Standing in line at Zimmerman's grocery store in Intercourse, Pa., one of the many small towns amid the cornfields of Lancaster County, I chatted with the man in front of me, a middle-aged Amish father with a long salt-and-pepper beard.
Like other Amish, he shunned many aspects of modern life. His horse and buggy waited outside, and he spoke to his sons in the German dialect still used by his people.
But hearing a beeping sound, I noticed another detail about the man: He was wearing an electronic pager on his waist. The pager is one more indication that the world of the Lancaster Amish is changing.
Facing a shortage of farmland and encroaching development, many Amish farmers are abandoning agriculture for commerce, a decision that often necessitates using modern devices to deal with non-Amish.
As a result, visitors have more opportunities to interact with the Amish than ever before. But just as the Amish are changing, so too is the experience for tourists.
While it's now possible to arrange dinner with an Amish family in their home, for example, it's also likely that visitors will encounter less-than-genuine Amish kitsch. Recently, I set out to find an authentic Amish experience in Lancaster County.
Rich legacy
The Amish have lived in the Lancaster area since the early 1700s, when Anabaptists -- Christians believing in adult baptism, such as the Amish and their less strict cousins, the Mennonites -- fled religious persecution in Europe and landed in William Penn's new colony, which promised tolerance.
In the past 20 years, however, as the Philadelphia suburbs have extended, property values in Lancaster County have skyrocketed, and so have property taxes.
According to Randolph Harris, executive director of the county's Historic Preservation Trust, Lancaster land today fetches the highest prices of any Pennsylvania farmland. Meanwhile, the Amish have seen their population double during the past two decades.
Consequently, many Lan-caster Amish have had little choice but to go into business. According to Donald Kraybill, author of The Riddle of Amish Culture, though 95 percent of Amish were farmers 50 years ago, today more than half of Lan-caster Amish work in nonfarm occupations, mainly crafts shops targeting tourists and small businesses serving the Amish community.
Others have sold their land to developers. As a result, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has named Lancaster County farmland one of the Top 10 most endangered historic sites in the country.
My first day in Amish Country started at a place few tourists seem to visit, the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau just outside Lancaster. (When Anabaptists first came to America, they were mistakenly called "Dutch"; the name stuck.)
Many tourists visit the area on bus tours or just drive along the central thoroughfares of Route 30 and Route 222. The visitors bureau is located just off Route 30. The knowledgeable staff offered detailed recommendations about the best places to interact with the Amish without offending them.
As I headed east from the visitors bureau along Route 30, I was soon confronted by the commercialization of Amish Country.
Once a rural road, Route 30 teems with strip malls, fast-food joints, housing developments, retirement communities and fake Amish attractions that seem to give the impression that the Amish are there for outsiders' amusement.
"Though they are humble people, many Amish are angry. ...They feel they have been exploited for tourism," says Kraybill. "They want to sell some products to visitors, but they get nothing from many attractions and from media attention."
I stopped at Dutch Wonder-land. Heavily advertised throughout central Pennsylvania, Dutch Wonderland is a theme park complete with Pennsylvania Dutch-oriented rides and miniature golf.
I saw no Amish at the park -- not a surprise, given that most Amish believe recreation should take place near the home, to keep the family closer together.
Farther on Route 30, I stopped at another attraction that claimed to be more authentic. The Amish Farm and House, an 1805 structure, promised a tour through a working Amish farm and a glimpse into the Anabaptist lifestyle. But the tour proved to be a buggy ride led by non-Amish around a tiny farm, where I saw no Pennsylvania Dutch and heard only honking on nearby Route 30.
I drove on, stopping at the Mennonite Information Center and Biblical Tabernacle Repro-duction, said to be an authoritative store and museum focusing on the Pennsylvania Dutch. The museum shop contained primarily books on Christian philosophy and little background on the Amish.
I had heard that the staff there could arrange visits to Amish homes, but the attendant on duty said it would be better for me to try Amish families directly, a strategy that seemed unwise. What Amish family would welcome a random visitor walking in for dinner? (Later, I learned that Mennonite B&Bs; in the area are best at arranging visits.)
I moved on. After stopping at one of the many Starbucks that have sprung up along Route 30, I visited some of the large Amish-themed shopping centers on the road. The businesses claim to offer local products -- many advertise Amish-made cheese, quilts, candles and other crafts. Yet I noticed that many of the goods for sale came from outside the county.
