Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum

Jim read about this online and on Friday we paid a visit.  Once I had the dishes done, the bed made and Jim shaved we headed east towards Lancaster, then north a wee bit.  Less than an hours drive covering roads we'd already seen during the first part of the journey.

 With 100 acres, more than 50 buildings and about 100,000 objects we knew we wanted to see as much as we could. We located the entrance and decided we needed some lunch before tackling the huge complex.

At the intersection was a place with over 100 beers and pizza...so that's where we had lunch!  Jim had a pizza while I indulged in an Italian Sub.  We both tried a brew we'd never had before, keeping it light.  Actually mine was a cider that was quite refreshing (not real sweet).

There is a fee, we paid $10 each (senior) and it was worth every penny! Our visit started with a film explaining who the Pennsylvania Dutch are and why the Germans and others came to this area.  If you're interested in the history you can read more here.

The Tavern on the left is a reproduction of a typical 1800-1820 public house and on the right is a gun shop from the same era

The Tavern had open hearth cooking and a garden out back.

I loved this recreated Log Farm! It represents the Pennsylvania German farmstead of 1750-1800.  Don't you just love the fence?

These are Lineback Cattle and they are huge

The gardens were typically set out in a cross with raised beds

The root cellar and close up of the log home

This gentleman was quite informative, this is the back of the smokehouse and it has an oven where he was cooking some sausage that smelled heavenly!  The roof is clay tiles

My grandparents had geese so I know these belong here.

Upon entering this home we were in the kitchen with a huge fireplace that extended almost all the way across separating it into two rooms.  In the back was a bedroom that could be divided into two rooms.  Upstairs was a loft space where guests and children slept on mattresses 

The Brick Farmstead

Heirloom Seed Building

In the Farm and Machinery Building we saw this Conestoga Wagon along with other machinery and tools from Colonial times into the twentieth century.  Below is a wheel from an early steam powered machine used for threshing.

This is the Landis Brothers childhood home and after some schooling they returned and they lived here until they died.  It was built in the 1870's by their parents.

There isn't time in one afternoon to see it all.  And not all the buildings were open.  Some had docents that were dressed in period clothing to explain and demonstrate.