Pennsylvania Dutch Country
Encyclopedia
Pennsylvania Dutch Country refers to an area of southeastern Pennsylvania
, United States
that by the American Revolution
had a high percentage of Pennsylvania Dutch
inhabitants. Religiously, there was a large portion of Lutherans. There were also German Reformed, Moravian, Amish
, Mennonite
and other German Christian sects. The term was used in the middle of the 20th century as a description of a region with a distinctive Pennsylvania Dutch
culture, but in recent decades the composition of the population is changing and the phrase is used more now in a tourism
context than any other.
Greater Pennsylvania refers to this region as well as historically Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking areas of Maryland
, North Carolina
and Virginia
.
, Hershey
, Lancaster
, Reading
and York
and the surrounding counties. It includes the counties of Chester
, Lancaster
, York
, Adams
, Franklin
, Dauphin
, Lebanon
, Berks
, Montgomery
, Bucks
, Northampton
, Lehigh
, Schuylkill
, Snyder
, Union
, Juniata
, Mifflin
, Huntingdon
, Northumberland
, and Centre
. Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants would spread from this area outwards outside the Pennsylvania borders between the mountains along river valleys into neighboring Maryland (Washington and Frederick counties), West Virginia, Virginia (Shenandoah Valley) and North Carolina and this larger region has been historically referred to as Greater Pennsylvania. The historic Pennsylvania Dutch diaspora in Ontario has been referred to as Little Pennsylvania. A few years ago, several dozen Pennsylvania Dutch Amish farmers and their families from Southern Ontario migrated to the farming area around Gladstone, Manitoba, Canada. They are a welcome addition to the community and local economy.
The country lies in the Piedmont
region of the Appalachian mountains. The landscape is marked by rolling, wooded hills, deep stream valleys, and fertile soils. The Susquehanna River
bisects the region and provides its drainage.
origins of some of the earliest European immigrants to the area in the late 17th and 18th centuries. The German-speaking settlers came from a variety of countries and religious backgrounds, but most became assimilated to Anglo-American language and culture beginning in the later 19th century with English language evangelism efforts and the outlawing of German language schooling. The assimilation process continued soon after the turn of the 20th century with World War One, consolidated schools and the advent of mandatory public education until the age of 16, with added pressures from increased mobility, the influence of English language media communications and urbanization.
Originally, the economy of the region was almost entirely rural and agricultural, based on the immigrants' dream of bettering their lot through the ownership of their own farms. The small tradesmen indispensable to a rural economy, such as blacksmiths, wheelwrights, millers and storekeepers, constituted the bulk of the non-farm economy. In the 19th century, a small educated class, comprising the Lutheran and Reformed ministers, began to emerge. The Pennsylvania seminaries educated them in high German, so they could preach to their flocks in a scholarly way.
The advent of the industrial revolution brought technologies based on coal, iron, canals, and railroads, but the Dutch, unversed in English, and lacking connections to the English speaking establishment, were unable to engage in entrepreneurship on a large scale. Consequently, the large scale enterprises which came to characterize the industrialized eastern half of the region, such as the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company
(marketer of the coal branded "Old Company's Lehigh"), the Lehigh Valley Railroad
, and the Bethlehem Iron Company (later known as Bethlehem Steel) were founded by English speaking residents from the Philadelphia and New York areas. These English speakers (referred to by the Dutch as simply "the English") dominated the managerial and engineering positions of these companies, while the Dutch supplied the blue collar and supervisory workforce.
As technology advanced during the late 19th century, higher technology companies such as Mack Truck and New Jersey Zinc moved to the region as well. As the local industries expanded, immigrants from Eastern Europe (primarily Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary) were recruited for the low-skilled positions, while the more established Dutch retained the skilled blue collar and supervisory positions. The Dutch influence on the shop floor was so great that some Slavic immigrants became bilingual in their native language and in Pennsylvania Dutch, while not yet mastering English.
The western counties of the region experienced industrialization as well, with Hershey Foods being the most notable example, but it was less intensive, and agriculture retained a larger share of the economy. In the middle of the 20th century, both Amish and non-Amish entrepreneurs began to promote the area as a tourist destination. Though there are still plenty of Amish attempting to follow their traditional way of life, tourism and population growth have significantly changed the appearance and cultural flavor of the area. This area is within 50 miles of Philadelphia
, Baltimore, and Harrisburg
, and has not escaped the effects of being located on the western edge of the East Coast conurbation which stretches from Washington
to New York City
.
The Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonites, who have resisted these urbanization efforts most successfully, have retained aspects of their 18th century way of life, including the Deitsch dialect; however, these groups have changed significantly in the last two hundred years. Nevertheless, for the Old Order groups, change has come slower, and gradually they have become more and more distinctively different as the surrounding rural and urban population of Pennsylvania has changed.
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
that by the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
had a high percentage of Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...
inhabitants. Religiously, there was a large portion of Lutherans. There were also German Reformed, Moravian, Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
, Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
and other German Christian sects. The term was used in the middle of the 20th century as a description of a region with a distinctive Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...
culture, but in recent decades the composition of the population is changing and the phrase is used more now in a tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
context than any other.
Greater Pennsylvania refers to this region as well as historically Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking areas of Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
.
Geography
Geographically the area referred to as Amish/Dutch country centers around AllentownAllentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown is a city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is Pennsylvania's third most populous city, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the 215th largest city in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 118,032 and is currently...
, Hershey
Hershey, Pennsylvania
Hershey is a census-designated place in Derry Township, Dauphin County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The community is located 14 miles east of Harrisburg and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. Hershey has no legal status as an incorporated municipality...
, Lancaster
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
, Reading
Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
and York
York, Pennsylvania
York, known as the White Rose City , is a city located in York County, Pennsylvania, United States which is in the South Central region of the state. The population within the city limits was 43,718 at the 2010 census, which was a 7.0% increase from the 2000 count of 40,862...
and the surrounding counties. It includes the counties of Chester
Chester County, Pennsylvania
-State parks:*French Creek State Park*Marsh Creek State Park*White Clay Creek Preserve-Demographics:As of the 2010 census, the county was 85.5% White, 6.1% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American or Alaskan Native, 3.9% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian, 1.8% were two or more races, and 2.4% were...
, Lancaster
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Lancaster County, known as the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county located in the southeastern part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010 the population was 519,445. Lancaster County forms the Lancaster Metropolitan Statistical Area, the...
, York
York County, Pennsylvania
York County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 434,972. It is in the Susquehanna Valley, a large fertile agricultural region in South Central Pennsylvania....
, Adams
Adams County, Pennsylvania
Adams County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 101,407. It was created on January 22, 1800, from part of York County and named in honor of the second President of the United States, John Adams...
, Franklin
Franklin County, Pennsylvania
As of the census of 2000, there were 129,313 people, 50,633 households, and 36,405 families residing in the county. The population density was 168 people per square mile . There were 53,803 housing units at an average density of 70 per square mile...
, Dauphin
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Dauphin County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is one of the three counties comprising the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 census, the population was 268,100. The county includes the city of Harrisburg, which has served as the state capital...
, Lebanon
Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
As of the census of 2000, there were 120,327 people and 32,771 families residing in the county. The population density was 332 people per square mile . There were 49,320 housing units at an average density of 136 per square mile...
, Berks
Berks County, Pennsylvania
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 373,638 people, 141,570 households, and 98,532 families residing in the county. The population density was 435 people per square mile . There were 150,222 housing units at an average density of 175 per square mile...
, Montgomery
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010, the population was 799,874, making it the third most populous county in Pennsylvania . The county seat is Norristown.The county was created on September 10, 1784, out of land originally part...
, Bucks
Bucks County, Pennsylvania
- Industry and commerce :The boroughs of Bristol and Morrisville were prominent industrial centers along the Northeast Corridor during World War II. Suburban development accelerated in Lower Bucks in the 1950s with the opening of Levittown, Pennsylvania, the second such "Levittown" designed by...
, Northampton
Northampton County, Pennsylvania
As of the 2010 census, the county was 86.3% White, 5.0% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American or Alaskan Native, 2.4% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian, 2.2% were two or more races, and 3.8% were some other race. 10.5% of the population were of Hispanic or Latino ancestry.As of the census of...
, Lehigh
Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
-Climate:Most of the county's climate is considered to fall in the humid continental climate zone. Summers are typically hot and muggy, fall and spring are generally mild, and winter is cold. Precipitation is almost uniformly distributed throughout the year....
, Schuylkill
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
-Notable people:*Boxing heavyweight great Muhammad Ali had his training camp in Deer Lake.*Charles Justin Bailey, commanding general of the 81st Division in World War I, was born in Tamaqua on June 21, 1859....
, Snyder
Snyder County, Pennsylvania
Snyder County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 39,702. Snyder County was formed in 1855 from parts of Union County...
, Union
Union County, Pennsylvania
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 41,624 people, 13,178 households, and 9,211 families residing in the county. The population density was 131 people per square mile . There were 14,684 housing units at an average density of 46 per square mile...