Off the beaten track
I left Route 30, driving north along Wilmer Road and Route 772 into the bucolic heart of the county. Almost immediately, I saw what I had come for: Amish farmers driving horse teams through wide fields of corn, one-room schoolhouses and traditional homes, identified by their sheds for buggies and lack of fancy curtains.
On the back roads, I also glimpsed a mix of Amish and non-Amish traditions -- Amish children using in-line skates, for example -- and discovered that the best way to avoid faux Amish kitsch is to stay off Route 30.
Near the end of Wilmer Road, I saw a handmade sign advertising quilts, and stopped at Hannah Stoltzfoos' house. Stoltzfoos sells her quilts to stores along Route 30 but also runs a less expensive shop out of her home.
Not that Amish quilts are cheap. The striking, geometrically patterned quilts are the sect's best-known products, and large ones can sell for thousands of dollars. In the shop, Hannah pointed out how the pattern, varieties of stuffing and other details determine the quality and price of a quilt.
A few miles east of her shop, I puttered along narrow Gibbons Road, passing Amish children playing baseball in a yard, dressed in long trousers and straw hats. Older wooden houses contrasted with larger, stone structures. All the buildings had clotheslines outside. The Amish do not use washing machines.
On Monterey Road, off Route 772, I spent the afternoon sampling produce at roadside stands, many of which were run on the honor system: Take some fruit or veggies or pie and leave money in a box near the stand.
The stands offered not only delicious food but also an opportunity to interact in a more natural setting with younger Amish. Most of the stands were staffed by teen-agers.
At Glick's roadside stand, girls talked excitedly in old German while baking shoofly pie, a Pennsylvania Dutch treat filled with molasses and topped with sugary crumbs.
Other stands specialized in canned vegetables, sauerkraut and various items that reflect the Amish European heritage.
I finished my day in Inter-course, east of Lancaster. A few boisterous teen-age Amish walked through the town. I wondered if they were taking part in the practice known in old German as rumspringa, a time when Amish teen-agers explore the non-Amish world before deciding whether to officially enter the church.
Though for many kids rumspringa means little more than trying the Internet or eating at McDonald's, some teens party hard. The recent film Devil's Playground, which examines the rumspringa period, includes scenes of beer guzzling and sex play. Still, more than 90 percent of Amish children enter the church.
The People's Place, a museum and shop in Intercourse, had been recommended as the most accessible source of historical background on the Amish.
The People's Place Quilt Museum offered a good introduction to Amish quilting styles. Across the street, the People's Place theater, a small room full of folding chairs, showed a thought-provoking film overview of Amish life. The movie included intimate photographs of the normally publicity-shy sect and skillfully broached topics visitors wonder about -- individuality vs. conformity, the pros and cons of rejecting some aspects of modern life.
Markets popular
The second day of my trip was devoted to markets, which along with roadside stands provide the best opportunity for interaction with the Amish.
The day before, I had briefly visited the farmers' market in Bird in Hand, a small town near Lancaster. The Bird in Hand Farmers Market featured vendors selling fresh Lancaster cheese and pies, but the market attracted mostly tourists.
Next I set out for the Green Dragon market, which operates every Friday in Ephrata, a town north of Lancaster.
At 10 a.m., the market was already packed with locals, and I counted far more buggies than tour buses. Though much of the market was devoted to local produce, its sheer size -- Green Dragon sprawls for 30 acres -- ensured a variety of vendors.
In just one row of stalls, I spotted an elderly non-Amish man peddling porcelain Russian dolls, a young Amish couple selling socks and a grizzled motorcycle enthusiast touting Harley Davidson accessories. I talked to an Amish couple who came every Friday to peddle their home-grown cherries.
Vendors give free samples of many foods, including shoofly pie, locally made spicy jack cheese, sweet pickle chips and fresh cherries.
From Ephrata, I drove east along Route 322, an area heavily populated by Amish. On the eight-mile stretch between Ephrata and Blue Ball, I counted 10 roadside produce stands.
