TULPEHOCKEN 300th ANNIVERSARY TRIP - Chapter Eight - July 31 - August 2, 2023

HOMEWARD BOUND

Welcome Sign to Ephrata Cloister

Monday, July 31

Ephrata Cloister, 632 West Main Street, Ephrata PA

On Monday morning, we packed our belongings and consolidated everything into bags we could carry without too much difficulty in anticipation of our rail journey home. After a leisurely breakfast, we checked out of our hotel and headed southwest from Reading on Highway 222 towards Ephrata. We planned to look around the Ephrata Cloister before making our way to Lancaster to catch our train home in the early afternoon. 

Ephrata Cloister Historic Marker

Former Shady Nook Farm Barn Which Houses the Museum Store

Ephrata Cloister was founded by Conrad Beissel in 1732 as a religious community devoted to work, prayer, music, and self-discipline. My ancestor, Johann Gottfried Fidler, temporarily joined the Ephrata community in 1735 when he became dissatisfied with the Lutheran faith and was influenced by Beissel’s unconventional teachings. Gottfried and fellow Lutherans, Conrad Weiser and Rev. Peter Miller, were involved in a contentious dispute between the Lutheran and Moravian congregations to gain control of Reed’s Church in the Tulpehocken Valley. Beissel’s teachings appealed to the disillusioned men, and ten families of Gottfried’s church defected and were re-baptized into the Ephrata “Dunker” or German Seventh Day Adventist sect.

God's Acre Cemetery and the Weaver's House 

Grave of Peter Miller and Crypt of Conrad Beissel in God's Acre

Conrad Beissel's Gravestone Inscription

Peter Miller's Gravestone Inscription 

A day or two after their baptism, the converts gathered all the German devotional books associated with their former faith and burned them in front of the Fiddler home. However, the members of the Cloister followed rather extreme religious practices and Gottfried and his fellow converts left the congregation after a few years. By 1743, Gottfried was one of the founders of Christ Little Tulpehocken Church. Weiser also eventually left the Cloister, but Rev. Miller remained with Beissel and both are buried in the Ephrata graveyard. 

The members of the Ephrata Cloister lived, worked, and worshipped in the buildings preserved in the complex. Their food was grown and prepared onsite and residents did weaving, sewing carpentry, printing, and other work to support a self-sustaining community. Music was an important aspect of life in the Cloister and both Beissel and several women in the group were prolific composers of sacred music. A volunteer chorus still rehearses and performs music by the Cloister composers for concerts and events in the Ephrata area. Recordings of the chorus are available from the Cloister gift shop. 

Historic Marker Honoring Women Composers of Ephrata

The weather was lovely as we wandered around the perfectly maintained grounds of the Cloister. The vintage buildings were not open on Monday, but we were able to walk among some of them and read the signs explaining the age and significance of each one.

 

1743 Sister's Home or Saron 

1837 Academy Building 

Keeping an eye on the time, we decided to look for a place to pick up lunch to go and keep it until we arrived at the train station in Lancaster. As we drove down Main Street, we were impressed by the surroundings in the neat, clean, and charming little town. We soon found the Scratch Bakes Café and decided to order a takeout sandwich and cupcakes for the road from the quaint eatery.

We were due to return my rental car at noon, so we hopped back on 222 towards Lancaster and arrived at Enterprise Rent a Car in about twenty minutes. I finished our paperwork quickly and a pleasant young man gave us a ride to the rail station just down the street.

We savored our tasty lunch and then walked down to the outdoor platform to watch the Pennsylvanian pull into the station at 1:30. She arrived right on schedule and our trip home was uneventful. We had new books and documents to read during our pleasant time on the train and in the stations at Pittsburgh and Chicago. The Southwest Chief even arrived in Topeka right on time just after midnight on Wednesday morning! 

 

Crossing the Susquehanna River North of Harrisburg

Along the Susquehanna River Near Harrisburg

An Interesting Mosque on the Way to Pittsburgh

A Beautiful Bridge Near Pittsburgh

Strangest Encounter

Meeting a Train Carrying 15 Turbine Blades on Flatcars!