Lancaster and Hershey's Chocolate World

While we were in Amish country we went into Lancaster and (at the recommendation of a couple we met at the Amish feast) Hershey’s Chocolate World.

Lancaster has several decorated pianos around the streets, a bit like sculptures but anyone can play them.  It's a fantastic idea!

A sweet garden scene in front of one of Lancaster's many churches.

The Lancaster Central Market building.

                                           This stall only sold edible doggie treats.

Many of the stalls were run by the Amish.

Next day we went to Hershey's Chocolate World which really is very interesting.

We took a little train ride around to see how chocolate is made.  These gorgeous girls were part of it.

This trolley bus took us around the town to tell and show us the Milton Hershey story.  He was an amazing man.  After amassing a huge fortune making chocolate, he set up a school for under privileged children from all over America, then left his whole fortune for its future.  It is basically a private philanthropic boarding school and one of the wealthiest schools in the world.  There are more than 1800 children from Pre-School to Year 12.   

This is Milton's home.  Quite modest really.

This is the magnificent hall at  the school.  It is based on the Pantheon.  By the way, Milton Hershey also donated heavily to the local high school so everyone around had equal opportunities.  

The marble floor.

This is one of the hundreds of lovely houses in which the the children from different states live.  They have about six to eight children, with two house parents.

Milton Hershey' workers were also well looked after, with cheap housing etc and even  entertainment parks and a zoo.  Don't think it was quite this fancy in Milton's day.  The factory is in the background.

Amish Country, Pennsylvania 20, 21, 22 May

We spent three nights in Amish Country.  The area was not quite what we expected, as it is being eaten up by strip malls, fast food joints and outlet shops.  However if you get off the main roads it is more peaceful.

The Amish still till their soil using horse power.

Horses are also used for spreading muck.

A typical farm in the area.

Covered bridges to keep the snow off.

Horses rule here.
 

We took a carriage ride to an Amish farm with the owner - well, his son runs it now.

From inside the carriage.

The farm house. No electricity or running water connected but they do run a generator for the milking and they use gas for lighting.

An out house.

Demonstrating the milking equipment.

 

Amish cows at work.

Anyone for a letter box?

Early evening we went to a brilliant sound and light musical produced by the Amish called Jonah, with live animals and amazing effects.  They do a different musical each year based on a bible story. The shows run all year to packed audiences - many people come to the area just to see them.  After that we went to a  communal Amish feast.

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia and Gettysburg

On the way to Amish country we stopped at these two very interesting Civil War battle centres.

 

Harpers Ferry is right on the Corner of West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania and it turned out to be a picture perfect spot.  It was a strategic spot during the Civil War, changing hands between the Unionists (the North) and the Confederates (the South) eight times between 1861 and 1865, so it is surrounded by many battlefields.  American history is really very tumultuous.  

Harpers  Ferry was an important centre for early transportation because the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers converge here.

The old railway tracks.

The remains of one of the locks on the canal.  Canals were competing with the railroad for freight. The railroad was cheaper and faster so it won!

The Potomac from the bridge.

This is part of the armoury the abolitionist John Brown seized, in the hope of using the weapons for guerrilla warfare.  He and his men were captured after three days and he was hung for his efforts.  However it is believed John Brown focused the nation's attention on the moral issue of slavery and lead the country towards the Civil War.

The hilly village of Harpers Ferry.

View from the church.

Harpers Ferry village street.

Meeting up with Abraham Lincoln at the Gettysburg Visitors Centre.  This is where he made his famous Gettysburg Address.

This is a wonderful sound and light cyclorama painting, the "Battle of Gettysburg".  It is in a specially designed circular room in the museum at the Visitor's Centre.  It was completed in 1884 and is 377 feet long.

The many battle fields are covered with memorials commemorating the battle of 1863, when the Confederate and Union troops fought the bloodiest battle in US history.  The battle lasted three days with over 51,000 men dead, wounded or missing.  In the end the Confederates, under Robert E Lee retreated.

Another battle field memorial.  You can do a 26 mile self guided driving tour around the  fields.

Gettysburg itself is an attractive, patriotic town. 
 

A ‘patriotic’ Gettysburg house.

Charlottesville Virginia, the Skyline Drive and Winchester 19 May

After our second day on the Blue Ridge Parkway we stayed in the pretty university town of Charlottesville, founded in 1762, so we could visit Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson.

When we arrive in the town we found they were having a big party for commencement, or graduation.

This is the concert stage.

Next day we visited Monticello, the World Heritage Plantation home of Thomas Jefferson, writer of the Declaration of Independence and the Third President.  Jefferson traveled overseas a lot and designed this house himself, in part based on Palladio's principles.

He also designed the inside, with many innovative ideas.  Unfortunately we couldn't take any photos inside, but it was really lovely, especially his tearoom.

He had beautiful grounds, including a vineyard (and sadly lots of slaves to take care of  them).

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Veggie gardens.

Poppies in the flower gardens.

Thomas Jefferson was very interested in science and many other scholarly pursuits, including instruments for observing, measuring and recording nature.  This is the indicator of wind direction, mounted in the entry porch and connected with a wind vane on the roof.

Bill by the sundial.

We seem to be meeting up with Thomas where ever we go.

An historic tavern just outside Monticello.

A building in the University of Virginia which was also designed by Thomas Jefferson.

The narrow Skyline Drive on the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shandoah National Park, goes for 105 miles and we followed most of it after we visited Monticello, on the way to our next stop, Winchester.

The trees in this part of the Blue Ridge Mountains seem softer.  They are predominantly various species of oaks and the altitude is lower.

View from an overlook.

More tunnels.

A railway line.

We arrived in Winchester just in time for dinner.  Winchester was settled by Quakers in 1732 and  the area was the scene of many battles in the Civil War, being in the hands of both sides at various stages.  Also home to Patsy Cline!  This is their library.

There are many Georgian looking homes in the old town.  It reminds you of many English towns and in fact we ate at an "English pub restaurant".

This building was the old Court House and was used as a hospital and a temporary prison by both side during the Civil War. 

A Winchester street scene!

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