On Sunday, September 14, 2008, we went to the Ephrata Cloister’s tour of the second and third floors (areas not usually open to the public). The third floor is mostly intact from the 18th century (used to recreate the rooms on the first floor for the museum tour) and the second floor was “remodeled” in the 19th century with some walls being taken out and staircases moved. The most interesting features were the wooden thumb latches and wooden hinges on the cabinets.
Some of the buildings on the Cloister site are unique because they are half-timber (frame buildings with the inside of the frame filled with masonry and then covered by wooden siding). This is the largest collection of buildings constructed in this manner in Pennsylvania.