The Amish Village

The Amish Village

There are a couple (well, more than that, I’m sure) attractions in the Lancaster, PA area that strive to give insight into Amish life and traditions.  One of them is The Amish Village.  I wrote about a different location earlier, and actually, the two places complement each other a lot.  

One of the things that I liked about The Amish Village is that they offer typed translations of the tour introduction and the tour through the house.  It’s nice that a person who doesn’t speak English can still get the information for the tour.

The house portion of the tour also includes some older style of furniture and other items like appliances that may or may not be in use right now but are very interesting to see.  Can you imagine sleeping in a bed like this one?

The Amish have found interesting ways to cope with the modern world while still trying to stay disconnected from the rest of the world.  They quite often will use bottled gas to power things we use electricity for, like lighting.  

We also got to see a “kitchen” down in the basement.  I’ve seen (and cooked on) wood cook stoves, but I’ve never seen one like this before.  It is actually divided in two and has separate dampers to allow the women to cook food at different temperatures.  Isn’t that cool?

After the house tour, we were left to wander around the “village”.  There were several things around the “village” that I was excited to see!

Yes, I do really like to see the animals, and there are a quite a few animals around The Amish Village.  There were chickens, peacocks, and this cute little cow.

And let’s not forget Mr. Ed.  There was a mule beside Mr. Ed and a few miniature horses or donkeys across the way.  

There is a Blacksmith shop and a one-room schoolhouse.  We were able to go into the one-room schoolhouse and see how it was set up for school.  Of course, there were student desks, a wood stove, and a teacher desk.  However, there were also some school books on display, as well as a chart explaining the difference between an Amish education and a public school education.  

My favorite part of The Amish Village?  The wagons.  The Amish Village has several different types of Amish wagons and has each marked with a sign that tells the usage of that particular wagon.  For instance, this is a market wagon and is used for shopping because the rear seat is removable, and the back panel can be raised to allow groceries to be put in the back.  

There are also a couple of stores in The Amish Village.  The first store we stopped in sold Amish-made jams, whoopee pies, and snacks.  The other store was more like a gift shop that sold Amish-made goods (sewn crafts) and area souvenirs.

If you are in Lancaster County, PA, The Amish Village is definitely worth the stop!  You can find pricing and the different tour offerings available on The Amish Village website. 

Disclosure:  My family received free tickets to visit their farmhouse and village tour.  We received no other compensation, and all opinions are 100% our own.