Driving Through the Amish Counrtyside & Caching as We Go 5/13/2009

Off we went early this morning to dive the back roads of the Amish countryside and to do a little caching as we go. We drove to Intercourse, PA first for 2 NRV caches one in a park and the other in the Country Accents shopping complex. The next cache was in a lovely small cemetery (which we don't know the name of) just outside of Intercourse which also had a lovely small stone church inside the gates. The historical marker on the gates said 1754 but we weren't sure if that was for the cemetery or the church or both. We found the cache and looked around at the grave markers and found many with War 1776 and War of 1812 on them. Make sure you check the pictures of each of them. Then it was on to Mill Creek and a cache in the park along side the creek. After we found the cache we drove up to a Amish store which sold baked goods, homemade jams and jellies and dips and just about everything else. Mom bought a nice "Welcome" sign for outside the RV and we also got a homemade pretzel. Well one homemade pretzel wasn't enough as they were delicious so we went back and got 3 more. They had a great butter taste without much salt and as we said they were made by the Amish girls.
Then we drove back down the road to the Ressler Family Home and Mascot Roller Mill. •Through the generosity of the Ressler family and the private foundation they created, the Ressler Mill Foundation, visitors are invited at no charge to step back in time and learn about the history of grain milling and early rural family life.
Wheat and other grains were staples for America's early pioneers and mills, of necessity, were among the first buildings in rural communities. According to the book "The Development of the Flour Milling Industry in the United States," by Charles B. Kuhlman, the very first mill in Pennsylvania was built before 1647 near Philadelphia, and by 1786 there were 18 flour mills within a 10-mile radius of Lancaster.
Mill Creek, with ample water power and productive farms, was the site for several mills and the Mascot Mill is located at one of the earliest sites. The original mill building was erected in the mid 1730s, probably by Jacob Bear. The mill was raised to its present height by Daniel Groff, who owned the property from 1820 to 1860. It was purchased by William Ressler in 1865, beginning three generations of Ressler family ownership.
Mills were among the chief economic and social centers for early farmers, placing each miller and his family at the very heart of his community.
At the Mascot Roller Mills, farmers sold wheat, purchased flour, exchanged wheat for flour, brought roasted corn for grinding into cornmeal, and had grain ground into feed for farm animals.
Neighbors tell the foundation that it was not uncommon for Jacob Ressler (1854-1938), William Ressler's son and successor, to act as an informal bank. Jacob, it is said, often loaned his customers money on account until they received their tobacco or milk checks. It is hardly surprising that Jacob later went into banking in addition to milling, and became a director and president of the First National Bank of Intercourse. William K. Ressler (1883-1973), eldest son of Jacob Ressler, also chose a banking career.
Shortly after Jacob Ressler took over the mill from his father in 1882, he petitioned John Wannamaker, the United States Postmaster General, to have a post office at the mill. An ambitious man newly wed to Annie Groff Ressler (1862-1947), Jacob correctly anticipated his neighbors would enjoy the convenience of picking up and posting mail at the mill. In a town meeting at the mill, the local residents adopted Annie's suggestion to name their village Mascot, after a little dog she and Jacob saw in a Broadway stage show on their honeymoon. The post office also enhanced the mill's role as the community center, and from that time on, both the mill and the village were known as Mascot.
On mill visits farmers also exchanged news with their neighbors, looked at the sale bills posted in the mill to see whose farm or equipment was coming up for auction, and perused the world and local news in the Intelligencer Journal or Wall Street Journal in the mill office. If the miller wasn't too busy, men sat on the benches in the mill office and held gab sessions. On Saturday nights, if there wasn't church for the local Amish church district the next day, a festive "for men only" atmosphere prevailed.
The atmosphere in the Ressler family home was distinctly more genteel and feminine, and the local farm women and children who visited the Ressler women often found cordial and charming companionship in the kitchen or sitting room with Anna Ressler (1895-1978), Grace Ressler (1887-1920) and their mother, Annie Ressler.
As residents of the community's informal news hub, Ressler children grew up with their ears tuned to local news, so it is not surprising that one member of the Ressler family, Miller Ressler (1893-1967) went to work as a newspaper reporter for the Intelligencer Journal in Lancaster. Miller chronicled Lancaster County agriculture in a daily page-one column called The Farm Corner. Miller was the fifth child of Jacob and Annie Ressler.
