“It turns out that beach houses and Amish timber frames are a match made in heaven” explains the narrator in today’s video.
Below, a neat clip showing an Amish construction crew rebuilding in Texas, post-Hurricane Ike.
In the video, Missouri Amish builder Danny Schwartz demonstrates timber frame construction (the kind used on Amish barns, with wooden pegs driven in by mallets). “Our attitude to building is to build it forever…like Noah’s Ark” Danny explains.
You’ll see Danny is quite a likable guy, and like Amish auctioneer Willis Yoder, not at all camera-shy:
If you missed them, you might also enjoy these videos:
Mennonite women rebuild the Gulf Coast
Missouri also has its fair share of Amish woodworkers. More on Amish woodcraft in the state: Amish Furniture-Missouri.
You might also like:
www.AmishStorys.com
Always nice to see people helping people regardless if they are Amish or not. I’m a little surprised that Danny was so relaxed and willing to be in this video, i wonder if he recieved a little flack from his church when he got back home?. I’m thinking they let this slide though. Richard from Lebanon county’s Amish community.
Danny Schwartz
Richard, a good question. I believe this is the same Danny that was featured in a Wall Street Journal article back in 2008:
“There’s no question it is harder to get in touch with me,” says Mr. Schwartz, the Amish builder who erected Mr. Heitland’s lake house. Though Mr. Schwartz works out of El Dorado Springs, Mo., he has built houses as far away as Colorado and Montana. He says he has a driver but has also used taxis and gets rides from clients. Though computers are taboo, he hires non-Amish to do three-dimensional pictures of his hand drawings. In his shop, his tools are driven by horsepower using a contraption that resembles a merry-go-round, allowing up to four horses to turn steel shafts that are geared to saws and planers. But in the field he uses a non-Amish person’s power tools.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121875241065742425.html
Also, I would guess by his last name that he is from a Swiss Amish group (there are at least a couple in Missouri). Swiss tend to be more conservative on the whole.
The Amish in Florida!
Hi! I am going to Sarasota, Florida, this week, and sure enough, there’s an Amish community there. I think it’s a vacation place for them, mostly, but I will find out soon!
Rhea have a great trip. You might like this interview about the Amish community in Sarasota: https://amishamerica.com/taste-of-pinecraft-5-book-giveaway-and-interview-with-author-sherry-gore/
Sherry is a local and knows the area very well, she also is editor of the Pinecraft Pauper plain newspaper for the Sarasota Amish.
Very cool, Erik. I am looking forward to checking out that article.
THey could build me a home anyday. =-D
I am a native Galvestonian and unless you have seen the damage to Galveston and the Bolivar penninsula, it is hard to imagine the devastation caused by Hurricane Ike.
Ike and Katrina
Florence, I can only try to imagine. It is funny, when you hear Hurricane Ike, I had to stop and think what year that was. For the last 5 years pretty much any discussion to do with the after-effects of a bad hurricane has centered around Katrina.
Florence, just curious … are you BOI?
I grew up fishing the East Bay / Bolivar area. From the time I was an early pre-teen until my brother was seriously injured in an auto accident during my senior year in high school (MANY YEARS AGO) we fished there at least once a week, sometimes two or three times a week. Never went back after that time, until after the storm. I could not recognize where I was. While I hated to see all of that wiped away, the Amish gentleman is correct … when it is all said and done it will be nicer than it was before. That is a hard way to go through renewal though.
Florence is also right, the devastation was extreme (and BTW extremely under reported). I have also traveled extensively through areas of SE Texas / SW Louisiana hit by Rita, which was just three weeks after Katrina and the areas of Mississippi directly hit by Katrina. It is all very similar in the degree of devastation those poor folks experienced on Bolivar. Unless you see it yourself you just can’t understand how bad it really was. Television coverage, extensive as it was (especially inside New Orleans) does not do justice to it. My daughter said the same thing after seeing some of the areas in Alabama devastated by the tornados recently. She called it scary and if you have seen it I think you will agree.
One of the most vivid memories of my life was being in a 70 something story office building in Houston two days after Ike hit and looking down on all kinds of damage & that area was on the “clean” side of the storm, probably 60 or 65 miles from Bolivar. When the sun goes down and virtually NO lights came on in an area with over 4 million residents it makes you think. You don’t win when one of those things comes a callin’. In fact, that is one of the reasons we have decided to relocate to another part of the country. Please remember to keep all those folks impacted by the hurricanes, the tornadoes, the droughts and now the flooding along almost the entire Mississippi River basin in your thoughts and prayers.
Anyway, great story. Texas Country Reporter does a good job on assignments like that, same as Amish America does!
OldKat, Yesm I certainly am a BOI!! Still have sand between my toes!!
Very interesting! I agree with Lanore, they could build me a home any time. It is most definitely interesting the way he puts it together. I also agree with Richard’s statement about how much at ease he seemed to be talking on camera. Thanks for the video Erik!!
Blessings, Alice
Glad I got to see this. Makes me proud of our Missouri Amish. It was fun to watch Danny Schwartz after reading all the old comments first about his upfront attitude with the camera. I believe I only caught him once looking directly toward the camera.
Unique boulders for sell
My wife and I own 200 acres in Bruner Missouri and we have quite a few very unique and special boulders and we’ve been told that they are marketable we’ve been told by a couple people to give Danny a call or try to get ahold of him that he would be the man we need to talk to to get them out and get them sold. My name is Jeff my numbers 4176993678 I’m hoping that this message gets to Danny.
lOOKING FOR P. HONE NUMBER OF CREW IN ROLLA BUILDING IN RANCHES SUBDIVISON
AM TOLD THEY ARE FROM SALEM, MO. CAN YOU PROVIDE ME NAME AND PHONE NUMBER?
Beach Cabin Texas
Looking for a Amish construction Crew for my Beach Cabin on the Texas coast!
The property is in Sabine Pass with utilities!
1500-2000 sqf 3bd 2bth
Contact: Scott 409-658-4474
Need erectors
I will have Metal pole barn materials (36×40) and need erectors to put it up. Can email or call my cell. With all the spam calls, if I don’t answer, leave a message with telephone number and I will call back, thanks, Darrell
Builder
Hello
We are looking for a builder to build us a detached 2 car garage and porch.
We do not want a pole barn. We want concrete floor susanswanner@yahoo.com