A Colorado Amish Home With A Spectacular View (17 Photos)

So I came across this Colorado Amish home which sold back in 2021. There are several spectacular images of this home at the listing, and which you’ll see in this post. And as tends to be the case in some Western Amish settlements, there are progressive elements to this home as well (more on that below).

The settlement is at Westcliffe, Colorado. The backdrop in the photo above is the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. On the other side of those mountains you find the vast San Luis Valley, home to several more Amish settlements.

I visited the Westcliffe community in late 2021, stopping in at a furniture store and driving around the community. Looking at the map, I am pretty sure I passed by this home at some point. But out there, you can’t always tell what is Amish and what is English.

I remember looking at numerous homes there as I passed by, and puzzling as to whether or not they were Amish, searching for telltale clues. It’s not immediately evident in some of these communities – where Amish and English styles converge in a more rustic, Western place.

From Zillow:

Wonderful Amish built home on the Valley floor. 35 acres with NO HOA and NO Covenants. Many options for sustainability. Plumbed for gas lights, wired for solar or grid electric. Currently runs on solar but Electric box and pedestal are available at property.

There are unfinished rooms that could be finished for additional living space. The basement is more of a cellar and maintains a cool temperature but does not freeze making it ideal for storing extra food and supplies. Property is fenced and cross fenced for horses or livestock. Workshop is insulated and heated.

So regarding what I wrote above, part of the progressive aspect should be immediately obvious – the visual design of the home doesn’t exactly follow conventional Amish patterns. Compare the above with the look of this Amish home in Adams County, Indiana, for example:

But looking closer, you’ll find arguably the most progressive element. Like a small number of Amish residences, this home has a battery-driven electric system built into the home. This is one of the most progressive power setups for Amish who technically remain “off-grid”.

We previously saw an example of such a home in Jamesport, Missouri in Don Burke’s post “10 Unexpected Things I Saw In An Amish Home“. Here you see a bank of batteries in this Colorado home.

In comparison, here is the corresponding setup in the Missouri home:

Power is collected via solar panels. The home is wired for power, and it seems that it is utilized in some rooms. See this plugged in lamp, for example.

At the same time this house has the traditional gas lighting, also built into the home. Here in the bedroom you see traditional Amish and conventional lighting, side-by-side.

Wiring a home that you might sell in future to a non-Amish buyer is not uncommon. That doesn’t necessarily mean the family will use a setup like this. But it opens the door to it.

This family makes use of electricity in various ways, in the plug-it-in-the-wall manner. That’s a conventional clothes iron in the photo here, not a “sad” one.

Besides the above, you’ll see classic Amish elements throughout the home. For instance, this woodstove for heating.

A couple of views of the kitchen.

This wash room with wringer washer has the plainest appearance of any room in the home.

Another bedroom.

And the living room view from above.

Looking closer, rocker, gas lamp and kettle on stove are among the more traditional Amish elements in this room.

Do you think the family ever got tired of views like this out their windows? Perhaps “tired of” is not the way to put it. I do think we all get used to things, and can even take the spectacular for granted…after awhile. But – not always the case. I believe you can wake up tickled by what you see out your front door even years after it’s no longer novel.

This isn’t the only Colorado Amish home we’ve looked at here. For example, here is another more traditional Amish home in the same settlement. And here is an even plainer one in the La Jara community (a plainer group of Amish). This one stands out from those two.

Before we leave this home, a peek in the buggy barn.

So how much does this 3300-square-foot home on 35 acres, with a view like that, cost? I can’t tell you what it would be today, because it is off the market.