, Juniata
Juniata County, Pennsylvania
Juniata County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 24,636. Juniata County was created on March 2, 1831, from part of Mifflin County and named for the Juniata River. Its county seat is Mifflintown....
, Mifflin
Mifflin County, Pennsylvania
Mifflin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 46,682. Its county seat is Lewistown. It is named after Thomas Mifflin, the first Governor of Pennsylvania.-Geography:...
, Huntingdon
Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania
Huntingdon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. In 2010, its population was 45,913.Huntingdon County was created on September 20, 1787, from part of Bedford County. Its county seat is Huntingdon.-Geography:According to the U.S...
, Northumberland
Northumberland County, Pennsylvania
There were 38,835 households out of which 27.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.40% were married couples living together, 9.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.10% were non-families. 30.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.50% had...
, and Centre
Centre County, Pennsylvania
Centre County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is part of the State College, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 153,990....
. Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants would spread from this area outwards outside the Pennsylvania borders between the mountains along river valleys into neighboring Maryland (Washington and Frederick counties), West Virginia, Virginia (Shenandoah Valley) and North Carolina and this larger region has been historically referred to as Greater Pennsylvania. The historic Pennsylvania Dutch diaspora in Ontario has been referred to as Little Pennsylvania. A few years ago, several dozen Pennsylvania Dutch Amish farmers and their families from Southern Ontario migrated to the farming area around Gladstone, Manitoba, Canada. They are a welcome addition to the community and local economy.
The country lies in the Piedmont
Piedmont (United States)
The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division...
region of the Appalachian mountains. The landscape is marked by rolling, wooded hills, deep stream valleys, and fertile soils. The Susquehanna River
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...
bisects the region and provides its drainage.
History
The term "Dutch" is an archaic term for Germans, and refers to the German-speakingGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
origins of some of the earliest European immigrants to the area in the late 17th and 18th centuries. The German-speaking settlers came from a variety of countries and religious backgrounds, but most became assimilated to Anglo-American language and culture beginning in the later 19th century with English language evangelism efforts and the outlawing of German language schooling. The assimilation process continued soon after the turn of the 20th century with World War One, consolidated schools and the advent of mandatory public education until the age of 16, with added pressures from increased mobility, the influence of English language media communications and urbanization.
Originally, the economy of the region was almost entirely rural and agricultural, based on the immigrants' dream of bettering their lot through the ownership of their own farms. The small tradesmen indispensable to a rural economy, such as blacksmiths, wheelwrights, millers and storekeepers, constituted the bulk of the non-farm economy. In the 19th century, a small educated class, comprising the Lutheran and Reformed ministers, began to emerge. The Pennsylvania seminaries educated them in high German, so they could preach to their flocks in a scholarly way.
The advent of the industrial revolution brought technologies based on coal, iron, canals, and railroads, but the Dutch, unversed in English, and lacking connections to the English speaking establishment, were unable to engage in entrepreneurship on a large scale. Consequently, the large scale enterprises which came to characterize the industrialized eastern half of the region, such as the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company
Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company
The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company is an anthracite coal mining company headquartered in Pottsville, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., with operations in the areas of Tamaqua, Coaldale, and Lansford...
(marketer of the coal branded "Old Company's Lehigh"), the Lehigh Valley Railroad
Lehigh Valley Railroad
The Lehigh Valley Railroad was one of a number of railroads built in the northeastern United States primarily to haul anthracite coal.It was authorized April 21, 1846 in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and incorporated September 20, 1847 as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad...
, and the Bethlehem Iron Company (later known as Bethlehem Steel) were founded by English speaking residents from the Philadelphia and New York areas. These English speakers (referred to by the Dutch as simply "the English") dominated the managerial and engineering positions of these companies, while the Dutch supplied the blue collar and supervisory workforce.
As technology advanced during the late 19th century, higher technology companies such as Mack Truck and New Jersey Zinc moved to the region as well. As the local industries expanded, immigrants from Eastern Europe (primarily Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary) were recruited for the low-skilled positions, while the more established Dutch retained the skilled blue collar and supervisory positions. The Dutch influence on the shop floor was so great that some Slavic immigrants became bilingual in their native language and in Pennsylvania Dutch, while not yet mastering English.
