A Day in Lancaster

Lancaster, PA, October 2, 2010: Our desire to visit Lancaster's historic Central Market has been repeatedly thwarted; once by a blizzard and later by oppressive heat. On this perfect fall day, we finally achieved a visit to Lancaster.

Lancaster (c. 1734) claims to be the oldest inland city in America. For one day (1777), Lancaster was capital of the American colonies when the Continental Congress fled the British advance on Philadelphia and then the next day they moved further inland to York. It was also the capital of Pennsylvania between 1799 and 1812.

The city center is at the intersection of King and Queen streets. Penn Square is dominated by a Civil War memorial.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell:





























To the southeast a Marriott stands on a site occupied by hotels for most of Lancaster's history; to the northwest is the Central Market. The Marriott was hosting a barbershop quartet competition and a harvest festival was set up outside the market. For the next several hours, downtown Lancaster was much like THE MUSIC MAN--barbershop groups kept breaking into song!

A Brother in Harmony from Easton, PA (left) and some Alexandria Harmonizers from Virginia:

The Central Market is the oldest city-owned continuously-operated market in the United States, although it's current building (1889) is not as old as DC's Eastern Market:

Chicken corn soup (left) and chicken pot pie:

We went through the Marriott on our way back to our car and ran into Pat Driscoll, whose husband was attending the barbershop convention!

At 120 East King Street is the Demuth Museum in the home and studio of native-son and American watercolorist Charles Demuth (1883-1935), an American watercolorist. Demuth's friends included Marsden Hartley, Georgia O'Keefe and Eugene O'Neil. In 1912, Demuth began a relationship with fellow Lancastrian Robert Locher, which lasted until his death. Demuth bequeathed all his watercolors to Locher and his other works to O'Keefe.

The museum had a special Georgie O'Keefe exhibit as well as works by Demuth. Demuth's studio was in the second floor corner room and both he and Georgie O'Keefe painted flowers in this garden:

In the same block is Trinity Lutheran Church (c. 1730); the Sunday sermon was to be "The Truth Will Make You Odd":

The Lancaster County Courthouse was built in 1855:

In the late afternoon we toured Wheatland, the home of America's "bachelor" president James Buchanan. Buchanan's fiancee conveniently died on the eve of his wedding; he subsequently cohabited in Washington DC for 15 years with William Rufus King. Their relationship is the only explanation for Buchanan's pro-slavery sympathies. The tour ignores the debate over Buchanan's sexuality, which began during his lifetime.

From the front, the wings of this Federalist house look as if they were added in the 20th century; but from the back, the house is more convincing.

The inside is Victorian in furnishings and decor. In the back is the necessary () and a smokehouse:

Our last stop in Lancaster was the Buchanan grave in Woodward Hill Cemetery:

Nearby are the Muhlenberg family graves, including Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1753-1815) who was the pre-eminent American botanist as well as 35-year pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church and Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg who was the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

This plot seemed particularly Germanic: