Historic Ephrata Cloister — Attraction in Ephrata

Went here on a feild trip with my sons class! It was a very neat and interesting place! You learn about how ephrata started and see just how little the town was. You learned who lived there and how things were in older times. They have different stations to go to like the bakery the printers and the doctors. You get to try to Wright with a quill pen like in the old days. You get to see how they made paper and wash clothes! You also get to sit in the school house and learn what a day in school for the kids was like. You learn about money and what it looked like and how they used it back in the day! You also get to see how they made clothes and how they died things! You also learned about lighting back then and how the ppl in the church prayed basically all day and you get a little taste of something they would make back then! All the buildings are original and it's definitely a neat piece of history! You also get to see a life of a blacksmith and how they made things! They also have a cemetery there for the town it's filled with the ppl who lived there us neat to see the old graves. They also have a little store there you can buy many things from the old days! It's definitely a place that was fun but also kept the kids interested! A place to...

Incredible place full of history. We arrived at around 1 pm on a Sunday and we were greeted at the visitor center by very attentive and knowledgeable staff, he gave us a map of the facility and a general idea of the activities to participate in, including a guided tour, a short movie outlining the Cloister and a self guided one where you dial a phone number on your cellphone and punch in the number of the building you want to get information on, he also informed us that we got a discount if we had an AAA membership, which we did. We did the self guided tour as I was mostly interested in photography. Most of the buildings were open to visit on our own except two, the largest ones at the center, which you can visit but only on the guided tour. Overall it was great, my only complaint (and this is nitpicking) is the use of plexiglass instead of actual glass used at the doors blocking the displays inside the buildings, it was hazy at times and very difficult to photograph through, but I get it, some people have no respect for history and plexiglass is more resilient than actual glass. Would definitely come again, my girlfriend and I had...

Visiting cloisters may not be your habit, but go & see this one. It is an astonishing history of religious freedom & independent living. Ephrata the "valley of the snakes" cannot have been an appealing place to found your German 7th-Day Baptist community in the early 1700's. Conrad Beissel was so charismatic that he couldn't shake off his followers. They came from Germany & founded the Ephrata Cloisters & monastic agricultural life. The buildings are well preserved & the parkland grounds are well kept. This is a scenic place where a good guide provides lively & vivid details of everyday life in this religious commune. Even young children are amused & interested by this piece of our history. Although there are are other interesting communes along the East coast from North Carolina to Pennsylvania, this one remains our favorite for unspoiled & well preserved buildings furniture & insight into the dedication & determination of these...