Brian Norden wrote: Quarter century -- or more -- ago, I had a conversation with the then President of the Strasburg. This was before Lynn became president.
He shared with me an interesting concern. The urbanization of Lancaster County in Pennsylvania was causing farm land to be converted into housing tracts. A later visit to Lancaster County showed that this had continued.
Overall, the Amish were selling their farms and moving to locations further west in the country -- Ohio, Dakotas, Oregon, etc. The Amish and their communities and their crafts were a major tourist draw in Lancaster County. This tourism was both day-trippers and people who stayed several nights. His concern was if the Amish leave, the tourism would decrease and then disappear and it was the tourists that filled the seats on the Strasburg passenger trains.
This has been a known syndrome for decades.
Somewhere over 20 years ago, in an event that spurred a symposium of Lancaster County tourism bureaus (yes, there are several, with differing objectives), a woman stormed into the Mennonite Information Bureau on Rt. 30 east of Lancaster and demanded to file a complaint. It seems some Amish farmer refused to pose for photos for her, instead walking away and "hiding." It took some conversation to reveal that she literally though ALL of the farms out there were, like Colonial Williamsburg or the like, all paid actors posing for the background. There was NO convincing this woman whatsoever that these individuals were, indeed, private citizens with rights of privacy.
This is, indeed, the problem that spurs part of Lancaster County's dilemma.
Another aspect is that the Old Order Amish tradition is that the father sets up the son, upon adulthood and acceptance of the faith, with his own farm. In later years that transitioned into setting him up in any related business, such as furniture-making, butchery, etc.--as much for practical reasons as economic. The Amish have, therefore, been forced to move west and "re-think" their agrarian ways as they do so. There are even some Amish in the inhospitable "no man's land" between Arizona and Utah, also home to the radical/extremist Mormon sects/"cults" that garner unwanted media attention.
The snide line that has been cast about is "Will the last Amish to flee Lancaster County please extinguish the lantern behind him?" Be advised that all parties involved are aware of the dilemma and have taken steps to address what they can--farmland trusts, "greenland" preservation, etc. (The Strasburg supposedly has had some financial involvement in preserving its trackside farms, though I still nearly vomit at that corn-maze "amusement part" near Cherry Hill). Unfortunately, the economic factors involved may be insurmountable.
|