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Today we travel from Lancaster to "The City of Brotherly Love," the port of entry for our Bushman ancestors as they came to America. We meet at 6:45am for a quick devotional in the LDS Church parking lot (1210 E King Street, Lancaster, PA) and then, depending on our choice when registering for the reunion, (a) load onto our 56-passenger, restroom-equipped bus at 7:00am or (b) climb into our own vehicle for a drive into Philadelphia and its very congested traffic. We tour Independence Hall with a reserved ticket (no waiting in line) and remember with our guide how in this spot Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams with the Continental Congress created our Declaration of Independence. Then we step across the street to see the Liberty Bell on display and to watch a short movie in the national park visitor center. Our hearts and minds are touched as we appreciate a reminder of great moments in our country's history. Next we drive through the historic district to Penn's Landing on the Delaware River, grab a snack if so inclined and stroll along the new boardwalk as we contemplate the arrival in Old Philadelphia by sailing ship of Henry Bushman, Wendel Traut's family, and Elizabeth Degen and her father Casper's family. There we mourn the loss at sea of Elizabeth's 2 half-siblings and rejoice as we consider the first victory a few miles to the north on this same Delaware River as Washington and his troops made their Christmas crossing at Trenton, New Jersey. Next we stop for a few minutes at the visitor center of the Philadelphia Temple. Passing German Town on our way to Valley Forge we buy our lunch at a fast food restaurant or find it in our backpacks. Entering the national park at Valley Forge we tour George Washington's headquarters/home and then the winter quarters barracks of soldiers of the Continental Congress. We participate in some of the activities of the costumed docents, recreating for us momentous events of the Revolutionary War. We recount sacred experiences of General George Washington as we consider that Henry Bushman and Barbara Traut's brothers were participants in this war that changed the world. Then onto Lancaster for our choice of evening activities.
What an adventure is in store for today! We climb on the bus again at 7:00am (1210 E King Street) and travel from Lancaster to the wonderful National Military Park at Gettysburg with its extraordinary visitor center and museum. On our way we stop to meet Nancy Spalding, one or our Bushman cousins who still lives in Gettysburg. She tells us of her grandfather who was one of the two children sent to "grandmother's house" during the Battle of Gettysburg. We touch the shawl that her grandmother placed under the head of one of the generals as he breathed his last. Nancy reminds us of Sadie Bushman, who as a 9-year-old, assists the battle surgeons (and is briefly referenced in an exhibit of the visitor center museum). At the visitor center we see the 20-minute movie A New Birth of Freedom, then walk into the giant Cyclorama to see Pickett's Charge depicted. The outstanding museum follows with exhibits and displays that we will be forced against our will to leave. Then we take time to get lunch at the cafeteria, from our backpacks, or from McDonald's (the bus will make a quick run). If we originally registered to travel by bus, at 1:30 our bus picks up our guide from the visitor center for a 3-hour tour of the battle grounds. If traveling in our own vehicle, we use the maps and/or audio guide as we spend the afternoon driving on our own. Our guide takes us to the Bushman Farms and we see how Michael Bushman's farm home sits just below Little Round Top and Big Round Top--right between the Union and Confederate lines. For those with lots of energy we climb the observation tower and see the panoramic photograph that labels The Bushman Family Farm as we wonder at the victories and tragedies and as we consider the great Gettysburg Address given some four months later by President Abraham Lincoln. We spend an hour in the quaint historic part of Gettysburg to buy a souvenir and stroll by the Fahnestock House (47 Baltimore St.) where author Vaughn A. Bushman imagines activities of Elizabeth Degen in his novel From Edylweiss to Sego Lily. Then its home to Lancaster again for our choice of evening activities.
