Old & New
Actually, I don’t know the precise ages of these two homes, though one has certainly got a fresher-looking paint job. Â Taken in the Holmes County, Ohio Amish settlement. Watch the drive when it rains.
10 Views of the Ethridge, Tennessee Amish
Last year I visited the Ethridge, Tennesse Amish community. Â I was surprised to find that Ethridge is the Amish mecca of the South. For being a conservative Swartzentruber community, the place is crawling with tourists (relatively speaking, of course. Â Lancaster County, this ain’t). It’s also a charming place to visit. Â It’s got a rural feel despite the oversized tour wagons rumbling about. I hope you…
The Amish of Harmony, Minnesota
The Harmony, Minnesota Amish community is the largest in the state. In the video below, a television station visits the community and interviews an Amishman named Dennis as well as a local tour guide. It’s a brief but enjoyable look at this conservative Swartzentruber settlement. I don’t recall a lot of cases in which Swartzentruber Amish appeared on camera. Dennis gives a nice interview here;…
Visiting the Amish at Burke’s Garden, Virginia (13 Photos)
We’ve had a number of looks at off-the-beaten path Amish communities lately, from the new settlement in northeastern Vermont to the Garnett, Kansas community to the Unity settlement in Maine. Today, reader Jerry takes us to another in that category–a community tucked away in an unusual valley in the southwestern end of Virginia. The following is Jerry’s account of his trip to the Burke’s Garden…
Most of the conservative communities in New York that I visit have homes that look like the unpainted portion.
Tom backroadstraveller.blogspot.com/
shingles for siding
The local (SE Kansas) Amish, fairly conservative horse and buggy folk, use shingles as siding. Is more weather proof than any other kind of siding, they say, and lasts longer with easier maintenance. Sara
I love that picture and the contrast with the old and the new. Great job ~
That would be a Swartzentruber amish place. They are not allowed to have gravel on their driveways.
I’m wondering if the unpainted, fading one is the original home with the newer home being the Dawdi house.
They may have gravel if they spread it out themselves. That means they will have to load the gravel on wheelbarrows and spread it around with shovels and rakes. Nobody has time and energy to go to that bother, so they do without.
Tom, I love your NY pictures! I couldn’t make a comment because I don’t know how to put in a “profile”?
Of course I love all the Amish links especially AmishAmerica.
The many pix I have seen always have nicely painted homes.
Ia the home shown actually occupied?
I’d guess that it is George. The homes of more conservative Amish are often not kept up to the same aesthetic standards as the mainline Amish homes.
The book, An Amish Paradox, has some photos of Swartzentruber homes compared with those of “higher” orders, the difference can be quite striking.
Of course that’s probably not what is going on here — one house in this photo just seems to be in need of painting, or perhaps is newer.
I agree that they sure look like Swartzentruber homes. Red barns, overgrown fence rows, no evidence of flower beds by the house…
The architecture of the older looking home is characteristic of Swartzentruber homes as well.
Extended family
Do you think the newer looking house could have been built when a son took overthe the farm of his parents and needed a home of his own for his growing family?
These pictures are interesting. It helps remind us that there
certainly are differences in Amish farmstead scenery. This
picture reminds me of the Riceville, Iowa settlement which I
believe is very conservative Old Order, but not Swartzenbtruber.
Concerning gravel — in the Orleans, Indiana Swartz. settlement,it seems that gravel is widely used. I think especially of one
family who have a produce stand on their farm that
does a big business every season. Their driveway has been well-maintained for a long time, but about a year ago they enlarged
their parking area and brought in much, much gravel which makes
it very nice to drive around and park. May be differences in
ordnung in different Swartz. settlements. Or does it have more to do with money a household has available to pay for gravel?
The photos is beautiful and makes me home sick for a visit.