Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Asitwastheweekendandastheyhadsomesparetime,mybrotherandhiswifedecidedto
takemedowntoLancasterCountytoshowmetheAmishcountry.Itwasatwo-hourdrive.
Enroute,mybrotherpointedouttheThreeMileIslandnuclearreactoratHarrisburg,where
a few years before some careless employees had very nearly irradiated the whole of the
eastern seaboard, and then forty-five miles further on we passed the Peach Bottom nuclear
facility, where seventeen employees had recently been dismissed after it had been revealed
that they spent their working hours sleeping, taking drugs, having rubber-band fights and
playing video games. At some times every person in the plant was dozing, according to
investigators. Allowing state utilities in Pennsylvania to run nuclear power stations is a bit
likelettingPrincePhilipflythroughLondonairspace.Inanycase,Imadeamentalnoteto
bring an antiradiation suit with me next time I came to Pennsylvania.
Lancaster County is the home of the Pennsylvania Dutch, the Amish and Mennonites. The
Mennonites are named after a well-known brand of speed-stick deodorant. They aren't
really.
I just made that up. They are named after Menno Simons, one of their early leaders. In
EuropetheywerecalledAnabaptists.TheycametoLancasterCounty250yearsago.Today
there are 12,500 Amish people in the county, almost all of them descended from 30 origin-
al couples. The Amish split from the Mennonites in 1693, and there have been countless
subdivisionssincethen,butthethingthattheyallhaveincommonisthattheywearsimple
clothes and shun modern contrivances. The problem is that since about 1860 they've been
squabbling endlessly over just how rigorous they should be in their shunning. Every time
anybody invents something useful or notable, like television or rubber gloves, they argue
about whether it is ungodly or not, and the ones who don't like it go off and form a new
sect. First, they argued over whether they should have steel rims or rubber rims on their
buggies, then whether they should have tractors, then electricity, then telephones and tele-
vision. Now presumably they argue over whether they should have a frost-free refrigerator
and whether their instant coffee should be powdered or freeze-dried.
The most splendid thing about the Amish is the names they give their towns. Everywhere
else in America towns are named after either the first white person to get there or the last
Indian to leave. But the Amish obviously gave the matter of town names some thought and
graced their communities with intriguing, not to say provocative, appellations: Blue Ball,
Bird in Hand, and Intercourse, to name but three. Intercourse makes a good living by at-
tracting passersby such as me who think it the height of hilarity to send their friends and
colleagues postcards with an Intercourse postmark and some droll sentiment scribbled on
the back.
