Our first stop was the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center. The featured item there is a 10 foot by 265 foot Cyclorama that was painted on canvas by Heinz Gaugel, who after being frustrated that there was no media available to tell the Amish story decided in 1978 to paint the story on canvas. It took him 14 years to complete it, finally finish it in 1992. Although no pictures were allowed you can see more info at
Heritage Center
The Cyclorama features many people who were instrumental in the development of the Amish life.
Our tour guide Lester Beachy spoke for 30 minutes on the Cyclorama and has written a book titled Our Amish Values. His purpose of writing the book was to dispel inaccurate information and to be an accurate source on the Amish people.
Later on we went into the town where Alice spent time looking at traditional Amish quilts that were hand quilted. In the Helping Hands Quilt Shop there were a dozed Amish women working on hand quilting a quilt that featured Rose of Sharon and Lilies of the Valley in the central portion of the quilt. The picture below is from etsy.com. This picture although accurate on the quilt they were working on was not photographed while the women were working on the quilt.
Below is the Oldest house in Berlin, built in 1816 around the time that the area started to develop.
Transportation for the Amish people is predominantly by horse and buggy. Several younger ones were seen riding bikes.
Another store that seemed to have a lot going for it was Zinck's Fabric Store. Alice described it as a Marden's for fabric only a lot better.
Tonight we are spending the evening in Pittsburgh and plan to roam around town for a while.
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