Later, on Route 23, I glimpsed a sign: "Cabinet Shop, Second Farm on Left." I turned down a small lane and pulled into a gravel driveway and was met by a middle-aged Amish man with a shirt covered in paint stains. He introduced himself as Henry Stoltzfus -- it's a common Amish surname -- and showed me into his barn, where hay and paint combined to create a foul smell, but the quality of Stoltzfus' workmanship was evident.
Elegant, hard-carved cherry, maple and oak cabinets, beds and nightstands were all over the shop. I took his business card, an accessory that has become as common among some Amish craftsmen as among businessmen in the city.
Three weeks later, after numerous attempts to call Stoltzfus -- among some Amish, phones are allowed in offices for work purposes, but answering machines are not -- I finally reached him, and we set a date for me to buy one of his lovely nightstands.
I ended my trip in downtown Lancaster, at the Central Market. Anabaptist farmers first brought produce to the site of the Central Market in the 1730s, and in 1889 the city built the current market, a stately brick Victorian building.
The market caters to a slightly more upscale crowd than Green Dragon. Alongside the Amish pies, cakes and sausages for sale, gourmet stands offer samosas and yogurt smoothies.
When you go
Getting there: Lancaster County is about 90 minutes from Baltimore by car. Take I-83 north into Pennsylvania to Route 30 East. After about 20 miles, you will be in the heart of Lancaster, near the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Central Market.
Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau, 501 Greenfield Road, Lancaster, PA 17601
717-299-8901
www.padutchcountry.com
* A knowledgeable staff offers recommendations on how best to interact with the Amish. And the Web site lists a variety of information about attractions, dining and lodging.
The People's Place, 3513 Old Philadelphia Pike, P.O. Box 419, Intercourse, PA 17534
800-390-8436
www.thepeoplesplace.com
* The museum and shop offers an accessible source of historical background on the Amish.
Green Dragon, 955 North State St., Ephrata, PA 17522
717-738-1117
www.greendragonmarket.com
* More than 400 local growers, craftsmen and merchants offer products at the weekly market, which is open every Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Central Market, King and Queen streets, Lancaster, PA 17608
717-291-4739
www.lancasterpa.net
* The downtown Lancaster site bills itself as the country's oldest publicly owned, continuously operated farmers' market. Open Tuesday and Friday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
When to go: Lancaster County is accessible year-round. Fall is probably the most scenic time to visit, because of foliage (www.fallinpa.com provides information about the best places in the state to view foliage).
* Summer and fall are the best time to catch a "mud sale," Lancaster auctions that benefit local fire companies and draw thousands of people looking to buy quilts, antiques and local produce.
* Some tour operators tell travelers not to visit Lancaster on Sundays, because the Amish and Mennonites attend church, and many shops are closed. However, Sunday can be a great day to discreetly view the Amish and Mennonites as they travel in buggies to each other's farms for religious services and visits.
Lodging: A variety of accommodations, including camping, is available in and around Lancaster. One option is staying at a Mennonite-run bed and breakfast. In addition, some Mennonites can arrange dinners at Amish households. The Mennonite Information Center and Biblical Tabernacle Repro-duction, on Route 30, east of Lancaster, can provide information on Mennonite B&Bs; and churches. Contact them at 717-299-0954, or online at www.mennoniteinfoctr.com.
An ideal day
7 a.m.: Before you start your day, ask your Mennon-ite B&B; hosts to help you plan dinner at an Amish home that welcomes visitors.
8 a.m.: Visit Central Market in downtown Lancaster for breakfast. Then it's a short drive to the visitors bureau.
10 a.m.: Drive north to Ephrata to the Green Dragon market, which offers the best bargains in the morning. Bargaining is acceptable at some of the crafts stands.
11:30 a.m.: Enjoy an early lunch at John and Leona's Restaurant, a diner inside one of the Green Dragon barns and famous for its homemade birch beer, which is poured from an enormous barrel.
1 p.m.: Drive east and south from Ephrata along Routes 322, 272, and 772. On these roads, you will find many side roads leading to clusters of Amish farms, as well as produce and crafts stands.
4 p.m.: Use the afternoon either to shop for quilts in Intercourse or to learn more about the Amish and Mennonites at the People's Place Museum.
5:30 p.m.: If you can arrange it, have dinner with an Amish family in their home. Be sure to bring your appetite, and cash -- most Amish families request a "donation" of $10 to $15 per person.
-- Joshua Kurlantzick