The green fields of Lancaster County in southeastern Pennsylvania constitute a historic cultural landscape representing the founding ideals of the United States of America. (...)
The green fields of Lancaster County in southeastern Pennsylvania constitute a historic cultural landscape representing the founding ideals of the United States of America. Starting around 1710 and continuing into the 19th century, immigrants from western Europe—particularly the Amish, Huguenots, Welsh, English, and Scots-Irish—settled in this vast arable landscape, fleeing poverty and religious persecution and attracted by the freedom of religion and political stability first established in William Penn’s charter of 1681. The earliest settlers started with simple temporary shelters, but soon progressed to building large farmsteads and brick houses. Numerous historic structures, including early houses, a brew house, a blacksmith shop, a stable, and the former houses of Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith can be seen by visitors to the town of Lancaster today. U.S. Congressman Thaddeus Stevens and his housekeeper Lydia Hamilton Smith were both active in social and political movements, championing the abolition of slavery, women’s rights, and civil and labor rights. Although Stevens’ house was proven to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad through archaeological research, the building was threatened with demolition in 2001.
