on his interpretation of baptism. The Mennonite commonly sprinkles in baptism. Mack taught that to be baptized properly one ought to be immersed, “dunked” if you please.
The Church of the Brethren have largely lost their “Plain Way” of life. Since they have gone in for higher education, their garb has largely disappeared. Few of the men wear beards and most of the Brethren use regular clothing. However, some still wear a garb similar to the Mennonites, the favorite color of the men being grey.