Scenes From An Amish Barn Raising (Video)
This is a simple two-minute video, showing scenes from a barn-raising at Walnut Creek, Ohio.
I like it because, besides some bumper text, there is no narration – just clips of activity accompanied by the sounds of hammering and machinery.
You see children observing the scene, horses chomping on a snack, and women walking around, while the men work away. It gives a peaceful feeling.
Though I must say, the sight of the men just casually standing around like they’re not on an awkward angle where one misstep can send you tumbling to your doom can make you cringe a bit.
But I suppose for a roofer, navigating about an incline 40 feet above the earth becomes second nature.
If it were me up there, I know I’d be hunched over the whole time keeping my center of gravity low and focusing like a laser not to trip over my clunky size-13 feet.
The video starts with a touch of back story:
In one afternoon, a fire destroyed a barn near Walnut Creek. In nearly one day, a new barn was constructed during a “frolic”…
And concludes with:
In less than two weeks’ time, the farmer has a brand new barn and a home for his animals. It’s one of the unique things about Amish country that you rarely see anywhere else.
The best barn-raising video
While the above is a nice one, it’s not my favorite barn raising video. That would be this next one, which some of you might remember from a few years back.
It’s 10 hours of work, time-lapse condensed down into a 3-minute video. From the Kenton, Ohio community:
Neat.
Though farming has declined as a total percentage of Amish occupations, the barn-raising is still a part of Amish culture. Read more here.
Industrious!
That is an awe-inspiring video (both are), seeing all those people swarming on the barn and around it like so many extremely industrious ants! It puts me to shame (now that I’m retired)! It’s a wonderful example of teamwork and community. It has given me the nudge to go outside on this beautiful, cool September day and get going on my lawn & garden chores.
Thanks, Erik! I needed the inspiration!
Alice Mary
Glad you liked it Alice Mary! And I hope it helped you knock out those chores 🙂
New Amish themed documentary on this site http://www.myamishstory.com/
Many interesting blog posts on that website showing the homes of the original Amish in Switzerland and Europe as they are today.
I think the title of the documentary has been changed to: Amish And The Reformation.
https://www.thorncrownproject.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=69
wow!
Very impressive! Now that is teamwork!