As we travel, we have met so many different people, but my favorite so far has been family. Some have been close family, and some have been new. What a treasure to find so much history about our families.
Friends are also a treasure to be found on a trip like this. We have talked with people who have told us that we are living their "dream." Our wish is to have everyone see what we have seen.
God has Blessed our Country with so much beauty. He has been gracious in providing through our struggles, in war and in peace.
Our stop after the Flight 93 Memorial, was in Emmaus, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. I had the privilege of actually getting out my family tree to compare notes at the Emmaus Historical Society, where I was given the chance to look at rare books of my mother's family history. Yes, I said "books." There were 5 to be exact. The Knauss family was an important family back in the 1700s. They were part of the Pennsylvania Dutch that started their own communities with a church at the center of the town.
Williiam Penn at one time traveled to Germany to speak to the Leadership of the Reformed Lutheran Church, inviting them to come to Pennsylvania to have freedom of religion. This is the group that included my family.
The Pennsylvania Dutch are primarily 3 groups; the Amish, the Mennonite and the Moravian churches. All speak the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect, which is bits of German and Swiss, mixed with English at times.
My 5th Great Grandfather was Sebastian Henrich Knauss who traveled with his father Ludwig (Lukas) Knauss and his siblings to the Colonies in 1723. There is a letter dated in 1729, signed by Ludwig and 3 other men in their area, asking the Reformed Lutheran Leadership in Germany to send someone to start a church. They basically said no. So, another missive was sent to ask if a member of their community could teach. The answer was that he could read sermons that were coming from Germany because he wasn't ordained or trained by the Reformed Lutheran Leaders.
Ludwig's son, Sebastian Henrich, was learning how to be a wheelwright (Blacksmith) with another man with the last name of Antes. Antes taught Sebastian about the Moravian's, which basically are very much like the Lutherans. So, Antes and Sebastian started attending services in the town of Bethlehem, PA, which is 8 miles away from where they lived. That was a long drive in the 1700s in a wagon with horses.
So, Sebastian and Antes decided to give some of their own property and asked the Moravian church to send someone to start a church. After the church was built, Sebastian and Antes gave land for the town of Emmaus. The Morovian church is the heart of the town, and you don't see much of a Luthern influence.
Below you will find pictures of the Morovian Church Cemetery called "God's Acre." Below that is a granite memorial stone where the old church building was. To the right of the stone is the cemetery.
A new Morovian Church was built in the early 1800s.
**(I want to mention again that you can click on a picture to view it on a larger screen.)**
The headstone of my 5th Great Grandfather and co-founder of the town of Emmaus.
We also found his wife's headstone and those of a lot of their descendants
Mike cleaning around the headstones. (Interesting sidenote: The headstones were separated by different rows for men,
women and children)
The Knauss Homestead was built by Henrich Knauss for his mother, Anna Catherine. It has been inhabited by descendants of Sebastian and Anna, until the 1970s
Fireplace inside the Knauss Homestead and artifacts that were found around the property after the Emmaus Borough bought the land to protect it from demolition
We didn't travel very far on September 9th. We just wanted to maneuver closer to Philadelphia, as a jump off point to the next few things we wanted to see - Philadelphia and Independence Hall, NY city and the Freedom Tower Memorial, and Washington DC and my cousin, Les and his wife.
Tuesday, Sept. 10th, we went into Philadelphia. Let's just say, "we hate the city life." Why do people insist on honking at others when they can see that the people in front of them can't move? I just don't get it.
We made it to Independence Plaza around nine, after about 3 loops on one way streets to find a parking garage that could barely fit our truck. (No, we didn't have our trailer. That would be craziness!) Not many people had trucks as you can imagine. Most vehicles are compact cars that aren't taller then 4 feet or so. I think Google maps should have a function that you can put your vehicle information in and then it would find the best route. I think that would relieve tension in the traveling crowd.
Independence Hall
This and the next two pictures are of the actual room in Independence Hall where our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution were signed.
Liberty Bell with Independence Hall behind it
The "Signer" statue in Signers Park
This statue was beautiful
Notice that the eagle has a serpent in his claws
The woman's name is Liberty or Freedom
And she is teaching the next generation
We were hoping to go to NY on Patriots Day, but our plans didn't go as wanted. Did you know that they close the visitors center and the Memorial at the World trade center on 9/11 for the annual reading of names? We didn't.
So, instead we went for a tour of Lancaster County. It is so green here. There are no words for it. This is big Amish country. Here they can have covered buggies and the women's hats are shaped like a heart on the back. We have drove by many Amish schools and farms. We bought wood from an Amish Farmer and furniture maker today. He was on the phone. Alright who cares if it was in a phone booth on his property. Hmm...
The Amish are cashing in on the tourist trade here. They have a lot of fresh produce stands on the side of the road. They also sell quilts and homemade pies. So many have "honor system" boxes. If you want to buy something, you just take what you want and leave cash in a box to pay for it.
Amish farmer in front of us, with his horses. Coming towards us is a Mennonite
man on his tractor
There are lots of covered bridges in
Lancaster County
This one is the Zook's Mill Covered Bridge
You might be asking, "Why did she name that post what she did?"
Well, I will tell you. First off it is for my family, who came to the American colonies because of religious persecution in their own Country. They were liberated to worship however
they wanted to.
It's for the signing if our very own Declaration of Independence from a Country that was taxing us without our say in the matter.
It's for the Amish and Mennonite families that are today having religious freedom to live the lifestyle that they want; educate their children the way they choose without persecution and to worship how they see fit.
We have a great Country. We need to stand on our Constitution and enjoy the freedoms
that we have. We may not all agree on things, but one thing that we could agree on is that we are very fortunate to have what we have in this Country - Liberty!
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