Back Roads and Amish Farms!

Here it is Saturday the 18th of June and we decided to take

a tour of back roads and find some covered bridges and

Amish farms and unique towns and villages!

What a great day it was!

We began our day in Ephrata, Pa


This is the Butcher's Mill Covered Bridge, Built in 1881,
 is nestled among the trees hidden on Cocalico Creek Road.
Unfortunately, the original bridge was destroyed and rebuilt a
year later. Today it is the second shortest covered bridge
that is still open to traffic!

This is Red Run Covered Bridge, unfortunately it is privately
owned and no longer open to traffic.It is still has historical
value, having been built in 1866. In 1961 a new concrete
 bridge was built to bypass the older one. 

Once called White Hall Mill Bridge, Weaver's Mill Covereed Bridge
 was built in 1878 and is frequently used by the Amish
 and their horse and buggies. 

We saw proof that the Amish used this.  The bridge was covered with horse poop!

In 1740 the Ephrata Cloister was built which covers a lot
of poperty and it was the first Communal living of it's kind.
It stayed that way until 1941 when the Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commision acquired
the remenants of the historic site.

Purple Martin Houses outside of an Amish farm. The
gourds hanging in the back also were dried and
made into bird houses. This was right before the
Weaver's Mill Covered Bridge.

An Amish Family traveling through town together

This is the Shady Maple Smorgasboard
We had a hearty lunch, the buffet presented 200
feet of a variety of delicious food prepared by the
Pennsylvania Dutch Style!

This was an awesome stop!
Thanks for the recommendationMargie and John!

This is the parking garage at the Shady Maple
for the horse and buggies 

Farms along the way!

Amish family heading to town!