Charter Day with Free Admission to Lancaster's Museums
To celebrate the day King Charles II of Great Britain granted William Penn the charter that founded the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, all museums managed by the state will offer free admission. This year, the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission will celebrate the Commonwealth’s 339th birthday known as “Charter Day” on the second Sunday in March. In Lancaster, there are three participating museums: Ephrata Cloister, Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Learn about the unique lifestyle of an 18th-century religious community at the Ephrata Cloister or explore the crafts and workmanship of the Pennsylvania Germans at the Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum. The Railroad Museum of PA will satisfy any train lover or history buff as the exhibits display the rich heritage of Pennsylvania’s locomotives.
The Ephrata Cloister, founded in 1732, was originally a retreat where devoted members were sequestered from worldly distractions and followed a disciplined, celibate life. Housed in Germanic log, stone and half-timbered buildings, members wore white robes and barely ate and slept, spending most of their days in prayer and labor including farming, papermaking, carpentry, milling and textiles. Learn about their accomplishments in architecture, music, writing and art as volunteers bring history to life throughout the Cloister’s nine buildings. Stop by the museum store for hand-crafted items, great books and art.
Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum houses the largest collection of 18th and 19th-century Pennsylvania German artifacts in the United States. Throughout the 1700s German immigrants landed in the colonial port of Philadelphia, creating a distinct culture with folk traditions, decorative arts and a language, Pennsylvania German. A vast majority became farmers, employing advanced agricultural techniques, as well as clockmakers, tinsmiths and weavers, and their architecture, furniture and pottery were influenced by their heritage. Learn about their famous inventions and innovations, from the long rifle to the Conestoga wagon. On Charter Day, part two of a special exhibit will be unveiled, “Thrown, Fired, and Glazed: The Redware Traditions from Pennsylvania and Beyond.”
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania features a collection of more than 100 historically significant locomotives and railroad cars all made and/or operated in Pennsylvania. View thousands of artifacts and memorabilia, art and signage, telegraph and signal equipment, tools and uniforms. Learn the basics of powering and operating trains, travel back to the 1900s, take a walk down Main Street or try out the Diesel Simulator. Browse the Whistle Stop Shop museum store with its wide variety of educational materials and collectibles.
Real museums are places where Time is transformed into Space. ― Orhan Pamuk, Nobel Laureate
