Yeagertown, USA - Laura Tate's new next-door neighbors wore bright robes and walked around in slippers outside. Inside, shoes had to come off. Bowls of fruit sat around a Buddha statue on a makeshift altar set in front of the curtained stage of an old auditorium.
A Buddhist monastery and temple was taking over a two-story 70-year-old brick-and-mortar building that once served as a high school.
"There had been a concern before they got the place," said Tate, who has lived in her house for 30 years. "We thought a little town like Yeagertown, what would they be doing here?"
An increase of Asian immigrants to the United States during the past couple of decades has also brought an influx of places of worship from denominations with roots half a world away.
Most of the growing Asian population in Pennsylvania is concentrated in and around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. But some churches have opened facilities outside of urban centers, where the phrase "going to church" typically encompasses a ceremony that includes sitting in pews and reading Bible passages on a Sunday morning.
Many of the Asian-rooted denominations have non-Asian worshippers. The new, or revamped facilities, such as the Ananda Buddhist Monastery & College in Yeagertown, may draw new residents to the area, though they aren't expected to be a hub of dramatic population growth in a state that is predominantly white.
But in small towns like Yeagertown (2000 population: 1,035, 2 percent minority), places like the Ananda monastery can cause an initial stir. It's not unusual to spot an Amish horse and buggy on a local road.
A few residents voiced concerns at zoning and planning meetings. "Those few people, they misunderstood. ... They thought we were part of a cult," said the Most Rev. Thich Van Dam, master-abbot at the monastery and member of the United Buddhist Church of America.
He found the place thanks to 21st-century technology, stumbling on a listing for it on the eBay Internet auction site.
When he climbs a staircase inside the building, Van Dam can't help but stop at a landing sometimes and stare out the window at the view of a tree-covered mountain. "Just nature. The whole environment is beautiful and quiet, suitable to a Buddhist monastery," he said.
Such a locale isn't unusual for facilities belonging to Asian-rooted faiths such as Buddhism or Hinduism, said Allen Richardson, a religious studies professor and chaplain at Cedar Crest College in Allentown. He cited reasons such as cheap prices for land in less-populated areas that might still be easily accessible.
"That has changed the American religious landscape," Richardson said. "Now we find presences of mainstream Asian religions all across the rural United States."
Richardson has done extensive research on a Hindu temple in Schuylkill Haven, about 40 miles west of Allentown, and the resulting economic and social impact on the community. Haveli at Vraj opened four years ago, the first temple in the Western Hemisphere consecrated as a principal shrine of the Pushti Marg sect.
The temple, designated an official place of pilgrimage for Hindus in North America, isn't far from billboards advertising Amish souvenirs or from the region's old coal mines.
"When many Asian groups first got here, you would not have been able to identify their presence. Now in general, there's been a movement," Richardson said. "We can at least say who we are architecturally."
In Yeagertown, Van Dam hoped he made a good impression during a recent open house. "A few people far away, five, six miles away, have some bitterness," he said. "But the neighborhood, the locals -- they welcomed us."
Carol Moon made a brief visit across the street to see the new neighbors.
"As far as the people, they've been great. No problem," she said. "Of course, their beliefs are not my beliefs."
The front of the building faces a row of modest homes in a quiet neighborhood, just down the street from a police station. But Van Dam, who also works at a Buddhist facility in Falls Church, Va., marvels at the views of rolling hills around the rest of the building.
"It's very similar to my old temple in Vietnam," Van Dam said. "The winter here, too much snow. But spring and fall, very much like my country."
Harrison Township, about 25 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, isn't rural, though it's a less populated area of Allegheny County. Two State College residents found a three-bedroom ranch house situated on two acres in a residential area there to turn into a Buddhist cultural center.
One of the property's new owners, Damitha Karunaratne, describes himself as a Sri Lankan Buddhist. Growing up in a rural family setting, "temple played a crucial role," he said.
Karunaratne has lofty goals.
"The capacity is unlimited," he said. "It's just a matter of creating that right environment. What we get in return is that happiness that you can do something for your own culture in the country you live in."