Tours
FIVE TOURS are being offered at the 2017 Brubaker Families of America 300th Anniversary Celebration
Registration deadline for the tours was July 1st and is now CLOSED. You may still register for the event, speakers, and see the other weekend offerings available.
Friday, Aug 4, 2017 and Saturday, Aug 5, 2017…PM tours only except for the Bird Watching Tour.
**When considering signing up for a tour, keep in mind that it may overlap with the breakout sessions. Plan your session registration times accordingly.**
1) AMISH COUNTRY FARMLANDS TOUR
Photo courtesy Huffington Post
Seeing and hearing history on our Amish cousins; snacking and visiting Old Order Amishentrepreneurship as we drive through the “valley of no wires”. Visit Riehl’s Quilt shop on a real Amish working dairy farm and see what a quillo is. Stop at Eli Stoltzfus’s Country Store and Fisher’s home-made soft pretzels; try some home-made root beer. Souvenirs can be purchased as stops are made… Jane Brubaker Barge/Greg Barge, guides.
LEAVING Millersville at 12:30 pm for Bird in Hand and Amish farmlands…arrive approximately 1:15 and returning 4-4:30pm. $35 adults; $30 children under 18.
300th Anniversary Event Registration Form
2) DISCOVER the HISTORY and BEAUTY YOUR ANCESTORS WALKED, SHOPPED and MARRIED in HISTORIC LANCASTER CITY
Photo courtesy Michael Kendrick
A local guide shares stories, historic homes, and a visit to the oldest Lutheran church where many of our ancestors went for marriage in early 1700’s. FIRST stop will be to visit the oldest active Farmers Market in Lancaster County before it closes for the day. Guide will inform you where to meet her and time of 
meeting for walking tour. Wear comfortable shoes for a 1 hour walking tour and a bottle of water. It will be at an easy pace with stops as our guide speaks to the group…Your guide will be Jenne Renkin.
LEAVING Millersville at 1:00pm for Lancaster and departing Lancaster City approximately 4:00pm. $35 adults; $30 children under 18.
300th Anniversary Event Registration Form
3) AN AWARD WINNING CUTTING EDGE BRUBAKER DAIRY FARM TOUR
Learn about good quality milk by… combining manure with college cafeteria food waste to produce green energy!
Electricity is made on the farm and sold to nearby homes through the implementation of an anaerobic digester system. Drive through a dairy with over 1000 cows and see a portion of the many acres that are farmed to feed the animals. Named Innovative Dairy Farmer of the year in the United States in 2011 and recognized by the Innovation Center of U.S. Dairies for Outstanding 
Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Generation. Included is a donation to Brubaker Farms in your tour cost to help the furtherance of Agricultural Education. Their farm has been shared with peoples from all over the world. Brubaker Farms is owned and operated by Luke Brubaker and his two sons, Mike and Tony. Luke says, “We are learning, we are always learning, and are always looking for ways to be efficient”.
LEAVING Millersville at 1:00pm…returning approximately 4:30-5:00pm. Approximately 2 hours at the farm and ¾ to 1 hr drive to and from Mount Joy, PA. (There will be BRUBAKER volunteers to direct to farm and chat with their Brubaker cousins). $35 adults; $30 children under 18.
300th Anniversary Event Registration Form
4) BRUBAKER ROHRERSTOWN HERITAGE TOUR
Visit the earliest land purchased by the immigrant cousins, Hans Brubaker and 2 cousin brothers. Relive the history of days gone by while viewing 3 homesteads and 3 cemeteries where many of our ancestors now rest. Travel by homes on the Marietta Pike that were occupied over the last 300 years by many Brubaker descendants. You will have the opportunity to step off of the coach at 2 farms and 1 cemetery for picture taking. A short description by two farm owners of today 
sharing, “How Important was a Barn”. Your guides: Eileen Johns, Laura Brubaker Geiger, and Darvin Martin.
LEAVING Millersville at 1:00pm and returning to Millersville by 4:00-4:30pm. $35 adults; $30 children under 18.
300th Anniversary Event Registration Form
5) BIRD WATCHING TOUR (THIS TOUR IS NOW CLOSED DUE TO REACHING CAPACITY)
Photo courtesy Lancaster Online
(Saturday only) morning birding near Millersville. This is a two hour birding opportunity that is open to any level of birding expertise. Children are invited but those under 16 years old need to be accompanied by an adult. We will travel by carpool to several local areas to see what birds can be found. These will include a wetlands area and Noel Dorwart Park in nearby East Hempfield Township, site of the dedication of the 300th anniversary monument commemorating the arrival of our Brubaker ancestors there. Bring binoculars, and interest. A spotting scope and bird identification book will be available. This activity will be limited to 20 participants.
Lancaster County’s location in southcentral Pennsylvania makes it home to many diverse habitats that are attractive not only to breeding birds, but also to many migratory species as well. Among the species that we hope to see are the Great Blue Heron, Green Heron; possibly the Great Egret, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Pewee, Eastern Kingbird, Red-eyed Vireo, Carolina Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch, Indigo Bunting, Gray Catbird, Song Sparrow, Field Sparrow, and many more!
Guide Paul Brubaker is a recently retired Family Practice physician, with a lifelong interest in the outdoors. Having grown up in Brubaker Valley, north of Lititz, PA, he had the chance to explore and appreciate nature on his family’s sixty-six acre farm. Considering himself an amateur naturalist, he became interested in bird watching “probably forty years ago”. Initially starting with backyard birding, when exposed to more intense 
bird identification and study through Camp Swatara, a Church of the Brethren facility in Berks County, PA, he became “bitten by the birding bug”. Over the years he has traveled from Newfoundland to Alaska, Oregon, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, and many other areas in North America for the chance to identify birds. He has lead birding trips with the National Park Service at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. His North American identified bird species list is at six hundred.
LEAVING Millersville University’s Student Memorial Center (SMC) at 8:00am and concluding by 9:30am at Noel Dorwart Park in time for the memorial plaque dedication ceremony.