The lanes leading to the homes of Swartzentruber Amish are often pretty rough-looking. They are usually dirt, with perhaps a few stones mixed in. A dirt lane can be interesting after a downpour.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen this type of warning. I imagine the families who live on this farm in Ohio have had their share of mud-stuck vehicles.
This reminded me of the time an Amishman rescued me from a ditch in Daviess County, Indiana. I had unwittingly driven down what I later found out was one of the ‘three roads in the county you shouldn’t go down after a rainstorm’–after a rainstorm. Luckily he had a tractor that made short work of yanking my little sedan out and onto firmer ground.
But back to the Swartzentrubers, considered to be among the most conservative of all Amish. Click to find out more about Swartzentruber homes. Or more on controversy surrounding members of the Swartzentruber group.
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Great photo!!!
Thanks Shannon!
In northeastern Vemont, where I reside, we have a fifth season – it falls between winter and spring and is known as “mud season”. Many dirt (mud) roads become almost, if not entirely, impassable. Log trucks are banned during this time,but milk trucks and school buses are allowed to travel the roads (if they can make it). The late Francis Coburn tells the story of a man walking along the side of a road during mud season and sees a hat lying in the road. He promptly picks up the hat and sees the head of his neighbor. “You’s in trouble, ain’t ya Francis” the man asked his neighbor. “Nope”, Fransic replied. “I still got my horse under me”
Nice!
NE Vermont sounds pretty remote–do you have to deal with a lot of those non-gravel dirt roads in your neck of the woods? Or are most of them gravel/paved? I bet that is beautiful country.
In response to the inquiry about the roads, many of them are still dirt/gravel and when the frost goes out in the spring they are a mess. The area is affectionately called the Northeast Kingdom and many say the area is what Vermont used to be. And yes, it is very beautiful country. I would just like to add that I recently discovered this website and it is spectatcular. I’ve been reading a great deal about the Amish lately and am fascinated by their lifestyle and hope to visit the area someday. Several years ago two Amish gentlemen came to our area to participate in a demonstration of horse drawn farm equipment. Their host for the weekend brought them into my feed and farm supply store and introduced them to me and my employees.