Several years ago when my then preschool dancer was begging for dance lessons, we visited several…read morestudios. At every studio we visited she couldn't wait to get out of there, and I saw teachers doing things that worried me. When we visited Encore the atmosphere there was so different from the other studios we had visited, and I practically had to drag my dancer out of there. We haven't looked back since. The teachers use positive terminology to teach dance steps without damaging a dancer's body image. My dancer is now a member of the Encore Dance Performance Company entertaining residents of local retirement communities and performing at events and benefit shows. My dancer continues to be pushed to challenge their dancing by teachers who are supportive.

If you're a fan or art and/or a frequent visitor of art museums in the U.S., you may recognize…read moreCharles Demuth's work. He's often credited as setting the stage for Modernist art. Lancaster has two museums honoring Demuth. One is inside Demuth's house in downtown. (It happens to be one of the oldest buildings in the area.) It's a proper museum with exhibits about his life, house, and work. There are even a few areas for children to interact with history and art. Outside is a beautiful garden that his mother kept for cooking. The second museum is a contemporary art museum with art from local artists spread across two floors and three galleries. Staff are kind and admission is a suggested donation of $5.

The Demuth Museum was a welcomed distraction during my visit. Lancaster isn't that big of a town,…read morebut there is hustle and bustle out on the street that you can escape from by entering this museum. It is honestly a well put together museum that is detailed to Demuth and his connection to Lancaster. This museum is part viewing and part interaction. It is two floors and you can move about it at your own pace and in any direction you feel appropriate. Take you time while doing this and you can definitely find a place to the side to appreciate the art. At the time of my visit the downstairs had an exhibit of art on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It is a small exhibit but the pieces you find in the exhibit can definitely be appreciated. They rotate what is on exhibit in here dependent on what they can get on loan. I was told that they would be doing a change up soon on the pieces and it would be a whole new experience. Throughout the rest of the museum the pieces you see are pieces of Demuth himself. They have many pieces from Demuth that they rotate in and out of viewing sot that means you may not experience the same thing twice in a long while. With this museum being the family home of Demuth, you not only get to view the museum, but the home that is kind of a time capsule of when it was in use as a home. Upstairs it goes more into depth on Demuth himself. You can view the materials he used to create some of his art and learn about his life when he was younger and his travels to study art. In what I would say is the last room for you to visit is a room that contains art of artist that were from other countries looking to start anew in America. One piece invited you to write a message of encouragement to add to the piece of art. This really added an interactive touch to this museum. From the upstairs you can see the garden that inspired Demuth to produce some of his art. And where he spent time with his family.

I visited Lancaster PA for the first time and loved the vibe. Ware Center is in the city center…read morenext to the Fulton theater.

Attended the CPOSC - Open Source Conference here. This was like the county fair of technology…read moreconference. Staff at the front desk and check in were very helpful. Event was well organized with displays in lobby and sessions in the auditorium. Great place for musicals, shows and events.

I visited the 1719 Museum this past Saturday and really enjoyed the experience…read more The guided tour starts with a short film about the property that provides some great context for the rest of the tour. Then you leave the visitor center and walk over to the first structure of tour, which is a full-sized reproduction of a Native American longhouse. Longhouses (large multi-generational family homes made of logs, saplings, and tree bark) were once ubiquitous in Pennsylvania, including along the Susquehanna River. At the time the Hans Herr home was built, south-central Pennsylvania was home to several Indigenous tribes, including the Shenks Ferry, Conoy, Lenape, Mohawk, Nanticoke, Seneca, Shawnee, and Susquehannock peoples. The 1719 Museum collaborated with the Circle Legacy Center and members of the local indigenous community to build the longhouse reproduction in order to share the history of and honor Pennsylvania's native communities and educate visitors to the area. With your guide, you walk into the longhouse, where you sit down while the guide explains quite extensively about the Native communities in the area, the longhouse and its architecture, and the relationships between the indigenous people and the Mennonite people who made homes in the area. After the longhouse, the guide walks you over to the Hans Herr House. It was built in 1719 and is a 2-story, rectangular sandstone Germanic-style dwelling. It is the oldest dwelling in Lancaster County and the oldest Mennonite meetinghouse in America. The guide walks you through various rooms in the house and shares information about the Herr family as well as the larger Mennonite community in early Pennsylvania history. Our guide was Cindy, and she was incredible. I learned so much about the Native, Indigenous and Mennonite communities of 18th century Pennsylvania (and - in the case of the Native peoples - a much earlier history of their lives in Pennsylvania). She really educated us on a broad range of topics, while keeping the tour fun (I love fun education)! She made my tour extra special. If you're spending some time exploring Lancaster Counter, the 1719 Museum should definitely make your itinerary! In one place, you can learn a little bit about Pennsylvania's Native and Mennonite communities, and it's just a special place!

