In And Around Gettysburg From Amish Settlements To Civil War Re-Enactments, History Is Alive In Pennsylvania

To get here from Philadelphia, about 120 miles to the east, takes only a couple of hours if you vrooom along U.S. 30 - maybe a day if you dawdle along the way. What a waste. If you spread the drive out over a few days, you’ll discover a treasure trove of historical riches, country scenes that look like Grandma Moses’ paintings and a delightful assortment of out-of-theordinary places waiting for you on out-of-the-way back roads.

U.S. 30 spans the counties of Lancaster, York and Adams before it reaches the famed Civil War Battlefield at Gettysburg.

Lancaster County is probably the best known of the three, famous as Pennsylvania Dutch country and home to America’s oldest Amish and Mennonite settlements. You’ll want to leave U.S. 30 at Gap (the start of a tacky gift shop stretch) and head north on Route 772 to Intercourse on Route 340, the old “King’s Highway” which began in 1733 as part of the Allegheny Indian path.

This is the heart of the Old Amish settlement in North America, evidenced by horse-drawn buggies and picture postcard farms. Fields stretch out in a patchwork of green and gold. Teams of mules pull farm machinery. Windmills turn against the sky - pumping water, not generating electricity. The Amish simple lifestyle excludes such worldly things as lights and television.

Stop off first in the village of Intercourse, the best place to get your bearings. The People’s Place (an interpretive center) has produced a worthwhile half-hour slide documentary entitled, “Who are the Amish?” A small interactive museum upstairs provides a close-up look at Amish life, from displays of hats and bonnets to miniature carriages. Children can even try on Amish clothes in a “dress-up” room.

Across the street you’ll find the Quilt Museum on the second floor of The Old Country Store. At Kitchen Kettle Village, a community of 30 shops and restaurants, you can sample Pennsylvania Dutch food (from chow-chow to shoo fly pie), decorate your own cookies, shop for gifts, watch artisans craft their wares, or take a guided tour of the countryside in a horse-drawn wagon.

On almost any back road off the 340 between here and the city of Lancaster, you’re sure to see signs, “Quilts for sale,” in front of a farm, where Amish and Mennonite women sell hand-stitched quilts from their homes. Nearly every weekend you’re likely to stumble upon farmers’ markets, open-air concerts, livestock auctions, Bavarian festivals, craft fairs, and outdoor art shows.

Strasburg is home to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and the Toy Train Museum. Anderson’s, the world’s largest pretzel bakery, hosts free tours in Lancaster. The Landis Valley Museum, a heritage museum with nearly two dozen exhibit buildings interpreting traditional Pennsylvania German rural life in the 1700s and 1800s, is just outside Lancaster. And you’ll find the impressive Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia.

Back on U.S. 30, you enter York County when you cross the Susquehanna River. In the historic city of York (first capital of the United States for nine months) you can visit a replica of the Colonia Courthouse, the 1741 Golden Plough Tavern, the Central Market House (a Romanesque Revival Hall built in 1888) and the Fire Museum with two centuries of engines, equipment and memorabilia in a turn-of-the-century fire house.

Pick up the York County Country brochure from the Visitors Bureau and investigate the back roads south of the city. Victorian houses, artist studios, antique centers, wine cellars and regional parks (perfect for a picnic lunch) are scattered throughout the wooded, rolling hills.

Two stone mills on Route 216 have been lovingly transformed into commercial shops. The Stone Mill, a 1790 paper mill in Glenville, showcases pottery and woodwork crafted by the owners, as well as folk art, furniture baskets, linens and jewelry. The Glen Rock Mill Inn, its original water wheels still intact, has been converted into a beautiful restaurant and 12-room B&B.

You have to go out of your way (back-tracking to the Susquehanna River) to reach the Indian Steps Museum, but it’s worth it - if nothing else, for the lovely river road drive. Located on nearly 10 acres of landscaped grounds beside the river, the small museum holds Indian artifacts dating back to 2000 B.C., as well as memorabilia ranging from ceremonial rattles to Iroquois masks.

But the main attraction is Gettysburg, famous for the Civil War battle (the Confederate troops marched in along what is now U.S. 30) and the National Military Park that takes up 25 square miles in and around the town.

The park includes the battlefield, the Gettysburg National Cemetery (where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic 271-word Gettysburg Address) and the Eisenhower National Historic Site (the president’s farm and retirement home).

Gettysburg is a small town, crowded with tourists and too many souvenir shops, but there is a selfguided Civil War walking tour of the town’s battle-related sites (the Travel Council provides maps).

The greatest battle fought on this continent took place on the rolling green farmland surrounding this small village during three days in July 1863. In the peaceful fields today, children play where men marched with swords held high, birds nest in cannon muzzles and families picnic where soldiers died.

Allow plenty of time; there’s much to see.

Start at the National Park Service Visitor Center and pick up an official guide and map. Park rangers also lead walks and give programs at various locations on the battlefield.

By far the best way to see the battleground is with one of the Park Service-licensed guides. They’re experts; they’ve had to pass strict tests to land the job. Furthermore, it’s a bargain - only $20 per car for two hours.

The guides will customize the tour to your interests. If, for instance, your great-great-grandfather fought from Virginia, you’ll be taken to the appropriate locations and monuments and told the relevant stories about Virginia’s part in the battle.

There are only rare instances of an unhappy customer. Last year, one woman told a guide that she wanted to take a picture of every statue.

“I told her it would take a week,” he said. “There are more than 1,000 monuments.”