5 Southern Amish Communities
The South has been the fastest-growing region in America in recent years, thanks in large part to transplants from other parts of the country.
But Amish, despite their willingness to move, aren’t heading south in quite the same numbers. However, you’ll still find a number of Amish places in the region. Below, a look at five Amish communities in our Southern states.
5 Amish Communities in the South
1. Ethridge, TN
Depending on what you consider “the South,” this may be the largest Amish community in the region. This is a very plain Swartzentruber Amish settlement. There are 13 Amish congregations at Ethridge, with around 2,000 Amish residents.
The community has a modest tourist industry, which Amish participate in to some degree (selling products at tourist spots and being featured on an Amish business map distributed by a local tourist center).
Amish are well-established here, having been in the area over 75 years (since 1944). For more info, here’s one of our all-time most-viewed posts, an account of my 2010 visit to the community.
2. Union Grove, NC
I’m a Tar Heel, so I take special notice of any Amish presence in my home state, of which there has been relatively little. North Carolina is one of the South’s fastest-growing states, but hasn’t proven as attractive to Amish as it has to English people.
The small electric New Order settlement at Union Grove was for years NC’s only Amish location, until being joined by a second community – a Swartzentruber settlement – in 2015. Amish have lived in other locations in North Carolina in the past–including in the Dismal Swamp region in the first half of the 20th century, and a more recent, short-lived and unusual community at Yanceyville.
I’ve visited this small one-church-district settlement several times, including a 2014 trip with stops at two nice Amish-run businesses, Shiloh General Store and Wholesome Country Creamery. I made another trip in late 2020 where I revisited both of these businesses and found a much-expanded general store, and a creamery which hadn’t changed much in six years.
3. Pontotoc County, MS
Is this the most Southern of all the Southern settlements? The community at Randolph in Pontotoc County has existed for over a quarter-century, in recent years adding a second church district. Amish here originate mainly from Ethridge, and like the parent community, this is a very plain settlement of Swartzentruber-affiliation Amish.
Historically, Amish attempted to settle in Mississippi on a number of occasions, with four tries previous to 1950, but little besides the Pontotoc County community since. I paid a visit to this Deep South settlement in early 2020, visiting with several friendly Amish residents and patronizing multiple businesses. Peanut brittle is a popular product for the numerous home vendors here, and generally speaking there are, unsurprisingly, similarities with the Ethridge community, with which it maintains close ties.
4. Salem, AR
Salem is one of the Natural State’s two Amish communities, in Fulton County on the northern border (so I guess by some definitions, barely in the South). Arkansas had a third settlement, at Rector, which it lost some years ago. Contributor Don Burke documented the remnants of this settlement, including haunting images of an abandoned Amish school, in the post A Visit to an Amish “Ghost Town”.
This one-district settlement was founded in 2008 by Amish from Tennessee. The area has a number of businesses including woodworking, a general store, baked goods, and again, peanut brittle, which you can see in this recent account of a visit to the community.
5. Halifax County, VA
Amish began to arrive in Halifax County in southern Virginia in 2005 from the Dover, Delaware settlement (a community facing land pressure which has seen significant out-migration).
Over 15 years later, the Halifax County settlement has grown to four congregations in size with a population about 400-strong, making it Virginia’s second-largest Amish community.
I made a brief visit when it was just one church, back in 2011, and several more in recent years, including in early 2019. I returned later that same year to feature my friends’ Bennie Ray and Mary Ann King’s King’s Kountry Store. This is a friendly community which I hope continues to grow (it’s the closest to my hometown of Raleigh, NC).
Of the Southern states, Virginia has seen a good amount of recent settlement, with four new communities in the past two years, raising its total all the way to 10.
What other Southern Amish settlements could be added to this list?
Image credits: map of the South- etc.usf.edu; Mississippi- Erin Tracy Photography; Arkansas- Don Burke
Erik – I think you may have underestimated the number of Amish in Ethridge, TN. The last time I went through there- several years ago – i was chatting with the very gregarious Mrs. Gingerich at her roadside stand where they sell produce, handmade wooden toys and swings, jellies, peanut brittle, etc. There were five or six adorable children playing nearby and in the course of the conversation I asked her how many grandchildren they had. She paused for a second, obviously counting in her head, and then replied “105”!! No wonder there are so many mailboxes with the name “Gingerich” on them around there! But there are lots of other names, too, and lots of other big families. Every time I’ve driven through there, there seem to be more and more houses and barns and workshops on both sides of the highway, and new ones under constuction.
Interesting, maybe that’s the case, and a number of these churches are close to dividing (there have been 10 church districts here for a number of years already). Also I may be wrong, but I seem to remember Swartzentruber church sizes tending to be a bit larger, though I can’t find a reference on that so don’t quote me 🙂 It certainly seems to be a prospering settlement.
My new Novel is called Ruby Hope Valley.
