Garden Spot: Lancaster County, the Old Order Amish, and the Selling of Rural America

271 Pages·2002·1.87 MB·English

by  David Walbert

GARDEN SPOT
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GARDEN
SPO✸ T
Lancaster County,the Old Order Amish,
and the Selling of Rural America
DAVID WALBERT
1
2002
3
Oxford New York
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Copyright © 2002by Oxford University Press,Inc.
Published by Oxford University Press,Inc.
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All rights reserved.No part ofthis publication may be reproduced,
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Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Walbert,David J.
Garden spot :Lancaster County,the old order Amish,and the selling
ofrural America / David Walbert.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-19-514843-6;ISBN 0-19-514844-4 (pbk.)
1.Lancaster County (Pa.)—Rural conditions. 2.Amish Country (Pa.)
3.Rural development—Pennsylvania—Lancaster County. I.Title.
HN79.P42L368 2002
306'.09748'15—dc21 2001051008
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
on acid-free paper
for Kathy,who believes
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✸
Plowing is an expression of faith. Men go forth with
tractors and teams and dark ribbons of moist humus
curl away from bright metal shares and weave a pattern
on thecountryside.And when the thick slices arecrum-
bled into a soft seed bed,men place seeds in Earth’s
warming breast,secure in their faith that when Time is
fulfilled,green shoots will rise to meet sun and stars,
and that after Nature’s ordained period of growth,full
corn in the ear will be ready for the harvest....
Certain things in this world are enduring because
they are based on faith. Across a nation these sunny
fifth month days,men are plowing,harrowing,and seed-
ing.Whenever you see fresh soil turned to the sun and
rain,you know that men with faith are following in the
footsteps of those who have lived a life based on verities
that shall not die.
—Lancaster New Era,May 14,1955
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✸
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book began decades ago when I was a child in Lancaster County and has
been slowly forming ever since,and it has been helped along the way by more
people than I can count.I probably owe a great deal to the two or three hundred
residents ofEast Drumore Township who turned out on a fall evening in 1990to
protest a planned development near my childhood home;it was at that meeting,
listening to their arguments pro and con,that I began thinking seriously about
the issues I address in this book.During the time I spent in Lancaster doing re-
search,the people I met in libraries,at tourist attractions,and even at the grocery
store were unfailingly helpful and interested in my work.Anne Kenne ofFranklin
and Marshall College’s Special Collections Library,Tom Ryan and the staffofthe
Lancaster County Historical Society,and Carolyn Wenger ofthe Lancaster Men-
nonite Historical Society were all tremendously helpful in finding and identifying
source materials,and the staffofthe microforms desk at the Lancaster Public Li-
brary never once complained about the stacks offilm I left for re-filing on a daily
basis.Elizabeth Logan,Scott Standish,June Mengel,Ivan Glick,and Alan Mussel-
man all lent me materials that I was too slow in returning.Fred Daum gave me a
behind-the-scenes tour, both real and verbal, of Lancaster’s farm preservation
movement that helped me to understand its personal side in a way that docu-
ments and newspaper articles could not.
This book would never have taken the shape it did without the advice ofmy
graduate advisor,Peter Filene,who saw the project through its first incarnation.
For his thoughtful reading and commentary,his support and enthusiasm,and
most ofall for his willingness to believe in me and in this project at a time when
he had little objective reason to do so,I will be forever grateful.Jacquelyn Hall
similarly encouraged me,once upon a time,to take a chance on this project.Oth-
ers who read drafts,listened,and offered their thoughts include Alison Isenberg,
Jim Leloudis,Catherine Lutz,Kathy Newfont,and Deborah Pedersen.No doubt I