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On the Road Again with Merle

Many people are aware of the large Amish community around Lancaster, PA. But really the entire state of PA is interspersed with Amish communities. The nearby small town of Spartansburg has a pretty large Amish population. I imagine it is strange for people to drive passed buggies on the road, or see a group of 10-year-old boys out harvesting crops by hand. When you grow up around it and interact with them often, it is just another day.

People often think that the Amish live primitively, like pioneers from the 1800’s. But really their houses are no different than your own, other than not having any electricity. They have a kitchen sink with a handpump faucet. Their “living room” is set with furniture all facing the center of a room, instead of towards a television. They read a lot, play games together, work on hobbies and crafts, and spend time with family. In certain ways, I envy their lifestyle. You cannot deny their mindset that technology, while making life easier in many aspects, also can ruin your relationship with family, friends, and God.

Merle got a kick out of this roadsign.



Here is a typical Amish homestead.



Driving past a few horse & buggies, I took a few photos.

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In the town of Spartansburg, there is a large lumber mill that at one time had a waterwheel for hydro power to operate all the equipment inside. The dam is still there, which makes for a scenic area. The mill was converted over to electric power nearly 100 years ago.



From there we traveled to Edinboro to see the Wooden Nickel Buffalo Farm. They raise bison, and sell products related to them, including buffalo meat and cheese, knickknacks and souvenirs. In the fall they do a corn-maze and sell pumpkins.

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Rookie82 said:
Many people are aware of the large Amish community around Lancaster, PA. But really the entire state of PA is interspersed with Amish communities. The nearby small town of Spartansburg has a pretty large Amish population. I imagine it is strange for people to drive passed buggies on the road, or see a group of 10-year-old boys out harvesting crops by hand. When you grow up around it and interact with them often, it is just another day.

People often think that the Amish live primitively, like pioneers from the 1800’s. But really their houses are no different than your own, other than not having any electricity. They have a kitchen sink with a handpump faucet. Their “living room” is set with furniture all facing the center of a room, instead of towards a television. They read a lot, play games together, work on hobbies and crafts, and spend time with family. In certain ways, I envy their lifestyle. You cannot deny their mindset that technology, while making life easier in many aspects, also can ruin your relationship with family, friends, and God.

Merle got a kick out of this roadsign.

View attachment 1916311

Here is a typical Amish homestead.

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Driving past a few horse & buggies, I took a few photos.

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Click to expand...
I agree with you on the Amish lifestyle. I drove past a lot of Amish farms between York and Delta Pa when I worked in Delta.
Thanks again for the photo and history on the areas.
 
RLB0414 said:
I agree with you on the Amish lifestyle. I drove past a lot of Amish farms between York and Delta Pa when I worked in Delta.
Thanks again for the photo and history on the areas.
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Thank RLB, glad you have enjoyed my pics and ramblings!
 
Rookie82 said:
We just picked some sweet corn out of my uncle's field and the ears are thinner and shorter than normal. Too long without enough rain!

Thanks Harry!
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Saturday evening at the ranch. Taking pics for the registration of this five month old colt:

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Not sure what the cows are eating but they're all fat. Little rain next year again and we'll have to pare down the herd.
 
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Horsewright said:
Saturday evening at the ranch. Taking pics for the registration of this five month old colt:

68glmVr.jpg


3wHViAc.jpg


Not sure what the cows are eating but they're all fat. Little rain next year again and we'll have to pare down the herd.
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Funny what you grow accustomed to. The only thing around here that isn't green is the sky (sometimes it is even a greenish hue). If we go too long without green we get the jitters.
 
Looking forward to getting old Merle (or is it new Merle?) and having him do some shop work and help me get some muscadines for jelly and wine! I’ll make sure he’s well protected from the Louisiana humidity while here!
 
There is an Amish community in the Shenandoah valley, I believe near Harrisonburg. Also out in Ohio. If I remember correctly, they can use propane.
 
Rookie82 said:
It was good timing for Merle to visit when he did. Yesterday Merle was treated with a visit to the Crawford County Fair, which has been run continuously since 1945 (except for Covid shutdown in 2020). This is the largest agricultural fair held anywhere in the Eastern US.

