Each of these three videos features Amish either on the way to church, or heading home afterwards. But which communities were they filmed in?
There are clues in each video which point to the answers. Number 3 is the toughest.
Video #1
Video #2
Video #3
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3rd Video: Crab Orchard, Kentucky
US-150, Crab Orchard, Kentucky
37.453385, -84.501967
Church day
The second video is the area known as Big Valley in Pa.
Right, video is not so great but you can see the yellow Byler Amish buggies followed by the black top Renno buggy.
I agree with N Rena Goff that the third video is from Crab Orchard, Ky. I’ve been to that intersection.
I think the first video is from the Elkart/Lagrange, Ind. settlement. At least part of it looks like Road 400 S. in Lagrange County between Emmatown and Topeka.
I don’t have any idea about the second video, although I do like that it shows several different styles/colors of buggies.
I always enjoy the Amish America “quizzes”; seems like it’s been quite awhile since there has been one.
I thought this one might catch your attention Al. You’re right it’s been several years since we’ve done one of these. This is the first with videos I believe. Here’s the original from back in 2011: https://amishamerica.com/name-that-amish-community/
The third video first caught my eye for the Delaware-style buggies. I used the Kentucky road signage to confirm the location and then this obit of a Dover DE Amish woman which mentions relatives in Crab Orchard, KY was additional evidence. There is apparently at least one other Delaware-descended settlement in KY near the town of Marion. There might be more than that.
1. I believe this is my beloved native Indiana, probably Nappanee or the Elkhart/Lagrange community, given the land is flat, the prevalence of sock caps, and I THINK I saw license plates on the parked buggies, an Indiana only trait.
2. Big Valley as the buggies have the Byler group’s yellow top.
3. Lincoln County, Kentucky, based on the U.S. Highway 150 and State Highway 39 intersection near Interstate 75, town of Crab Orchard as another reader pointed out (I hope they found it quicker on the map than I did!)
Thanks for the challenge! It was fun!
Nicely done, Nicholas!
my guess is
1- Northern IN
2- Big Valley PA Bellville
3- Kentucky
Confirmation of places with settlements.
I could not find the locale of the 1st, the street sign was relatively non-descript. Google maps couldn’t find W615 and S400, or whatever they said. The 2nd was clearly Big Valley (the only Yellow Amish Buggies in the US) and the 3rd was KY (highway signs made that very easy). I will be in the KY area in the future, and I will have to look them up.
To hear the 1st was in IN blew my mind. I was only aware of the Swiss Amish settlements in Grabill, not having run too far from Ft. Wayne when I completed a doctoral internship there in 2007-8.
I liked this quiz. Thank you Erik!
Indiana Amish
The Counties of Elkhart, LaGrange, Marshall, and Kosciusko have approximately 32,000 Amish. The largest Amish settlements in the state of Indiana.
It’s interesting to read about the different clues Amish America readers use to try to figure out where each video was taken. I’ve been to the Crab Orchard, Ky. settlement several times, and to the Elkhart/Lagrange, Indiana settlement many times, so the road signs in each of these videos were my main clues, as well as the terrain.
In the first video, you can see a picture of the homestead pictured at about minute 0:35 through 0:40 on Google Maps. It is at the corner of Roads 675 W and 400 S, Topeka, Indiana. On Google Maps you can also see a picture of the corner where the road signs at Crab Orchard are located.
Erik — I’d be interested in reading more about what clues you would use in each video to determine its location.