“Beulah Land”
“Beulah Land”
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We all have that place we dream of living. We all say “Someday, we will move there“. I have always been a proud Philadelphian. I would never want to live outside the city. Before my wife and I got married, we were looking for a house to buy. We began our search a little further in the city where she grew up, but we wound up planting our roots not far from where I grew up. Here we are 15 years later in that same house. As we grow, life has a funny way of changing us. I found my religion again. Who would have thought that it would be in the same church that I left it.
When I was in high school, my parents and I decided to take a vacation and do something a little different. We booked a couple of nights in Lancaster, Pa. When we got there, we thought “what are we going to do up here, there is NOTHING here“. We had such a great time, we wound up staying an extra night. I have not been back since, but that very trip planted a seed inside me that I never knew was there.
It wouldn‘t be until I got married, that the seed began to grow. My wife and I decided to have weekend away at this Bed & Breakfast that she found on the internet. That weekend, we saw how beautiful Lancaster County was. We brought our kids back to show them and they fell in love with it too. It took 26 years for that seed to bud.
When I became a photographer, I knew I had to capture the beautiful land that God has made. Every time I see photos from Lancaster County, I feel this sense of longing to be there.
There is a family bluegrass band, The Petersens, that I often listen to that reminds me of Lancaster County. My favorite song is “Sweet Beulah Land“. The opening line is “I‘m kind of homesick for a country to which I‘ve never been“. I feel that way each time I come home from Lancaster County. It‘s the chorus that really gets me though:
“Beulah Land, I'm longing for you
And someday on thee I'll stand
And there my home shall be eternal
Beulah Land, Sweet Beulah Land”
I believe that Lancaster County is the closest thing to Heaven on Earth. Lord, I have found my Beulah Land.
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All photographs by Keith J. Fisher
©2022 Grazie Santangelo. All Rights Reserved
