Inside A Nappanee Amish Home (26 Photos)
A reader shared this week’s Amish home, currently advertised for sale at Zillow among other places. It technically has an Etna Green address, which would make it the south side of the Nappanee, Indiana settlement. The home has been mostly cleaned out, giving it a very sparse and bare appearance, but furniture has stayed behind in one or two rooms, along with some other details of interest.
Here’s the listing description:
Opportunity waits for the next owner–WaNee Schools! This 2 story home offers over 3372sqft of finished space plus unfinished basement of 1684sqft.
6 bedrooms/1.5 baths with barn all on 1 acre of land. Updates include: windows ’07, siding ’07, roof ’10, solar panels ’11, four inch well ’08, bladder tank ’19, natural gas stove heater ’13, septic pumped ’19 and steel roof on the barn.
Oversized kitchen (Gas range & refrigerator are included)/dining space is semi open to living room. Main floor bedroom & full bath, sewing/toy room plus finished front porch.
Upstairs: 5 bedrooms, half bath and a large 12×6 storage room that would be ideal space for additional bath. Currently an Amish home but there is some electrical ran in the home and could be connected again.
So with “some electrical” present in the home it sounds like it may have previously been a non-Amish home, and may be headed that way once again. The yellow color would also be atypical for new Amish construction in Nappanee, where homes are typically the classic white.
On just one acre of land, this is not a farming family. RV factory work as well as small manufacturing and woodworking businesses are two likely occupations for non-farm families in this community.
Stepping inside, this home is described as having vinyl flooring, which, like linoleum, is common in Amish homes.
Second sink which is probably located at the other entryway. What’s that I see in the mirror?
This kitchen has a classic Amish kitchen appearance. Simple wood cabinetry, stove and refrigerator, heat shields on the ceiling, clock over the sink. This is a community which permits natural gas and propane refrigerators. Indeed one of the main manufacturers of such appliances, E Z Freeze, is located nearby.
One detail of note here is a slide-out food prep counter.
Looks like a large pantry.
Spacious living area as is common in Amish homes.
Furniture has remained in this room (or maybe just hasn’t been removed yet).
Here are some bedroom photos. All are pretty much empty. Note the ones with the funky wall patterns. Those must have been older children’s rooms.
Bathroom.
Down in the basement we see where the home gets its heat.
Also in the basement, two interesting details here. Looks like the aforementioned electrical system. And, a box which once contained “The World’s Finest Non-Electric Lamp”.
Looks like a set of solar panels keeps this home’s batteries charged.
Outside we also see a barn which at least appears to be three separate constructions merged into one.
So what’s the asking price for this 6-bedroom, 2-bath, 3,372-square-foot home on an acre of land?
It’s listed for $219,000, and currently has an offer pending, according to Zillow.
In one of those "Small World" coincidences I knew the people who used to live here
Back in 1987, my Daughter Erin was in Riley Children’s Hospital for ALL, and her roommate was a little Amish girl named Lorie Miller. When I read this house was in Aetna Green, I just had the feeling it was Harley and Barb Miller’s home, so I went to the ZILLOW listing, and the address was the one I had for them. We used to get a Christmas card from them every year, but haven’t the last few, so not sure what happened to them. Perhaps, they died, and their children all moved away from the homeplace. My Husband always wanted to go visit them, but we never did, because Harley wasn’t as comfortable with “Englishers” as Barb was.
Evelyn Fear, this link could help you. I think it is the person you mean: https://obituaries.goshennews.com/obituary/harley-miller-1074390226
This wasn't the right Harley Miller
BUT, you gave me the idea to search some more, and found that he passed away May 1, 2019 at their home. He was 75 at the time of his passing; at that point, Barb was still surviving, as well as 9 children, 21 grandchildren and two great grandchildren. I found it kind of odd that they had as few grandchildren, as they did, given they were Amish, but I remember that some of their children didn’t stay with the Amish faith.
So, now I will do a search, and see whether there is an obituary for Barb, or not.
Didn’t find one for her, so assuming that means she is still alive, but, perhaps, either moved in with family, or to a nursing home?
Wow Evelyn, I always appreciate small world coincidences. I’m simultaneously happy that this was one of them for you and also sorry to hear that Harley has passed away. If Barb is still living, it’s likely she is with family, living in a “dawdihaus” (small grandparents’ house on the property of a child or attached to it). It’s very unlikely she would be in a nursing home. Sounds like she would just be in her 70s though if Harley passed away at 75 two years ago. Maybe you could find a way to get in touch with her? One idea would be to call a local Amish business, and describe who it is you’re looking for. With the way the Amish community is tight-knit, even in a larger settlement like this one, I think it’d be relatively easy to do.
One of their Son's addresses was in the obituary for Harley
as it was where the visitation and funeral were to be held, and I’m wondering, if I could contact her through him, or whether they’d not want her in contact with a non-Amish person.
Just the strangest sense of deja vu when I saw this home, and the area it was in, I just KNEW that it was going to have been theirs, even before I verified that with the address on the ZILLOW listing.