Three of Jacob and Annie's children met early deaths. Jacob (1884-1890) died of diphtheria, and Grace died of pneumonia. Oram (1891-1904) died in an unfortunate accident in the mill. William, Miller and John Harold (1899-1963), an advertising executive, all pursued careers away from Mascot and milling.
Franklin Ressler (1901-1993) and Anna Ressler, however, remained with their Mascot home and mill. These two children of Jacob and Annie Ressler understood that they and their family's mill were at the heart of the community, and they enjoyed seeing that the heart kept on beating. Franklin apprenticed to his father and spent his entire working life in the mill, except when he served in the Pacific with the Army Air Force during World War II. After the war, Franklin kept the mill in excellent order long after many farms abandoned wheat farming and switched their allegiance to mobile mills and the grocery store.
Anna gave up a promising career as a teacher and school administrator to help care for her family and household. Long after the deaths of her parents, Anna remained in Mascot and lovingly preserved her 19th century home.
Franklin and Anna believed that their position at the heart of the community carried a serious responsibility. As older neighbors share with the foundation their recollections of the Ressler family, one phrase is heard time and again: "The Resslers were good neighbors." Ressler family members paid school tuition for the children of neighbors who were less fortunate, purchased farm animals for neighbors who had had tragic barn fires, and contributed to local charities and their church, Bird-in-Hand United Methodist Church.
So many early mills are gone -- victims of fire, floods, age, and modernization. The aims of the non-profit Ressler Mill Foundation, established by Anna, Franklin and William Ressler, are to preserve the mill and home property, support the local community, and educate the public about grain milling and a life no longer with us. Foundation board members are well aware the mill is still located in the heart of an Amish and Mennonite farming community, and aim to continue in the Ressler family tradition of being a quiet and considerate neighbor.
There are more than 200 years of milling history on the site, and the foundation has directed the preservation of both recent oral and earlier written history about the mill and home. Each item in the mill and home has been painstakingly cataloged and preserved by historian and collections curator Cynthia Marquet. Deborah Wygent, through the foundation's project entitled The Ressler Mill Oral History Project, has preserved oral history with the cooperation of more than 70 interviewees.
Roy Struble, a full-time skilled craftsman, keeps the mill and home in outstanding condition, and caretakers keep the grounds immaculate.
The adjacent 1855 miller's house, home to three generations of Resslers, is a clear window to early 20th century housekeeping and family life. The home is preserved just as it was when brother and sister Franklin and Anna Ressler offered their neighbors the finest mill products and service, along with neighborly hospitality. A visit to the kitchen of the 1855 Ressler family home offers visitors a chance to imagine accomplishing kitchen chores with an old dry sink and a coal-fired stove. The parlor of the Ressler home, filled with fine period antiques, is kept just as it was when visitors came to call. We did go in and walked around and the caretaker gave us a little background of the mill as we looked. Also in the mill was the old post office of Mascot. PA. Look at the pictures and in the back was the post office behind the wire mesh screen and in the front was a small office. Calenders on the wall are from 1977 & 1978 and there was a picture of Mamie Eisenhower on the wall.
Then it was off through the country again to the Eby Cemetery 1790 and another cache in a tree. Interesting thing about this cemetery was the 2 different ways they spelled the name. On some of the markers it was spelled Eaby and on some and the sign in front it was spelled Eby. Also notice some of the different first names on some of the Amish people buried there as they seem to be typical PA Dutch names. Then it was a multi-cache, which we found quickly, in another cemetery which wasn't quite as old as the other two we had visited earlier.
Then we drove to Hunsecker Mill Covered Bridge. The bridge was built originally in 1848 by Joesph Russell for $1988.00 and has a single span, wooden, double Burr arch trusses design. The bridge, which spans the Conestoga River, is 180 feet long, making it the longest single span covered bridge in the county. Unlike most historic covered bridges in the county, it is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been swept away in flooding numerous times, most recently in 1972 after Hurricane Agnes. Waters lifted the original structure off its abutments and carried it downstream. In 1973, following destruction from the hurricane, it was rebuilt at a cost of $321,302. Then it was on again through the countryside to a NRV cache along a back road in a tree. The last cache we did was located at a local restaurant on a old hay wagon. It was a nano container and was quite hard to find.
As we drove around from cache to cache again it was so interesting to see the Amish farms and the horse and buggies driving around. Their way of life seems very interesting but not for me, to tough. Then it was back to the RV for the usual afternoon and evening routine. Well that's about it today so until next time we love you all and will see you soon. Mom & Dad