Jeannie Kontis, Lancaster PA Real Estate & Lancaster County Homes for Sale

Fall! It's time to kick up our heels in the fallen leaves!

It's my favorite time of the year, and its time for one of my favorite outdoor Lancaster City activities

Welcome Lancaster Fall Artwalk ~ 2008!

Over 50 galleries, art venues, museums and studios will be open for the two-day event, taking place on October 18th & October 19th.

Art on a Plate - is the special offering of over a dozen favorite Lancaster City Dining Establishments ~ creating an artfully designated menu especially for the Artwalk.

Hours specified for the Artwalk are:

• Saturday, October 18th: 10am - 5pm

• Sunday, October 19th: noon - 5pm
  

Some venues will begin exibiting as early as Friday evening, October 17th ~ while others will extend their hours well into Sunday evening.

Click here for more Lancaster ARTWalk information:

• Fall Artwalk Program
• Fall Artwalk Map
• Lancaster Arts Kiosk

Visit LancasterARTS for more Lancaster art Events and Schedules.

Are you familiar with the Lancaster County Seal?

I'm sure you've seen this emblem on various Lancaster County publications and websites. But do you know what it stands for?

I have to admit that I never really gave it much thought, until I happened to pick up a few things from my son's room the other day. I came across a copy of the Lancaster County Seal, and an explanation of it. I thought it was interesting enough to share, but I have no idea where he got it from, or why he had it! Perhaps I'll send it to him, since he's away at college and admits to getting a bit homesick.

Lancaster County was formed in 1729, and for 250 years used the Seal of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as their seal, as they did not have their own.

In 1979, Lancaster County's 250th anniversary, the Commissioners adopted this seal: A heart, within a heart.

The "heart within a heart" is a symbol of Lancaster's early art, which signifies:

• "the heart of man living in the heart of God"

and recognizes the freedom and diversity of religion in Lancaster County, as well as its strong influence for:

• virtue,
  
• truth and
  
• honesty.

Within the heart is a Conestoga Wagon, and two Pennsylvania rifles ~ products of the craftsmanship and ingenuity of Lancaster Countians.

The fertile earth is displayed on the base of the heart to indicate our appreciation of its benefits and the stewardship of our Lancaster County farmers. The piles of husked corn lie on the ground in tribute to this native grain.

Does your community have an interesting Seal or Emblem? I'd love to hear about it!

The Origin of the Cape Cod style home -- Part 3 of "The Origin of Home Styles Series".

I’ve written previously about:
The Origin of the Tudor home, and

The Origin of the Stick Style Victorian

...and I thought I would continue this series with:

The Origin of the Cape Cod style home.

The Cape Cod style is as popular today as it was when it was first introduced to America in the 17th century by English Colonists.

These early settlers of Colonial New England were the first to build these steep gabled homes, mimicking their homes back in England. Homes during those early years included the half-timbering construction, such as the Tudor style home, that was popular in their homeland of England.

Through the years, these homes were re-styled to weather the stormy Nor’Eastern climate. This is how those famous shutters, cozy dormers and the steep pitched roofs became a discerning quality of the Cape Cod style home. According to This Old House, 17th-century settlers "drew on a shipwright's skills to build a tight house that was almost a ship upon land, able to withstand the fiercest Nor'easter."

From these original designs, the term “Cape Cod” home was invented. During the Colonial Revival period in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, these economical, tidy homes sprouted throughout the nation in suburban settings. It was during this Post WW2 housing boom, that neighborhoods such as in Levittown, NY - built by Levitt & Sons - became the epitome of life in the suburbs.


Discerning Features of the Cape Cod style home:

• Steep Roof with Overhang

• Side Gables

• Usually 1 1/2 stories (early homes were only 1 story)

• Small in Scale (usually 1,000 SF +/-) and Low to the Ground to conserve heat

• Wide clapboard or shingle siding

• Symmetrical in style with a centered door

• 2nd Floor Dormers - providing light and ventilation (usually later styles only

• Shutters

• Plain Exterior

• First Floor Master Bedroom
  
• Hardwood Floors
  

As Realtors, I'm sure we've all had our share of sales of the Cape Cod homes that dot the countryside, from the East Coast to the West Coast. They are the perfect starter home, and an ideal empty nester home. It's no wonder their popularity has *weathered* every storm.

The Cape Cod style home is still popular with today’s home buyers, although new construction has taken some liberties with the original designs of those early Colonial Settlers. Still popular though, are the First Floor Master Bedrooms and 2nd Floor Dormer Windows, although today’s newer Cape Cod homes are much larger in scale and offer more exterior ornamentation than the original designs ever would have featured.

For lovers of Cape Cod homes, you need to look no further than 19 Gable Park Road in Millersville, PA. This particular Cape Cod style home is built of stone, unlike the early wooden styles, and features not only the 2nd story Dormer Windows and steep pitch roofs that Capes are known for, but the hardwood flooring and plaster walls throughout each room, as well.