Among normal fair attractions of games, concessions, and rides, it also has a large amount of homeshow buildings for the public to enter for judging of produce, baked goods, crafts, etc. There also is a huge number of barns for housing all the animals used for showing and competing. And there is a grandstand used for main events like the Demolition Derby, Truck/Tractor Pulls, horse racing and equestrian events, and music concerts.

The fairgrounds themselves occupy around 70 acres, with an additional 50 acres used for parking. During the week there are a lot of 4H and FFA showing, and auctions to buy animals. A lot of local restaurants come to purchase beef and pork directly from the farmers.

This is the north end of the grounds where a majority of the show arenas and livestock barns are located. Merle really loves the smell of fresh manure!

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Here is Merle with some of the livestock. The sheep/goats are always entertaining.

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Thanks for taking Merle to the fair, Carl. Looks like fun! :thumbsup: They’ve got the Minnesota State Fair going on here right now, and I realized the other day that we’ve lived here for four years and haven’t ever been. (To be honest with you, the state fair here seems a bit… intense. 😳🤣 Your county fair looks more my speed.)

Rookie82 said:
Since I was about 11, my mother and step-father bought a building on the fairgrounds and sold various different fair foods, but the mainstay was homemade curly fries. His last name was Curley, so it was a natural fit. I was allowed to run free around the fair every day from 11am-5, but then helped out in the food stand from 5-close during the after-work rush of crowds. I may have hated it at the time, but looking back it gives a lot of good memories and taught me a good work ethic.

When my step-father passed away, my youngest step-brother picked up the reigns and runs the stand now. They go through around 2000 pounds of potatoes in 7 days, along with all the other types of food they offer (hot sausage, cheeseburgers, rootbeer floats, BBQ pulled pork, etc.)

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That cool that your family have their own stand at the fair. Looks like a great place to grab a bite!

Rookie82 said:
For those who have been to this area of Pennsylvania, or have come to a GEC Rendezvous, I think you will like this one.

Today was exciting. Merle was homesick, and so we had to go back to the GEC factory for a quick drive past. Since it was Sunday hours, we couldn’t take a factory tour, but it still put him into good spirits just seeing his old stomping grounds.

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That’s great! I didn’t realize you were that close to Titusville (although thinking back I’m sure you’ve posted about it before). It’s funny, it’s been less than a year since Merle left that building the first time, and he’s done an awful lot of traveling since then. 🙂

Thanks for the interesting history of the area. Some of it I’d heard/read before, but a lot of it was new to me. :thumbsup:

Rookie82 said:
From there we were lucky enough to attend the Erie Tall Ships festival that happened to be going on at the Erie Maritime Museum. This is a yearly festival that attracts a fleet of historic sailing vessels, and allows the public to see them up close. The main attraction is the flagship US Brig Niagara, which is a warship from the War of 1812, and fought (and won) in the Battle of Lake Erie. It was fully restored/rebuilt and relaunched in 1988, and it is permanently docked year round here in Erie.

Merle was not allowed past security, but I managed to sneak him through anyways. But the ships were so crowded it was impossible to get nice photos of them. They also had large sections tarped over so that the guests didn’t get too hot, but I think it took away from the authenticity. Here is a shot of the Niagara sailing that I found on the internet, along with my photos.

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Dang, Carl, you really went all out showing Merle around! Another very cool and interesting post. That ship is fantastic! 😎

Rookie82 said:
Merle was not allowed past security, but I managed to sneak him through anyways.
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🤣🤣

Rookie82 said:
One last attraction. Has anyone here saw the world’s largest rubber ducky? Merle has!!!

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That’s great! 🤣

Rookie82 said:
I will be sending Merle along to his next stop tomorrow, but I've got photos prepared for 3 more days of posts in the meantime.

For today's post we visited the famous Kinzua Bridge Viaduct, which was a railroad trestle that was known as the “8th Wonder of the World” when it was created in 1882. The bridge was 301 feet high above the valley floor, and was nearly ½ mile long. At the time it was made, it was the record for tallest bridge in the world. However, in 1900 it was slowly disassembled/reassembled 1 piece at a time, replacing the wrought iron with steel instead, so that it could support heavier train loads. It was used for commercial freight trains up through 1959, at which point the land around it became a state park, and the bridge was only used for small train rides to tourists ever since.

