You might remember some photos of the Ethridge, Tennessee Amish shared by reader Adair Faust. She has kindly sent in another batch from a recent visit. You can see the fall colors are in full swing in this conservative Amish community:
Read more on the Ethridge Amish community, the largest settlement in the Volunteer State.
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Last year I visited the Ethridge, Tennesse Amish community. 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. Lancaster County, this ain’t). It’s also a charming place to visit. It’s got a rural feel despite the oversized tour wagons rumbling about. I hope you…
Today’s photos were all (except for the first two) recently taken by a reader in the Holmes and Wayne County area. By last count there are 238 church districts in this settlement, more than any other Amish location, with over 30,000 Amish people living here. The Holmes County community is a sprawling settlement, spanning 20-some miles, as the crow flies, from north to south and east…
The Amish settlement at Kokomo, Indiana, founded 1848, is the third-oldest in Indiana. Yet despite having been in existence for over 160 years, Kokomo remains a tiny settlement of just 2 church districts. Meanwhile, other settlements founded in the state at roughly the same time have grown and thrived. The Nappanee and Adams County settlements approach 40 and 50 church districts respectively, while the Elkhart-Lagrange…
Summer is when people travel. Many of those trips take in Amish areas. Actually, in a lot of states it’s getting harder to drive anywhere without passing near an Amish spot on the map. I also know a lot of you live in or near Amish settlements. So I thought I’d throw it out–are you visiting any Amish communities this summer? (or have you already?)…
How about some winter shots from the New Wilmington, Pennsylvania Amish community? This is one of my favorite Amish settlements, dating back to my first visit one autumn going on 15 years ago. While the sights I saw then were of hues that matched more closely to the distinct brown-topped buggies of the local Amish, the wintry images in these photos better reflect our current…
The Amish famously refuse anything that smacks of government dependence. They opt out of Social Security, agricultural subsidies, Medicaid, Medicare, and generally any sort of public welfare program. Strangely, this is news for Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services. Ohio has the largest Amish population in the nation, by far. Yet they recently decided that the Amish needed to step up their Food Stamp…
26 Comments
Great pictures! I love the Ethridge community. The Amish there are a little more receiving than other Swartz I have visited. My favorite part is how, when you drive into the community, the telephone/electric poles literally disappear. The other communities I’ve seen have them throughout, because typically the English are there first.
No power lines on Amish roads
That’s an interesting observation Lattice. On some of these roads especially, where you have no other English, just big Amish farms…I guess it being a fairly rural area, and the Amish being there over 60 years would lend it to being more predominantly Amish in some areas.
You see this in other communities as well–this summer I remember more than a few roads like that in the Adams Co, Indiana settlement. I like those roads.
Ethridge
Love the photos!! Thank you for sharing!
I think the photos are just beautiful. Makes me want to vacation back in that area again.
Just beautiful! I love fall and the color of leaves. Miss it from my old home. Thanks for posting!
Thank you for the beautiful pictures.
I loved these pictures, especially the laundry blowing in the breeze in front of the barn. Thanks!
Just a little correction – the last photo is labelled “sunset Amish farm” but it’s sunRISE!
Thank you Adair! That tricky sun!
Thanks for posting this beautiful pictures.
Thanks for posting these beautiful pictures.
Beautiful photos!
Thanks for the beautiful photos.
Etheridge is a beautiful community; thank you for posting such lovely photos of one of my favorite places.
Intrigued to see the red ochre building. Barns are commonly red because of painting with oxblood paint (as were floors in many old buildings.) But few make the old hemoglobin paint now.
There are lots of red buildings around Ethridge, barns and shop buildings, etc.
Pictures
Wonderful!
Many Blessings
Sunrise, sunset...
…either one, a beautiful, peaceful photo. Thank you so much for sharing these.
I think I detect reflective tape on the back of the buggy, am I right? No triangle—too worldly, I’m sure. I’m still surprised at the tape, but thankful for it.
Thanks, Adair (and Erik)
Yes, there was reflective tape. But having driven those roads at night (for a very short time), I am now in the camp of “use the triangle”. The tape is visible, as are the lanterns they hang out on the sides of the buggies, but not until you’re very close, and I can see how tragic accidents can happen readily, especially since there’s a large highway. After coming up suddenly on a couple of buggies in the pitch black dark, I was scared to drive any more and went back to my motel! I don’t understand why the tape passes muster but the triangles don’t.
SMV triangle vs. reflective tape--visibility?
Interesting question Adair, and one we’ve run into more than once here. I am assuming there is a way to quantify visibility which would let you compare the orange SMV triangle to the tape.
I’d be curious to see the objective comparison. Intuitively it doesn’t seem like the tape would come close to the triangle. But I wonder.
Lovely Pictures!
I love seeing the pictures from all the different settlements and the fall colours are so beautiful!
I think these are a lovely collection of pictures.
I like the series of shots of men working on the structure, a barn I guess.
I was thinking today about my family when they were farmers. I thought they must have known how to build buildings like barns and such. I read that one nineteenth century arm of the family had friends who where carpenters and furniture makers, who co-operated together to build different structures in their rural community, in addition to household items.
Is it fair to say that for practical reasons, the Amish hone these skills so to not rely on outsiders?
Amish barn-raising independence
Shom, I would say yes, among other reasons…but yes they are glad to be able to rely on their own community in this and other areas. Though on the whole Amish have probably increased their interaction with English on a variety of fronts over the past decade or two.
lodging available
I would love to come visit in Ethridge TN. I would love to teach my children the simplier life as I homeschool. We want to come during the amish auction in Oct. Any ideas for lodging or someone who rents to English among the Amish?
We would like to visit the Ethridge Community.
It is so nice to see pictures from the different communities.
This a great, informative site.
It seeme like the Amish in Ethridge may be similsr to the Soutnern Minnesota Amish. I believe they are also Swartentruber. They do not use the triangle on the back of the buggies.
Thanks for all the information!!
Mary
Both are Swartzentruber
Mary, glad you found us, and yes you are right, the Amish near Harmony in Fillmore County in southern Minnesota are also Swartzentruber Amish, originally out of Wayne Co., Ohio:
https://amishamerica.com/minnesota-amish/
Here’s some more on the Amish in Tennessee in general:
https://amishamerica.com/tennessee-amish/
Blessings
I have always admired the work ethics presented of the Amish and the kindness I’ve always heard the Amish have. I plan to become a happy customer.