This lovely Lancaster County home for sale offers the choice of either a first floor Master Bedroom or use of the spacious second story Master Bedroom. Unlike the smaller Cape Cod homes of the past, it features 5 bedrooms and over 3,500 square feet. Yet, it is cozy and the epitome of what "hearth and home" stands for.

It is located just minutes from Downtown Lancaster City and is just outside of Millersville Boro. It is convenient to both, Millersville University and Franklin & Marshall College for faculty and staff.

Details: 19 Gable Park Road - Stone Cape Cod Home

• $369,000
• 5 Bedrooms
• 2 Full Baths
• 2 Half Baths
• 2 Stone Fireplaces
• First Floor Master
• 2nd Floor Master
• 3,542 Square Feet
• Penn Manor School District

Learn more about 19 Gable Park Road, or search the MLS for additional Cape Cod Homes for Sale and all Lancaster Real Estate.

Jeannie Kontis, Realtor
The Bob Wells Realty Group
Long & Foster Real Estate
717-330-5137 direct
email: Jeannie@JeannieSellsLancaster.com

or visit: www.JeannieSellsLancaster.com

Yes, I did. I had a business meeting with two Amish men in their barn.
We would have met at the end of the day in my office, but they don't drive and it would have been difficult for them to have gotten a ride that time of day. So, my husband and I agreed that we would meet at their place.

The day was warm and it was great weather even as the afternoon turned into the evening. On our way there, we stopped at a red light at an intersection which is adjacent to the farm down the street from my home. All of the sudden, the stench overtook the car, and I look over and realize that today must have been fall fertilizing day. Ewwww -- the odor permeated the car! We quickly rolled up the windows and I took note of all of the other cars passing us having the same expression on their faces! I wished out loud that our Amish friends also didn't spend the day fertilizing their own property, for fear I'd walk away smelling like a barn.

Well.... it must have been fertilizing day for them, as well.

As we pulled up to their property, the farm odors were quite pungent. I have to admit, you do get used to it after a while, and it wasn't too bad in their "office" in one of the barns. A very stark office -- we held our meeting under a propane lantern and a battery operated hanging flashlight (I think it was the propane fumes that drowned out the methane gas fumes!)

Getting down to business, I really forgot where I was. Gone were the dairy odors, the hiss from the propane lantern and the fact that the two men sitting across from me had no buttons on their clothing. Instead, out came the pencils and papers and some number crunching. The fun part was trying to explain the internet to them. You see, Amish businessmen do use the internet, only they hire people to run their websites for them, as they will not have a computer for their own personal use. It gets hard for them to compete with the "English" as they call us regular 'ol non-Amish folks when it comes to business, especially when so much marketing is internet-based.

They need to expand their business, and they even have business coaches, but they need help in order to implement certain ideas. They do have a fax and a telephone, but only check it once or twice a day ~ and that's it. They stand firmly alongside their beliefs ~ they are all for having their products photographed and displayed online and on CDs and DVDs, but refuse to be photographed alongside their products. Yet, they feel the same pressures of the economy and have the same worries we all do. They have the same business questions we do: "How do I reach the largest pool of prospective buyers?" "How do I market my product to them?" "How can *they* find me?"

Can you imagine, as a Realtor, what it would be like if we couldn't use the internet to market ourselves?

If we couldn't have our photos on our business cards or web sites?

If we couldn't answer our own phones or emails? Receive or send faxes? Even from our "home" offices?

As we talked and the evening sun disappeared into the night, I could hear the wonderful farmland noises around me. My mind wandered during our conversation as I found myself wondering what life without electricity, without the technological luxuries I've become accustomed to, would be like. Like Gilligan's Island "No phone, no light, no luxury... as primitive as can be".

I snapped back to reality as I found myself answering my cell phone ~ ironically ~ and explaining to my Amish friends that it was my son calling who was arriving at the Lancaster Amtrack station and needed a ride. I haven't seen him in several weeks, as he's in New York working two internships in the television production field ~ a city only three hours from here yet it seemed worlds apart at that moment. The boy found it quite humorous to hear that I was on an Amish farm "talking business" ~ clearly a world apart from the world he's grown up in, as well.

I found it quite humorous too, as I drove home wondering if I still had the farmland odors permeating my clothes and hair. As I walked into the house, and the lights were turned on, the television was turned on and the computer awakened from it's sleep mode, I had a brief yearning to be back on that quiet, peaceful, dark farm that was worlds apart from my own home ... yet just a half hour drive away.

But, I could do without the farmland smell!

What do you do with your old Computers, Printers, Monitors and Cell Phones?

Don't Throw Them Out!

Donate Them!

Free Geek Penn in Ephrata, PA, recycles donated obsolete technology tools such as computers, printers and monitors, and refurbishes them for use in communities to provide education and access to the internet. Click on the link and see the photos of donated and refurbished computers in use in schools in West Africa. What an awesome idea!

These computers don't only make their way to Africa and the Ukraine, but also help local needs such as veterans and the elderly. They are in need of volunteers and donations (monetary, too).

Remember, your obsolete technology CAN be re-used effectively, and help students in third world countries. Donate it!