Why is the Hans Herr House significant and who the hell was Hans Herr?…read more The house itself is significant as it is the last remaining structure that is still standing from the original group of Mennonites who came to the Lancaster County area to escape religious persecution from their native Switzerland. The house is also significant in that it is the oldest structure in Lancaster County and likely the oldest remaining Mennonite meetinghouse in the Western Hemisphere. The original group traveled from Switzerland to Germany to escape religious persecution then after a governmental regime change they were forced from Germany to England where they met with William Penn who allowed them to colonize a portion of what is current day Lancaster County or when they arrived in 1711, the extreme most western frontier of Pennsylvania. One interesting piece of information is that the house did not belong to Hans Herr as it was built by his son Christian which is why his initials are over the doorway along with the inscribing mark of 1719. On the tour you are told why the name remained(s) Hans Herr House versus Christian Herr House but honestly I forget why. Maybe something just deferential from Christian towards his father or because of his father's status with the original group that came to the area or maybe everyone just liked the flow of the name more so it's based on tradition? The tour itself is around 40-45 minutes and it starts in the building which houses the gift shop and you are given a brief overview of the Anabaptist faith, the Mennonites who are direct descendants of the faith and a map which shows the route the initial settlers took from Switzerland to Pennsylvania. After that you are taken over to the house where you see the three rooms which make up the first floor (kitchen, bedroom and all purpose dining room-meeting room-family room) and the second floor which is where the eight children slept and finally the basement which is accessed from a side entrance outside of the house. You learn that the key to the home's design is that they didn't believe in wasting any space so every inch served a purpose such as not having hallways so as soon as you walk in the front door you're right in the kitchen. One thing worth noting, if you are someone who is hardcore hung up on only visiting historical places if they have lots of original items then this place might not be for you. There is not a whole lot original to the house that you can see with the exception of a piece of the ceiling insulation on the first floor (rye straw + manure + ??), the wooden crossbeam over the kitchen fireplace and the steps which go from the second floor to the third floor attic (obviously you can't use them). Past that I think most everything else was changed out in the 19th century when the house was still used as a residence or in the early 70's when the initial renovation occurred to make things into a tourist destination. If you want more original take a look at the bibles on display in the gift shop which are original to Hans and Christian. I wouldn't call the Hans Herr House a must see, but it's interesting enough and the tour is the right length to keep everyone interested along with being located close enough to most of Lancaster County's tourist elements. If you go: The 1719 Hans Herr House is open April 1 through November 30, Monday-Saturday, 9:00 AM-4:00 PM. Forty-five minute Herr House tours are offered at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. This is not the tour information for their reproduction Native American Longhouse. That tour is offered at 10 a.m., 12 noon and 2 p.m and has an entirely different focus. Prices are currently Adults: $8, Children 7-12: $4 and Children 6 and under: free with a slight discount if you choose to tour both structures. There are also several special events that happen throughout the year and that information is available on their website.

I visited Historic Rock Ford on Sunday and learned so much. The house was built around 1794 for…read moreGeneral Edward Hand, an adjutant general to George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. Rock Ford is a Georgian-style mansion, where General Hand lived with his wife and children until his death in 1802. His wife passed away in 1805 and only briefly remained in the Hand family before becoming a home for tenant farmers for the next 150-ish years. The house was saved from destruction by the Junior League in 1958 and then renovated and restored to what it looks like now. I learned all this and more from our guide Priscilla, who was wonderful. She told us about the man, the family, and the house, as well as the enslaved people and indentured servants who are a part of the home's history, too. The tour lasted a little over an hour, so I didn't have time to find the John J. Snyder, Jr. Gallery of Early Lancaster County Decorative Arts, which is also on the property. The house was beautiful, and the information I learned from Priscilla about General Hand and his house was very interesting. If you're interested in history and historic homes, the Historic Rock Ford is worth a visit!

One of many historic buildings in the area is Rock Ford, a brick mansion with a large garden. They…read morehost tours throughout the week, which is the only way to see the inside. There are a parking lot and a visitor center with a kind staff person behind the desk. They also have restrooms inside the center.

It Takes a Village…read more Forty acre village comprised of a farm, historic buildings, artifacts and some amazing craftspeople. We didn't really know what to expect coming here but were completely blown away by what we found. The Good: *Firstly, the craftspeople that were here during our visit were all simply amazing but special big ups to the Tinsmith and Blacksmith as they were both a pure joy to talk to. They both possess so much great knowledge and skill in their crafts. It was truly amazing to talk to people like this. *One of the better gift shops we've encountered, as it has wares produced by the craftspeople, as well as locally-made Amish wares and even packets of heritage seeds. *Great historic antique-filled buildings to wander around at your leisure. *Be sure to watch the short film about the history of this place at the Visitor Center. *We were here for almost four hours and still didn't see everything! The Meh: *Some of the trails are a bit suspect, so keep an eye on any old folks you bring along. The Ugly: *The farm part of this place could use a little love, but I'm just being nitpicky. TLDR: Great place for lovers of history, but definitely make sure you take full advantage of the craftspeople that are there that day. They're def the heart and soul of this museum. Without them, this would be a 3.5* experience.

