Amish & Quilt Auction, Hershey, & Valley Forge, PA

Valley Forge National Historic Park. Crazy thing about this: don’t put into GPS maps to see where “Valley Forge” is. Apparently it is a town south and west of us and less than 1/2 hour from our campground in Manheim, PA. Valley Forge, where George Washington and the army camped for 6 months during 1777-1778, is straight east and a bit more than 1 hour. (I learned this while planning details of going to see this place. Whew!) 

George Washington and One Of The First State-Mandated Mass-Immunization, Valley Forge NP, PA 08/24

The landscape didn’t change; rolling soft hills with trees in the background and pushed back by farmland, houses, and businesses. Oh, and lots of manufacturing. We always like to see working America. Valley Forge National Historic Park is free for everyone; it has about 35 miles of trails and we saw quite a few people on bikes. You can even rent bikes there. We walked to the visitor center and found out the info film would be starting in a few minutes. Film is captioned and this places gets an A. Biggest thing we learned: Washington’s army built cabins for everyone. In fact, 1200 cabins were built in the first month! I didn’t remember learning that and neither does Kevin. We thought the people, including Washington, were in tents the entire winter. Washington rented a house there for his headquarters. Martha joined him for part of the time. This Valley Forge quickly became the fourth largest city in America at that time. Besides the soldier duties, there were carpenters, shoemaker, cooks, etc. They also played a lot of games, music, sports, and wrote letters. Women and children (yes, they came along behind to watch and help) would do the washing, clothes mending, cooking, etc.

Guards For Human Waste! Vally Forge NP, PA 08/24

Outside we drove the tour and used the National Park Service app on my iPhone to read about each stop. Neat to see the lay of the land and picture this large “city.”

Tobacco Leaves Drying In The Barn, Warwick, PA 08/24

In the area around Lancaster County we see a few Amish barns with tobacco drying. It was a surprise to us that they would grow it. Kevin looked it up when we got home (footnote 1) and here is an article, but dated 1997: https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/tobacco-in-amish-country-7556

Lancaster Carmel Company Recipes, Hershey, PA 09/24

When you are near a chocolate-mecca, well, you just have to go, even if you don’t like chocolate! HA (I don’t like chocolate.) Our campground is less than 1/2 hour away from Hershey, PA so one day we drove to Hershey Store Museum. Parking is free, museum tickets are $16.50. Milton Hershey was a man who would “try, try again” as the display said in the museum. He was born in 1857. He kept experimenting, failing, and would try again. He married Catherine, who died from unknown disease when she was 44. They didn’t have children. They did a lot of charity work, even starting a school/home for orphaned boys. That school/home is what received most of the money after he died. He did build a place for his employees but it was first the town of Derry Church near where he grew up. He built the factory there because he knew there were lots of dairies around and he needed a lot of milk. Also the railroad was there to get supplies and ship yummy things. When he built the community for his employees, he let them buy their house, gardens, a giant community center with 2 huge theaters and more; he didn’t want to be like Pullman’s community that was company-owned houses and nothing for the people. He was inspired by Cadbury in England.

Hershey Bathtub Truck, Hershey, PA 09/24

Now, if you me then you know I love a good bubble bath. Well, Hershey found a way to use bathtubs – he bought them, added wheels, and used them as an efficient way to move raw materials around the factory. These were used until 2012!

We Bought Some Special Treats, Hershey, PA 09/24

No samples were given at all. We went to the store and each got a treat. We picked some that are only sold here: I got strawberry ice cream kisses and Kevin got dark chocolate salted caramel Rolos. 

Yummy Street Light Covers – Kisses, Hershey, PA 09/24

We drove along Chocolate Avenue and saw the cutest thing – the street light covers are chocolate kisses! Most looked like the silver foil with the strip of paper out the top, a few where the chocolate kiss not in the wrapper. Soooo cute!!!

Happy Labor Day! Back in Florida when we visited with our dear friends, Larry and Jim, we found out that they would be in the Lancaster area for part of the time we would be here. A family member of Jim’s works at Hospice & Community Care. Labor Day Auction Hospice & Community Care raises money for the hospice center. This was their 40th year auction. They auction plants, tools, jewelry, machinery, vehicles, new and used furniture, gift cards, and on and on. The thing that is really big is the Quilt Auction. This event has more than 350 volunteers plus Amish people provide, cook, and serve all sorts of food. And not just one type. We got a breakfast log (my mouth is watering just typing this!). It is a soft pretzel, log shaped, with bacon and eggs inside. Best breakfast ever! For lunch we had chicken dinner which included a thigh, sliced grilled potatoes, macaroni salad, chips, whoopee pie and a drink. They also had a great looking salad bar, pulled pork sandwiches, burgers, all kinds of hot dogs and then frozen drinks, fresh fruit bar, Philly cheesesteaks, shrimp, and then the desserts! Fresh cinnamon rolls, all sorts of cookies, breads, pies and more. Amish food is so deliciously homemade. The highlight of our time there was meeting up with Larry and Jim. It was so fun to visit with them and walk around. 

Just A Few Of Over 126 Quilts For Auction, Quarryville, PA 09/24

Now, let me write about the quilts. There were 126 quilts (plus 3 more added at the end). The quilts were draped over rods on the walls around 2 sides of this huge building. (I think it can seat over 600 people plus standing room.) Each quilt had a tag with the name of the person donating, the pattern, if it is new or used, antique, hand stitched, color, etc. I enjoyed looking at them and I went around twice. The quilt auction started at 10:00 a.m. sitting/standing room full. This is a very popular event and lasted over 2 hours. 

Amish Auctioneer & Helpers, Labor Day Auction, Quarryville, PA 09/24

A quilt, if big enough, would be clipped to a hoist and then would be raised high so people could see. Plus they had a camera that would project onto three TV screens. So well organized. The auction was done by Amish and they were a blast to watch! They would often give cute looks to entice someone to bid more. 

Oh, before we left, we HAD to get a few desserts to take home…whoopee pies (oatmeal and chocolate chip with cream frosting inside) and some cinnamon rolls. We ate them throughout the evening and are almost in a sugar coma. HAHA I put the 2 remaining cinnamon rolls, sealed them with my Food Saver, and put them in the freezer. I read their newsletter and found out they raised over $1.1 million for hospice care. Wonderful!

https://www.hospiceandcommunitycare.org/news/hospice-labor-day-auction-raises-record-breaking-1-1-million/

https://lancasteronline.com/features/amish-volunteers-give-back-to-hospice-at-labor-day-auction-serve-up-smorgasbord-of-food/article_b2408a12-cb3c-11e9-8739-73eb6f38b52d.html

1. “Home” is where we park it. Home is our 2022 Alliance Avenue, 36 ft, 5th wheel.