Inside A “Hard To Find” Iowa Amish Home (14 Photos)
Here we have a quite traditional Amish home in the settlement at Lamoni, Iowa (Decatur County). It’s one of Iowa’s two-dozen-plus Amish communities.
This community was started in 1997, and has three church districts. Lamoni has been mentioned here before, most recently in Joe Donnermeyer’s look at ‘The 14 “Two-State” Amish Settlements‘. As Joe reported at the time, around a dozen of the settlement’s homes lie over the state line, in Mercer County, Missouri.
Here’s the one exterior shot we have of the home, which resembles a Swartzentruber home. And checking correspondence I have with one of our readers suggests that this is a Swartzentruber group. And, the fact that it has five bedrooms and zero bathrooms would also suggest that to be the case.
Here’s the Zillow property description (hat tip to Carolyn). The first several lines made me smile:
Farm for sale in Lamoni, IA in Decatur County. Location, and man is this location hard to find. This property at 16580 280th Street is more than just a home; it’s a lifestyle.
Of course, “Man this location is hard to find” is going to be a selling point for some people. The rest of it:
Whether you’re looking for a peaceful escape, a place to pursue agricultural interests, or a beautiful setting for family life, this estate offers endless possibilities. Explore the potential of this remarkable 40-acre property and make it your own. The home has no electrical and minimal water in the home so you can make it how you desire. The home consists of 5 bedrooms, hardwood floors, and metal vinyl style looking siding. The property also includes some buildings for storage, chickens and other uses for livestock.
This would be an amazing off grid property, hobby farm, or investment property. The land consists of open pastures with some scattered trees. Southern Iowa is a great place to live centrally located between Kansas City, MO and Des Moines IA, and just off of Hwy 35. Check out the photos and pictures and give us a call to look at this wonderful property with so much potential.
Inside the home
Looking right inside, a nice array of furniture items in this room. Note a couple things here – one, the grandfather clock, which is pretty common in Amish homes. Also, It looks like there is some sort of wooden fixture hanging from the middle of the ceiling, and what looks like a bulb.
It appears to be a battery-powered light, which is common enough, though I believe this is the first time I’ve seen it in a Swartzentruber place. Adding to the firsts, I have never before seen the wooden “holder” (or whatever we want to call it) on this sort of light. I wonder if this is a family of woodworkers.
Here we have the kitchen table covered in beige or tan oilcloth. And here’s another battery-powered ceiling light, but without the wooden covering.
Any guesses what that might be in those jars on the stove?
Here’s a utility space where the family can perform a number of functions: laundry, canning, cooking and baking, or really whatever messy home task needs doing.
Here you see some of the blue molding that is common in the plainer Amish homes.
One of the bedrooms with horse bedspread. This and the battery-powered lights, as well as the look of the main room, suggest to me that this group may be a bit on the more “progressive” end (for a Swartzentruber family, that is).
Another of the bedrooms, likely the parents’, has a more traditional quilt.
Looks like we have some members of the family in this shot.
Empty space in the home or one of the buildings. Are those blackboards?
This shop building also has a Swartzentruber look and feel.
Looks like we found the chicken house.
Children’s playset and another outbuilding – or maybe a tiny dawdihaus?
This home is only listed as having 1,080 square feet, which seems low for the type of home. There are numerous outbuildings and the property is a pretty good size – 39 acres. So what is the price of this property?
If you like what you saw here, you can make yourself “hard to find” in southern Iowa for the price of $360,000. Represented by Cedric Gilworth of Doug Gilworth Real Estate.
Looks like maybe a battery powered ceiling light in the first photo, and an old school room with the blackboard, which may be in the grey outbuilding with the outdoor play set nearby.
The “utility space” in one of the outbuildings might have been called a “summer kitchen” in Central VA in times past. Would have been used in the summer to cook, heat water for laundry, etc. away from the main house in the summer to keep from heating up the living and sleeping areas.
Looks like a beautiful home. With the Amish population increasing, seems that there would be plenty of Amish folk to buy it that it wouldn’t need to be MLS listed.
I was wondering if they maybe used a space as a temporary school here before building a new one.
And yes this space is no doubt handy to have especially when you don’t have a basement,, like appears to be the case here. Your comment reminds me of the custom of some Amish to spend a lot of the summer in the basement, with a mini kitchen, couches and even places to sleep down there.
And yes seeing these places online usually makes me wonder why it ended up for sale to the general public as well. There may be a church issue, or simply someone trying to maximize the sale price they might get.
Reading “The Budget”
Hello!
I was wondering if there is any way to read “The Budget” online or maybe even get physical copies to Europe.
Those floors!
The folks in this home may have been living toward the plainer end of the Amish spectrum, but their hardwood floors are beautiful, as upscale as most of us English would be happy to have.