Friendly staff and volunteers!! Lots of beautiful outdoor spaces and free parking. History is on…read moredisplay here

I toured the Wright's Ferry Mansion this past Saturday when I visited Columbia. In fact, I was in…read moreColumbia specifically to tour Wright's Ferry Mansion after a tour guide at another historic home told me it was an absolute gem in the area. I'm so glad she mentioned it to me; she was so right - it is one of the beautiful and best preserved/renovated homes I've ever visited. The home was built in 1738 by Susanna Wright (1697-1784). Susanna and her family were English Quakers that settled in the area in the early 18th century. Susanna was brilliant; known as "the Blue Stocking of Pennsylvania," she was a scholar, a poet, a friend of Benjamin Franklin, and so much more. The house is a two-story stone house - not large, but incredibly beautiful. I've toured many historic houses in the United States and abroad and, while I almost always enjoy a tour of them, I don't often think, "I want to live here." But as I walking around Wright's Ferry Mansion, I thought, "Oh, wow, I'd live here." It's just a gorgeous historic home - the wood, the colors, the flowers, the furnishings, the art... The Rasbridge family saved the house from scheduled demolition and lived in the house until 1973, when he sold it to artist, graphic designer, and art connoisseur Richard C. von Hess and his wife, Louise McClure Tinsley Steinman von Hess. They hired a celebrated preservationist (George Edwin Brumbaugh), and the four-year restoration of the house made it what it is today. I'm not exaggerating, it's one of the most beautiful historic homes I've ever toured. But I found arranging a tour to be more difficult than is typical for a historic home. You cannot pre-purchase tickets for a tour on their website. The website does provide the house of operation and states that tours are one the hour and that reservations are advised. There is a phone number that you can call to schedule a tour, but I didn't do that! They open at 10am, so I showed up right at 10am last Saturday. There was a chalk board on the door that says that tours are on the hour and that you may knock. I heard voices inside, so I knocked. I was told the 10am tour was full but that I could come back to at 11am. I came back at 10:50 this time, worried that the next tour would fill up (and this would be my last chance to take a tour during my visit to Columbia, as I had arranged other tours in the afternoon in Columbia and Willow Street). There were two other women waiting, too. Unfortunately, there's nowhere to wait except at the front door of the house, and there was no shade at all. It was a sweltering day, and I was immediately sweating through my clothes. It was 11, and no one had come to the door. We weren't sure if the tour had ended much earlier (since the house is on the smaller side, we did wonder if the tour was an hour or had already ended) or if it hadn't ended yet. Then someone came out with a fussy baby who didn't want to finish the tour, and we realized the tour was still going. I'd say we probably started around 11:10-11:15. That made my day really tight (I had somewhere to be at 1 and needed to have something to eat first), so I let our (very nice) tour guide know that I probably wouldn't be able to stay for the whole tour unfortunately. We finished the tour of the first floor around 11:50-11:55, so I called it at that point and now need to return to tour the upper floor. FYI: they don't allow photographs inside the house, so use your imagination (or check out their website), but I took plenty of pictures of the exterior of the house and the flower garden in front of the home. Susanna Wright was a fascinating woman, and the house is incredible. The tour is interesting; I learned so much about Susanna, the house, and Columbia. I wish I'd pay a little more attention to the fact that they recommend you scheduling your tour over the phone in advance, because the process of arranging the tour on the day of was a little difficult. So learn from my mistakes. Arrange your tour ahead of time to avoid a tour filling up and being turned away. Or - if you don't want arrange for a tour in advance, make sure your schedule is more flexible than mine was, so that you can come for the next tour if the tour you want fills up or if the tours don't start on the hour. This house is incredible. Since I shot myself in the foot by not pre-scheduling a tour, I need to go back to the do the tour again and see the second floor! But the house is so amazing, I'm happy to do it!

Hands down this was one of the best tours that I've been to! Our tour guide was amazing,she had all…read morethe history on the house as well as the beautiful antiques in the home. The tour took about an hour but what a wonderful was to spend an hour. Call find out the tour days and hours then run to be informed and impressed!

I'm not sure why I didn't review this place sooner... Last year I was responsible for planning a…read morehigh school music banquet and was extremely pleased with the wonderful atmosphere, service and food that The Conestoga Country Club provided for us. Susan Mills was a pleasure to work with & they were very helpful working within our budget. There were 140 people attending our event; the room was beautiful with its large windows, lovely decor & comfortable seating; the food was absolutely delicious and plentiful; and the staff were friendly and the service was excellent. Had our event been in this location again this year, I would've gladly made arrangements at this venue again. I highly recommend them for any event.