Away – Berks County, Pa.

We recently returned fro a trip to Berks County, Pennsylvania. In the last weeks of 2022, my grandmother passed away. She lived for 99 years. It’s pretty hard to sum up 99 years, what she meant to our family, and the legacy she left behind. For all but the last 10 years of her life, she lived in Berks County, and that’s where she and my grandfather wished to be buried. So family traveled from far and wide to gather and celebrate her life.

It’s hard for my family to find a place to stay that fits all of us. Between my husband and I, our children, our children’s spouses, and our grandchildren, there are 14 of us. (My daughter-in-law wasn’t able to travel though, and we missed having her with us.) We ended up staying at an Airbnb in Oley. The house we stayed in is nearly 300 years old, and the farm it sits on was just beautiful. The property has a covered bridge, an old cemetery, a stone bank barn, and other beautiful buildings. While the house we stayed in didn’t have a dining room large enough for all of us to gather for meals, everything else was pretty perfect and we hope to go back again someday.

The house itself was built from stone, and the windowsills were so deep you could sit in them.

The datestone on the house. The other house on the property has a datestone reading 1721. So much history happened here!

It was nice to have a place for us to gather together under one roof. Home really is a sanctuary, and a temporary home that provides that same sanctuary is a rare find, but I felt that we had it in the days we were there. We’re a pretty tight knit family, and being able to be together was exactly what we needed leading up to and after the funeral.

We took tranquil walks in the evening under the stars. For those of us from Maine, we thought the weather was cool but mild. For those from Florida and North Carolina, well, they were pretty cold.

In addition to meeting family that we hadn’t seen in a lot of years (over 40 for me), we were able to spend time with my brother and his girlfriend, and my niece and nephew. Our time together went by much too quickly. We also made a quick stop at Bauman’s Fruit Farm to pick up some apple butter. Bauman’s is a tiny little shop in a tiny little town about 1/4 of a mile from the childhood home of my best friend. I spent a lot of my summer days with her and her family. Her parents were “Mom and Dad B”. I wish we had time to stop by to say hello, but we needed to get my son to the airport.

When I sent a quick selfie of my oldest son and I in front of the Bauman’s sign in Sassamansville to my friend, she sent back another picture of my oldest son and I taken “a few years ago” in Sassamansville. Wow!

I would have liked to show my younger children the home my grandparents lived in, the home I grew up in, the school I attended… and so many other spots, but there wasn’t enough time. This was the first time I was back in Berks County for a lot of years. So much has changed, but so much is still the same. It’s such a beautiful area of the country. If I couldn’t live in Maine, and if my adult children weren’t still so far away, I’d be pretty happy living there. Maybe in an old stone house built nearly 300 years ago with a covered bridge along the driveway.

Being in each other’s company for these few days was a healing respite and I’m grateful for the beauty we found.