Day 3: Lancaster, PA to Harpers Ferry, WV (139 miles)
Sunday, 16 October 2005
Last updated 20 Oct 2005

1. The fields ...	2. ... scenery ...	3. ... and horses ...	4. ... at Olde Stone Guesthouse.	5. Katie the dog
6. The guesthouse building	7. Breakfast at the farm	8. No caption needed ...	9. Leaving Intercourse	10. Ephrata Cloister
11. Clock Museum: The new ...	12. ... the old ...	13. ... and the ornate	14. Haines Shoe House (Hallam)	15. With the owners
16. In the doghouse

Took an [1-4] early morning walk at the Stoltzfus farm (where Olde Stone Guesthouse is located) before breakfast. Katie [5] accompanied me back (she belongs to Florence's son, on the adjacent farm. The [6] farmhouse is a nice building with a beautiful back porch and garden, and very comfortable rooms. We had a [7] delicious breakfast of freshly made pancakes (and many other things ... they eat heartily on farms!), with fellow guests Debbie & Rob Porter from Philadelphia, Florence Stoltzfus (the owner) and Rob & Anna Folk from Maryland, near Washington DC. Went through the [8,9] Intercourse intercourse and made a brief stop at [10] Ephrata Cloister (632 W. Main St, Ephrata), a monastery founded by Conrad Beissel. A peaceful setting, and nicely preserved, but you really have to be interested in the philosophies and teachings of the said Conrad Beissel to sit through the lectures, so I wandered around on my own for a few minutes and headed out of Pennsylvania Dutch country.

A quick stop at the Watch and Clock museum (hidden away at the unlikely town of Columbia, PA) became an hour and a half detour. It is really a fascinating place with clocks ranging from the [11] very modern to the [12] old and bulky to the [13] ornate (this last one has a pendulum that oscillates in a circle). Very well presented and highly recommended. And the other end of the spectrum is the cute little [14] Haines Shoe House (on US-30 west of Hallam); reminds me of the shoe house in Kamala Nehru Park in Bombay that we used to play in as kids, except that this one is a real house! The [15] present owners use it as a guest house but they have a little souvenir and ice-cream shop "under the arch." There's even a [16] little doghouse! Very cute and a fun little diversion, and all the more appealing for its simplicity (the very existence is the attraction).

Drove to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia for the night. Stayed at the Angler's Inn B&B (304-535-1239, 867 Washington Street) in Harpers Ferry (very convenient location to the historic center), with very gracious hosts Debbi and Bryan Kelly. Debbi even took apart her DSL modem to connect it to my computer so that I could get Internet access (she promises that she will take my suggestion and install a wireless router soon!). And since I was coming in late, she had even checked out which restaurants would be open late in advance of my showing up. I went to the Anvil Restaurant (304-535-2582, 1290 W. Washington Street) at her suggestion and it was very good. Biggest surprise: Virginia wine is actually pretty good!

Home • Day 4