By Ed Blanchette
In December of 2016 to March of 2020 the Amish Experience at Plain & Fancy Farm looked to create a bit of tangible and visual history for teachers and students through the wonders of the Magic Lantern Shows at Plain & Fancy Theater. Due to Covid in 2020, the Magic Lantern Shows were discontinued, but those teachable elements from history that were put together by Lancaster County historians Randolph J. Harris and Leroy T. Hopkins, Jr., Ph.D., as a study guide for the Magic Lantern Show at the Amish Experience still remains mostly intact. As we celebrate the 250th year of the constitution “1776-2026”, we here at Amish Country News feel the contributions of this valuable information would be right in line to share with you, our readership. In doing so, we will be sharing multiple parts over multiple issues. In the last issue we visited an Introduction in Part 3 – Now the Under Ground Rail Road Part 4, enjoy.
In December of 2016 to March of 2020 the Amish Experience at Plain & Fancy Farm looked to create a bit of tangible and visual history for teachers and students through the wonders of the Magic Lantern Shows at Plain & Fancy Theater. Due to Covid in 2020, the Magic Lantern Shows were discontinued, but those teachable elements from history that were put together by Lancaster County historians Randolph J. Harris and Leroy T. Hopkins, Jr., Ph.D., as a study guide for the Magic Lantern Show at the Amish Experience still remains mostly intact. As we celebrate the 250th year of the constitution “1776-2026”, we here at Amish Country News feel the contributions of this valuable information would be right in line to share with you, our readership. In doing so, we will be sharing multiple parts over multiple issues. In the last issue we visited an Introduction in Part 4 – Now the Under Ground Rail Road Part 5, enjoy.
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The Anabaptists: A Heritage Guarded, Amish, Mennonite Families,
Civil War & Aid for Freedom Seekers
Understanding and documenting activity associated with the Underground Railroad has always been difficult due to the nature of the care provided and need for secrecy. Although more than about three-fourths of the activity in the Southeastern Pennsylvania area was provided by free people of color and members of the progressive wing of the Quaker, or Friends religious group, how do we account for participation by persons of other political persuasions or faiths? Underground Railroad and anti-slavery activity by Anabaptists has not been well known and very little documented through publications. But this work took place and was an essential expression of their faith in action.
The Amish and Mennonites perceived themselves to be in the same marginal status as Black people in the larger society. Their world view was shaped by a heritage of persecution and intolerance in Europe and remains a strong element in their present status in the larger society. Most of the Underground Railroad activity in Lancaster County was driven by family relationships. These binding family interactions facilitated care for formerly enslaved travelers who came to these communities — sent family to family — often without need for interaction with persons outside of their relatives or other religious groups. On these pages are photos and descriptions of some of the many existing properties that were or are now owned or occupied by members of Amish or Mennonite communities in areas east of the City of Lancaster.
Many of the properties of Mennonite and Amish families that have connections to this movement are located along the road originally known as “The King’s Highway,” today’s Old Philadelphia Pike (PA Rt. 340). Some can be found along Route 741 within the beautiful farmland of the Pequea Valley, and in the Strasburg area. More than two dozen extended Anabaptist families and locations have been identified countywide. These buildings – homes, inns, taverns — are documented as having been Underground Railroad safe houses, or they are believed through oral tradition to have had those associations.
Information about these properties and their inhabitants was compiled over many years by Lancaster area historian Daniel K. Ness, whose complete work on this Dr. John Kendig Eshleman house Heritage guarded Amish, Mennonite families, Civil War & aid for freedom seekers subject is published in Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, the quarterly Journal of the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, Lancaster, PA. Acknowledging the various degrees of evidence strength and of open conjecture about some of the sites, Ness explains: “The more uncertain the record, the more questioning we must be in assessing the value of including it.” But he adds: “It is hoped that like all myths and legends, there is often a grain of truth at its start. These stories can also be a beginning place for anyone interested in this rich history, to dig deeper and to either find solid evidence to verify the stories or to discard a site from this record.”
