Amish country farms are always very neat and prosperous in appearance, although suburban development has been putting pressure on land prices and property assessments for a generation, forcing the establishment of new colonies in less pricey areas. This photo was taken near the historic heart of Amish settlement in Lancaster County. My maternal grandfather's ancestors passed through this region, as did so many other German immigrants of every religious tendency from Amish to Lutheran, a few decades before the American Revolution.