I can’t wait to visit Ethridge, Tenn. I wrote an Amish Novel about a Christian woman who lives in the town of Ruby Hope Valley, Pennsylvania who befriends an Amish girl at an Amish quilting bee. I want to see if I have the book right about these people and their community.These two woman become friends that last over twenty years. They are always there for each other. It’s a story of faith, hope and love; a story of true friendship. I live in Georgia and plan to visit this town this summer. I can’t wait to meet some of these inspiring people. Thank you for letting us know about Ethridge, Tenn.
Amish in lLawrenc CO Tenn
We have a nice Amish settlement here. They have 15 or more crafts,food or services they offer. At this time I trade with several families. They also have started more settlements here in Tennessee. At present time I believe they have 2 or 3 more coming on line. We also have a new order settlement in Summertown Tennessee only 7 miles from Ethridge. So come on down an visit I show you around….
5 Southern Amish Communities
You are right about the Gingerich’s in Etheridge. It was one of the original family names established here along with Hostetler, Miller and Yoder. The community is approximately 20 square miles and has almost 220 households. There are two smaller sister communities that also came out of here – Adamsville/Stautonville TN about 2 hours west of here about 5 years ago and now McMinnville, TN which has less then a dozen households and would be east of us.
It is interesting where old order types will show up isn’t it.
I wish I could help on some future 5 Canadian Amish Settlements article, but I don’t know facts and figures about our populations cross country, although it does seem to me that in some places if you have a big Mennonite population you are going to have an Amish population connected to it too.
In the ‘south’ what is the biggest Amish minority group, is it Swartzentruber or another group?
I’m not quite sure what you mean by minority group? A Canadian settlement article would be nice, will put it in the suggestion box 🙂
5 amish settlements
There is a small Amish settlement in Lobelville TN also one in Huntington TN abd another just west od Paris TN. I do business with all three groups and love tgem all.
Pinterest
I wish you were part of Pinterest. I would have a folder named vacation and this article would be in it for future use.
If it’s of any help, we do have an Amish America page on Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/amishamerica/
Another community (but not Southern)
It occurred to me to wonder whether you’d come across the small community that I belong to online (though there is a face-to-face fellowship in Ohio). It’s Messianic Amish http://www.bethshalom.cc/
Beeville, TX
Letart, WV?
Also the Amish settlement at Chatham, Va. along Callands Road (Va. Rt. 57). Pretty drive this time of year.
There is a somewhat new settlement in Wingo , Kentucky.
looking for Amish in South Carolina
We will be moving to South Carolina and I am looking for an Amish community to move close to. I looked up Blackville but everyone says that is Mennonite not Amish. Thanks.
Blackville, SC
They actually consider themselves Beachy. Dress plain. Drive cars. Very friendly.
You left one out...
One of the oldest Amish settlements “in the south” in Pinecraft near Sarasota, Florida. It is the most “southern-most” Amish settlement in the United States. Excellent article. Enjoyed it much. Thanks for all that you do.
Thank you, glad you liked it! I actually didn’t really leave any out here – this was just a selection of five settlements.
Here’s a post from the last visit I made to Pinecraft, if of interest: https://amishamerica.com/amish-community-florida/ Wonderful place.
Another Tennessee settlement
There is also an Amish settlement in Mckenzie, Tennessee
Have you visited that one Joel? If so what is it like? It’s come up on the site a couple of times over the years, but I don’t know much about it. Sadly, the last time that community was mentioned here was in regards to a house fire which claimed an Amish boy’s life there last December.
Amish in Deer Lodge, Tennessee
Small settlement with Hardware and Salvage store. Baked goods are sold in nearby Sunbright, TN periodically. I have bought leather goods from Amish craftsman in years past. They are originally from Pennsylvania.
Amish
Our ministry wants to take our children to a Amish community. We want to go the community where they still use the horse and carriage. We’ve been studying their life and belief. We live in SC. Don’t want to go to Mennonite’s community but the Amish. Which Amish community is close to SC? Thank you
Do the Amish read the Old Testament such is Jer. 25:29-38?
It portrays the only nation to ever have delivered evil into the hand of both parent and child, through the devices like the cell phone, Internet, computer etc.., and the authority of they receptacles as that of the lower case ‘o’ in Ephesians 2:2-3. I was not sure if the Amish study such things I don’t think the 7th Day Adventists do, or if they are a part of the Amish, but they seem to have their own version of things future, just wondering, if the Amish do the same, and if they did, and that same nation being America and destruction coming to America by the whirlwind (nuclear- similar as with Sodom)??
A little study garnered:
America in Prophecy
America is to be Totally Destroyed, and it Appears Very Very Soon!!
America by the Evil that she sends from nation to nation:
[Noise-Power Grid removed perhaps by EMP bomb, then full Nukes deployed on USA(?):
A nuclear electro-magnetic pulse (commonly abbreviated as nuclear EMP, or NEMP) is a burst of electromagnetic radiation created by a nuclear explosion.]
America’s Prophetic END:
The Computer- Cell Phone- carry Evil of all
types from America into all Nations.
VERY IMPORTANT
“30 Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31 A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.
32 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, *evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
33 And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.”
Jeremiah 25:30-33