This morning we feast! The bus departs from the LDS church parking lot at 7:00am for the Shady Maple Smorgasborg in East Earl, some 30 minutes east of Lancaster in Amish country, where all ticketed reunion attendees enjoy the most beautiful all-you-can-eat buffet imaginable. The "banquet hall" is all ours to enjoy as we attend the Official Welcome of the reunion. We rejoice together as we sing, remember our Bushman ancestors, and acknowledge from where in the country we have traveled. We feel bonds of love for those who have come before us. Officers and committee members are introduced. Pastor Stan Shantz orients us to the customs and beliefs of the Mennonites and Amish peoples of Lancaster County. We enjoy Richard Bushman, academic dean of the Bushman cousins, for reminiscing and sharing his thoughts as our keynote speaker. By 10:30 we are on our way back to the church for those wanting access to their cars and then on to Williamson Park--the site of the1939 Bushman Family reunion where Maria Bushman Smith gave her famous report on the Bushman Family. We stop to appreciate the historic entrance to the park and then get a photo at the "covered bridge" as we travel to Lancaster County Central Park which today includes the older Williamson Park--where playground equipment, a botanical garden, and swimming (swimming has a separate fee) are available at the park. Here, next to Rock Ford Plantation, we eat lunch--if we paid for this lunch when registering for the reunion. The Conestoga River winds through the park and we pass a memorial to Robert Fulton who used the river to develop a paddle boat; later he adapts the steam engine to power ships. Next we travel half a mile to Rock Ford Plantation, the restored home of General Edward Hand, Adjutant General to George Washington. Abraham Bushman worked at this 112-acre farm. The children of Abraham and Esther were married from this mansion. Family writings allege that Martin and Elizabeth lived here for a time before converting to Mormonism in 1840 and then depart for Nauvoo in 1842. We marvel that a home associated with our ancestors has been restored and is maintained by a charitable foundation. Here at Rock Ford Plantation we participate in dedicating a bronze plaque honoring our Bushman ancestors and then tour the home (after showing our ticket as our entrance fee has been paid by the reunion). We return to the church and our cars to spend the late afternoon in our own activities and dining. After shuttling each half hour between the three locations of the plantation, the park, and the church, the buses will depart at 4:30 from Rock Ford Plantation, 4:35 from Central Park, and arrive at the LDS Church at 4:45. After spending the later afternoon in our own activities, at 6:30 we gather again at the church for Patti Thomas Rascon's musical and theatrical production on the life of Elizabeth Degen Bushman, our Swiss ancestor who began her life in America as an indentured servant, crossed the plains as a Mormon Pioneer, and left this mortal existence from Lehi, Utah.
After breakfasting on our own again, 7:00am sees the departure of buses and automobiles for the Borough and Township of Strasburg and beautiful Amish country to the Traut Family Farm and burying ground, now the Rohrer Family Farm. The farm is now in Paradise Township, which resulted from the dividing of the Strasburg Township in 1843, after our ancestors had left the area. Barbara Traut, who married Henry Bushman, was born in this part of Lancaster County and is likely buried in the tiny family cemetery here on a wooded hill. Here we dedicate a bronze plaque in honor of our Traut ancestors. After the ceremony we stop in the Borough of Strasburg for an hour, walking through the historic village, admiring Amish quilts and furniture. Passing horse-drawn Amish buggies on the streets that remind us of the dress and technology of our ancestors, we pass Strasburg's famous Train Museum and on to Lampeter Township. We drive by the 1719 Hans Herr House (and Native American long house) museum and stop at the Willow Street Mennonite Church's cemetery to visit Abraham and Esther's gravesite and see the gravestone placed there by the Morris Bushman Family. Inside the church we sing and hear Diane Bland recount the Morris Bushman Family experiences of getting to know Lancaster and placing the headstones there. Then we travel another mile or so to the old Reform Church cemetery on Peach Bottom Road where some of Elizabeth Degen's family are memorialized: John Kasper Dagen (her father), Anna Shaublin (her stepmother), Frederick Dagen (her half-brother), and Frederick's wife Anna Otto. On our way to a picnic lunch at Long's Park, we stop for 30 minutes to sing at the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in downtown Lancaster where Barbara Traut married Henry Bushman in 1864, and then on past the museum home of President James Buchanan. At beautiful Long's Park we have lunch, relax, visit and enjoy its large shaded pavilion, petting zoo, playground equipment, and lake. Author and illustrator of The Bushmans Come to America, Kim Bushman Aguilar and Brityn Willis Bennett, tell us of their experiences in producing this wonderful book. Buses depart for our final reunion meeting at the LDS church at 3:00pm where the art, poetry, and song contest winners will be announced. Our finale keynote speaker is John Carmack, emeritus Seventy, who will close our reunion with his observations and we say our good-byes. See you in Nauvoo at our next reunion--in two or three years!
Ephrata (pronounced EF-ruh-tuh) Ward meets at the same location and welcomes us
Lancaster Ward meets at 1210 E King Street, and welcomes the Bushman cousins
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