Harmony PA

A somewhat rainy afternoon, we decided to explore a little nearby site - Harmony PA.  Harmony was first called "Murdering Town".  Evidently George Washington came through the area in 1753 and was shot at by the Delaware Indians, hence the name.  The area was settled in 1803 by a German religious group - the Harmonites - and called Harmony.  They stayed and farmed the land for about 10 years, then sold the land to the Mennonites and moved on to Indiana, and the New Harmony settlement.

Unfortunately, the museum and shop were closed, even though they were supposed to be open on Sundays from 1-4.  Maybe because of Mother's Day, it was closed.  We were the only tourists around.  We walked around some in the rain and saw what we could see.  This was the door to a little log cabin.

The eyes of the little Harmonite opened when you lifted the knocker.

 A bakery that was open.  John got a cookie and coffee.

Some interesting places (all closed) ....

 This reminded me of the cellar doors in my childhood home in KY.

 In fact, a lot in Harmony reminded me of Bardstown.

We found a little park at the end of the street that overlooked the Connoquenessing Creek - Wood Street Park.  Since 1999!

Anyway, the Harmonites came back to Pennsylvania a few years later and founded another town, New Economy, which is on the Ohio River closer to Pittsburgh.  We'll check that out.

An amusing fact: the Harmonites exerted a major influence on the economic development of Western Pennsylvania. But since the group chose to adopt celibacy, they eventually died out when John S. and his wife Susanna C. Duss, the last surviving leaders of Harmony Society, died in 1951.