Here’s a photo of the light over the kitchen table in an Amish home (taken in Mark Curtis’ Ohio home):

amish-ceiling-light

Some Amish homes have propane fixtures built-in.  You’ll find them in nearly every room of the house, just as you’d find electric fixtures in an English home.

In other houses you may see hooks in the ceiling from which portable lights can be hung.  There are also the wheeled floor lamps with built-in fuel source which can be easily moved where light is needed.

A close up of the mantle and fuel regulator:

amish-light-mantle
They give off a lot of heat, which can be helpful in winter, less so in summer.

The light hiss given off by these sorts of lamps is a very specific, soothing sound I associate with Amish homes.  Speaking of which, when I was recently ill in Pennsylvania laying on the recliner with a blanket over my head, eyes closed, I spent some time taking in and thinking about the types of sounds you hear in an Amish house.

These include some very characteristic ones such as the lamp’s hiss, or the periodic chiming of the wall clock, or children chattering in Pennsylvania Dutch and creating enough racket to prevent their ill English guests from sleeping 🙂 .  Also noteworthy were those sounds which were absent.  You can probably guess which ones I mean.

UPDATE: A closer-up photo of the sign on the door.

Count My Blessings

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