Katie Troyer’s Pinecraft

Katie Troyer Children Pinecraft

“Maybe one each season says ‘don’t take any pictures'”.

That’s friend of the blog Katie Troyer answering a question she’s no doubt heard before.

You can see Katie and hear her discuss her passion in a new video (below).

Katie Troyer Home

You may have enjoyed Katie’s photos at various places on the web (and even offline – I have a calendar featuring her work on my wall at home).

You might also remember Katie from bonus videos attached to the “Amish: Shunned” film by PBS earlier this year.

Katie Troyer Shuffleboard

I learned some things I didn’t know about Katie from this Sarasota Herald-Tribune video and article–on her background, and about one sister who might have just as interesting a story:

[Katie] was born Amish in Ohio, one of 12 children. She has a younger sister, Edna, who is also a little person and was always more determined than Katie to prove she belonged. Edna, at 3-foot-7, drives a modified Harley Davidson and is a member of a Christian motorcycle group. Katie’s a little more reserved — she’s content tooling around the ‘hood on her red tricycle.

At 44, she left the Amish and became Mennonite. She left that faith after discovering she was worshipping church more than God. She lived in Ohio, Canada, New York and Tennessee before eventually settling in Pinecraft in 2002.

Amish Man Pinecraft Katie Troyer

Katie’s photography has gotten attention, and in ways you might not expect 🙂 :

Troyer’s photographs have become so popular that she now sells postcards, books and calendars inside Yoder’s Restaurant. Last year she sold over 1,500 postcards. Some of the Amish even follow her around like spies, secretly trying to sneak into her shots.

“I was not prepared for the impact these pictures would have,” she says.

She often sits on her bike on the corner of Bahia Vista Street and Kaufman Avenue with her camera around her waist. She pretends she is on her cell phone, but she is really searching for new people and objects to photograph.

Through her camera, Katie “discovered she belonged”.

“It’s home, it feels like home, it’s the first place I ever felt at home,” she explains about her adopted Pinecraft. “And I hope to stay the rest of my life.”

You can’t put a price on that.

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21 Comments

  1. Juanita Cook

    Would lobe to see more of her pictures.

    1. Katie Troyer photos

      Katie has at least a couple of sites with her photos, here is one: http://pinecraft-sarasota.blogspot.com/

  2. Mark - Holmes Co.

    What a nice story. I’d like to see more of Katie’s pictures. I know her personally and she’s a wonderful person, very warm & sincere.

  3. photographs

    I have two of her photographs framed in my home. When Pinecraft Pauper was around, there was a notice in there that any of the photographs could be purchased, so I placed an order.

    1. Pinecraft Pauper

      Very nice James. For anyone who wasn’t around here then, the Pinecraft Pauper was an Amish and Mennonite community newspaper which ran for I believe a couple of seasons.

      Richard Stevick was one of the talents on staff who produced writing for it, Katie did a lot of the photos. An Amishman founded it then I believe Sherry Gore took it over.

      https://amishamerica.com/pinecraft-pauper-florida-amish-mennonite-newspaper/

  4. Alice Mary

    Home

    To feel at home…isn’t that we all seek? I’m glad Katie has found her niche in the world.

    Would a person visiting Pinecraft be able to get a personal tour of the area from Katie? From the videos I’ve seen and what I’ve read about her, she seems like the perfect “ambassador” for the Pinecraft area. Her photos offer a unique perspective of Amish culture, particularly in that area, which is itself pretty unique! 🙂

    I wish her continued success and happiness doing what she does so well. We should all be so fortunate!

    Alice Mary

  5. Marilyn

    On my facebook, it says that this coming Saturday is Katie’s Birthday. Just thought you might like to know. Happy Birthday, Katie.

  6. Mary

    Katie Troyer's Pinegraft

    Soon I’ll have to introduce myself as “Famous Katies’, cousin! :)By the way, Happy birthday! (Don’t forget, I’m still older then you are!)

  7. Katie Troyer

    Cousin Mary

    Mary, you helped shape my adult life. I can never repay you and your family.

    1. Brenda Gingerich-Black

      Katie, would your sister happen to be...

      Edna Gingerich? She is about your size and the two look alike. Edna is my Aunt and married to my father’s Brother, Aaron Gingerich.

  8. MaryAnn Pepe

    Love you Katie!

    I have been receiving her emails with her beautiful pictures for a while!!

  9. Dave C

    What a coincidence

    I was just in Pinecraft today and ate at Yoder’s restraunt. Other than all the “English” at the restraunt the little community seemed like a ghost town to me. There was nobody there. Regardless it was a coincidence to see this post the same day I was there.

  10. Slightly-Handled-Order-Man

    I tried to comment on this this morning, but it it suggested that I was a “spambot” I most certainly am not.
    I also noticed that the formatting of the header, masthead, or index at the top of the page is now bullet form and not the images that it used to be. Sorry for being a bit of pest.

    1. Slightly-Handled-Order-Man

      And what I meant to send this morning

      In the post it states that “she left the Amish and became Mennonite. She left that faith after discovering she was worshipping church more than God” is that a common problem among the Amish and Mennonites (or even among we English?

    2. Erroneous "spambot" warning

      Thanks for letting know shom, and sorry to you and anyone else that had the same issue commenting.

      Another reader let me know about this as well, it turns out there was a bug in the recent site update, I contacted the person responsible and have uploaded a fix. That was yesterday morning so you may have seen that erroneous spambot warning before I was able to fix the bug. If anyone else continues to have this issue please let me know.

      As for the menu formatting, it looked like that temporarily while I was doing the update, the reason your still seeing that probably has to do with your browser cache, if you clear the cache/history it should display correctly again. If you’re not sure how to do that, just let me know which browser you’re using and I’ll let know how.

      Thanks for your patience, am in the process of doing various improvements so there may be a couple more glitchy things but hopefully nothing major. Sorry again if anyone had a comment mistakenly swallowed!

      1. Slightly-Handled-Order-Man

        On my part it was alright because I shouldn’t have been on Amish America so early on Sunday anyway, I got up at like 5:00 Eastern
        so I could do an early morning laundry run at the corner laundry, and got my breakfast out of the way, so I thought I’d see what
        was new on AA. Its that bit of Amish (or perhaps Canadian prairie farm Ukrainian) in me that wants that chore out of the way uber
        early so I could do anything else I wanted with the rest of my day.

  11. Al in Ky.

    Very interesting. Katie has a good eye for detail.

  12. Anita B

    I believe I first came across Katie here on this site. Since then, I’ve been in touch with her, learned that she and my elderly grandfather (who spends part of each winter in Pinecraft) are close friends and quite enjoyed getting to know her a bit. Someday, if I ever get to FL myself, I’m hoping to meet her!

  13. I would love to become a pen pal of katie troyer as she sounds so interesting And when I was in pinecraft at Christmas time I did look for her. My husband said I was becoming a stalker But I promise you I’m not. Just love the idea of getting to know a once Amish lady

  14. Amy Unruh

    I really enjoy Katie’s photos. I’m going to be in Pinecraft in July and hope to say hello.
    I was wondering the same thing as S-H-O- M as far as worshipping church. I think it can be a problem everywhere but if you leave a faith entirely because of worshipping church it suggests that the whole of the church organization is misguided and puts more emphasis on rules and regulations, or something else, than on Christ. I’m curious to know if all Mennonite churches (or various branches) are like this.