This Amish home stands out to me for several reasons. First is its simple but somewhat unusual design. It is one story, but pretty large in size – 3,200 square feet. Amish homes tend to be two stories, but maybe this family is not fond of climbing stairs.
They decided to build their whole home on one floor. A nice broad front porch must make for some pleasant sitting in the evenings.
Next is the setting on a pond. We can see these photos were probably taken in autumn or wintertime. Fishing is something many Amish enjoy so I can see the draw there. Friends of mine in PA recently bought a new farm which is set on a similarly-sized pond. They will enjoy the swimming, water fowl and other pluses of living next to a sizeable natural body of water.
The third thing is the location in Tennessee. This is the community at McKenzie, a settlement in western end of the state. We’ve mentioned it on the site here before, as a settlement which contributed settlers to the Salem, Arkansas community. It’s a two-district community founded in 1998, making it the state’s third oldest. Going by the photos here it seems this community is more progressive than the state’s best-known Amish location, the Swartzentruber settlement at Ethridge, though I wouldn’t say it looks particularly fancy (for the Amish at least).
There aren’t a ton of photos from inside, and they’re a bit dark. But you get a view of some of the bedrooms (three in total). This home also has a bathroom.
Looks like someone just got up from a nap.
Over here someone is working on a quilt.
Main room. Spacious, as these main rooms in Amish homes tend to be.
This looks like some sort of an semi-open porch/utility space where the family can process fruits, veggie and other foods. I don’t recall seeing this sort of layout. It seems like the builder probably came up with his own creative design for this home.
View from that porch onto the pond.
The buggy.
Out back again, with a different view on the pond.
This photo gives a sense of the length of the home. Looks like the garage on the end there.
This home, on an 8-acre plot of land, last changed hands in 2018. Any guesses for how much?
It last sold for $113,000. Seems like a pretty pleasant place to call home.
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Thoughts
Maybe they had a family member who was in a wheelchair, or in some way incapable of climbing stairs, that they chose to build a single storied hone?
That crossed my mind! Good thought. I can’t tell if there is ramp access to that porch from these photos though. We did see a home in KY that had sth like that.
In the South there are often long rooms called Sleeping Porches.. that was my first thought when I saw the utility porch.
You can get a cool breeze out there and it looks like they eat out there.. I can certainly understand why someone would want to.
Where are the calendars?
I lightened the picture of the main room of the house. Couldn’t find a calendar anywhere but there is that good old iron range cook stove. Love the view, especially with the pond. It looks very peaceful. But you know what I think? It doesn’t look like there was a woman in the house recently. There are things lying about in the main room. Only one chair at the table, where are the rest of the chairs? And the table is a mess. Unmade beds and the one bed looks like someone had a nightmare and was fighting with the covers all night. Curtains still closed. No Amish woman would allow pictures to be taken of her house with that mess on the table and unmade beds. And where is the sink, cabinets and refrigerator? Maybe it was too messy to take pictures of that area. There were definitely children, children’s toys sitting about, some books lying on the floor. My theory is that Mother is missing. Just my 2 cents.
Missing trim inside the house.
Here I go again about the missing trim that we often see inside a newly built or remodeled home. With a house of that size it’s a good thing they’re not in Wisconsin because the wood pile would have to be huge!
With that much room, church wouldn’t be a problem. I’d read about having removable walls in houses for more room when hosting church. When our Amish friends put on a new addition they put in a removable wall between the living room and bedroom. And they didn’t put the trim on until later!
I know that house and some info on it.
I know that house, I was there on quite a few occasions from start to finish of the build, and even the day they moved out after the sale.
It was built by the Shrock family which was at that time the father, mother, and last unmarried teenage daughter. It was indeed built with the mothers bad legs and mobility problems in mind and the porch was indeed flush with the ground on the one end. She wasn’t in a wheel chair, just had trouble with steps/stairs and the thought of possibly being wheelchair bound.
The had several other grown children nearby with families and houses of their own.
After the last daughter was married mom an dad sold this place and moved to the home of one of the local older children.
Also about the time of year the photos were taken it was definitely winter as if you look closely at the pond you will see some thin ice on it in areas.
Those photos could have been taken after mom started staying at the daughter an son in laws place. (I have no idea, just a guess)
But I do know that mom and pops are both still alive and enjoying the grandkids!
Very interesting, thanks for sharing this Bryce. Looks like it would be a great home for someone with mobility issues. Seems like a really peaceful and pleasant place to call home.
I know the Shrocks too!
Bryce Gaston- Never read your comment but just left seeing David Shrock to ask him whose house it was in the picture. Small World. All he could do is laugh after asking whose house it was! They sold this house to English. Showed the pic to his daughter Darlene who said it looked like her quilt by the window which she still has!!!