Today
In the 20th century, however, universal public education in English and relatively easy access to higher education erased many of the elements that made the Pennsylvania Dutch Country a distinctive region of the United States. The information age and globalization greatly reduced the dependence of the region on industrial jobs. The Eastern part of the region (Northampton, Lehigh, and Berks Counties) is now dominated by information-intensive white collar employment.The western counties of the region experienced industrialization as well, with Hershey Foods being the most notable example, but it was less intensive, and agriculture retained a larger share of the economy. In the middle of the 20th century, both Amish and non-Amish entrepreneurs began to promote the area as a tourist destination. Though there are still plenty of Amish attempting to follow their traditional way of life, tourism and population growth have significantly changed the appearance and cultural flavor of the area. This area is within 50 miles of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, Baltimore, and Harrisburg
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
, and has not escaped the effects of being located on the western edge of the East Coast conurbation which stretches from Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
The Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonites, who have resisted these urbanization efforts most successfully, have retained aspects of their 18th century way of life, including the Deitsch dialect; however, these groups have changed significantly in the last two hundred years. Nevertheless, for the Old Order groups, change has come slower, and gradually they have become more and more distinctively different as the surrounding rural and urban population of Pennsylvania has changed.
Notable locations
- Bird-in-Hand, PennsylvaniaBird-in-Hand, PennsylvaniaBird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania is an unincorporated community with parts lying in East Lampeter Township, and Upper Leacock Township, Lancaster County in the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The community has a large Amish and Mennonite population...
- Blue Ball, PennsylvaniaBlue Ball, PennsylvaniaBlue Ball is an unincorporated community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania near 40°N 76°W. Blue Ball lies approximately 2 miles east-northeast of the town of New Holland, Pennsylvania at the intersection of US 322 and PA Route 23.-Name and origin:...
- Clinic for Special ChildrenClinic for Special ChildrenThe Clinic for Special Children is a gene research clinic located in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. The facility, established by Dr. D. Holmes Morton, specializes in genetic problems of the plain sects such as the Amish and Old Order Mennonites....
- Intercourse, PennsylvaniaIntercourse, PennsylvaniaIntercourse, Pennsylvania is an unincorporated village in Leacock Township, Lancaster County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, ten miles east of Lancaster on PA 340. As with the nearby towns of Bird-in-Hand, Blue Ball, and Paradise, Intercourse is a popular site for tourists because of its...
- Paradise, PennsylvaniaParadise, PennsylvaniaParadise is a census-designated place in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States with a zip code of 17562. The population was 1,028 at the 2000 census....
- Ronks, PennsylvaniaRonks, PennsylvaniaRonks is a small farming community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, just west of Paradise, Pennsylvania. The town is most famous as being the home of Ronks Concrete Company. The community is home to several Amish themed tourist attractions, shops, restaurants, and lodging lining the Lincoln Highway...
Nearby attractions
- Dutch WonderlandDutch WonderlandDutch Wonderland is a amusement park just east of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, appealing primarily to families with small children. The park's theme is a "Kingdom for Kids." The entrance to the park has a real stone castle façade, which was built by Earl Clark, a potato farmer, before he opened the...
, an amusement parkAmusement parkthumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people... - Gettysburg National Military ParkGettysburg National Military ParkThe Gettysburg National Military Park is an administrative unit of the National Park Service's northeast region and a subunit of federal properties of Adams County, Pennsylvania, with the same name, including the Gettysburg National Cemetery...
(nearby) - Limestone Inn Bed and BreakfastLimestone Inn Bed and BreakfastThe Limestone Inn Bed and Breakfast is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, situated in the heart of Lancaster's Amish country in Pennsylvania.-External links:*...
listed in the National Register of Historic Places - Railroad Museum of PennsylvaniaRailroad Museum of PennsylvaniaThe Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is a railroad museum in Strasburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.The museum is located on the east side of Strasburg along Pennsylvania Route 741...
- Strasburg Rail RoadStrasburg Rail RoadThe Strasburg Rail Road is a heritage railroad located near Strasburg, Pennsylvania. It operates excursion trains hauled by steam locomotives in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country.Across the street lies the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania...
, a steam locomotiveSteam locomotiveA steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
-driven heritage railwayHeritage railwaythumb|right|the Historical [[Khyber train safari|Khyber Railway]] goes through the [[Khyber Pass]], [[Pakistan]]A heritage railway , preserved railway , tourist railway , or tourist railroad is a railway that is run as a tourist attraction, in some cases by volunteers, and... - Susquehannock State ParkSusquehannock State ParkSusquehannock State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on in Drumore Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park is on a scenic plateau overlooking the Susquehanna River and Conowingo Reservoir. The park is named for the Susquehannock people, who lived in the area...
External links
- Pennsylvania Dutch Country tourism site
- Lancaster County Information Center (free map by phone)