The bridge made it possible to navigate across the steep valley, carrying coal from Elk County straight into Bradford, PA, and preventing an 8 mile detour to get around the valley. The bridge was undergoing some maintenance in July 2003 when a tornado touched down and traveled up the valley. When it hit the bridge, it caused 11 of the 20 support towers to collapse, ending the use of the viaduct.

In 2011, the remaining portion of the bridge was converted into a walkway for tourists, and they added in a visitors center and museum. Hiking trails were created, and many festivities are now held there. If any of you are ever in the area, I highly recommend you visit. The information, videos, photos, and information in the museum is quite interesting, and it is all free admission.

An investigation in 2004 of the bridge remains revealed that during the 1900 switch from iron to steel, the workers reused the bolts from the original 1882 bridge to hold the upright towers onto the stone anchor blocks. Engineers theorized that if “modern” 1900 bolts had been used, the bridge likely would have withstood the high winds from the tornado.

Here is a photo of the original bridge before the collapse.

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Here is the new “skywalk” bridge, using about 1/3 of the original bridge. Merle really liked the view.

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Another fascinating post, Carl! That’s a shame about the tornado, but I think it’s awesome what they’ve done with what remains of the bridge. So much better than just letting it fall further into disrepair. :thumbsup:

Rookie82 said:
Many people are aware of the large Amish community around Lancaster, PA. But really the entire state of PA is interspersed with Amish communities. The nearby small town of Spartansburg has a pretty large Amish population. I imagine it is strange for people to drive passed buggies on the road, or see a group of 10-year-old boys out harvesting crops by hand. When you grow up around it and interact with them often, it is just another day.

People often think that the Amish live primitively, like pioneers from the 1800’s. But really their houses are no different than your own, other than not having any electricity. They have a kitchen sink with a handpump faucet. Their “living room” is set with furniture all facing the center of a room, instead of towards a television. They read a lot, play games together, work on hobbies and crafts, and spend time with family. In certain ways, I envy their lifestyle. You cannot deny their mindset that technology, while making life easier in many aspects, also can ruin your relationship with family, friends, and God.

Merle got a kick out of this roadsign.

View attachment 1916311

Here is a typical Amish homestead.

View attachment 1916312

Driving past a few horse & buggies, I took a few photos.

View attachment 1916313View attachment 1916314
Click to expand...

Interesting bit of local culture there. :thumbsup:
 
Well guys this will be my final Merle post.

For this adventure we visited the nearby town of Cambridge Springs. The town began in 1822, and was named Cambridge, however the popularity of the mineral springs in the area lead to a name change. The town was quite popular with tourists, not only due to the natural spring baths, but also because it is the ½ way mark for a railroad trip between New York City, and Chicago. Trains often stopped here, and tourists walked the town and stayed at the hotel resorts. There were many shops and hotels along main street, all within walking distance of the railroad depot. In addition, if you draw a circle connecting Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Cleveland, you would find that Cambridge Springs is at the center.

One of the largest hotels was the Riverside Inn, which was built in the 1880’s. It had 74 guest rooms, a restaurant, a theater, billiard room, many lounges, and was surrounded by a natural bend in the river, offering tremendous views. The nearby Riverside Golf Course was a short walk away. And the biggest attraction was a boardwalk that was constructed, connecting the hotel to the nearby mineral springs baths.

Although tourism interest in the springs waned after the 1950’s, the hotel was able to keep busy with a fine dining restaurant, and dinner theater events on weekends. The hotel was kept as authentic as possible, and the entire interior was furnished with 19th century antiques. Sadly in 2017, a fire broke out in the middle of the night in the restaurant kitchen, and by the time fire crews arrived, it was beyond saving.

Today a restaurant called Riverside Brewing is at the location, and they honor the history of the hotel. The boardwalk and spring house were long gone before I was born, but the concrete pillars are still visible.

Here is a photo of the hotel in it’s former glory.



A photo of the boardwalk pillars.



And a photo of what is left of the boardwalk now.


(images removed due to BF Attachment limits)
 
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