Amish in West Tennessee
Today Brenda shares some photos that tie together a few of the topics we’ve covered lately, namely Amish business, buggy safety, and small communities. Â The shots below are from the Amish settlement in Carroll County, Tennessee.
Carroll County is in western Tennessee, about a 2-hour drive in either direction from Nashville or Memphis. The Amish community is located near the towns of Huntingdon and Bruceton (there is a second Amish community with members living in Carroll County, based near the town of McKenzie).
Unlike the new Amish community at Stantonville, TNÂ previously discussed, the Caroll County settlement has been there for nearly 4 decades. However, for whatever reason it has not grown very large, remaining just a district or two in size.
The photos are grouped into two batches.  Says Brenda: “The first 4 are just a few of the businesses, within a 2 mile radius here in Carroll County.”
Harness and homemade candies. Â Not uncommon to see quirky combinations like this on Amish business signs.
Amish roofing, flooring and more. Â Amish builders are often jacks-of-all-trades.
Harness and saddle shops abound in Amish communities.
Brenda: “The yellow signs are the different ‘warning signs’ along State Highway 219, which only totals 4 miles” (More on Amish Cabinets in Tennessee and Amish furniture stores in Nashville.).
The two different buggy outlines are interesting to me. Â Since this is an older settlement, perhaps they switched to using a new design at some point. Looks like there is ample warning about horse-drawn travel on this short stretch of road.
Brenda previously shared a little about this community in posts on threshing, and on an Amish laundry day. Â Thanks to Brenda for the nice photos.
Very cool looking buggy sign with what looks to me like big balloon tires that they use for car racing, I think they call them slicks! Looks like a pretty much no nonsense kind of place to live for the Amish there and I’m sure that this area receives very little tourist as well, but I bet that its very quiet and theres something to be said for that!
Richard from http://www.Amishstories.net
Another question on stalled settlements
I’m always interested in settlements that show no growth over the years. With seven-plus children average, one might expect growth. My best guesses for why a settlement fails to thrive is either that living conditions are hard, there is disunity in the church, or for whatever reason, they fail to secure the hearts and minds of their children and youth. I’m sure there are other reasons too, as described by David Luthy in his book, The Amish in America: Settlements that Failed. Any thoughts on these Carroll Co TN folk?
Why no grow?
Good question Rich. I often wonder the same. When we looked at the Rexford Montana Amish last week, it seemed the reasons it hadn’t grown were clear–difficulty making a living, and distance from the home settlements back East.
Maybe the first of those is an issue in Carroll County (the median income looks “normal” for the county, fwiw), though the 2nd should be less of an issue here, I’d think. Or could be a number of other things as you note.
I wonder who this group has ties with. By the looks of some of the other photos Brenda has sent, they look like they may be on the more conservative side, but not Swartzentruber-level.
Answer
The Church members choose to keep it small, they want a small community.
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing these pictures, Erik!
Also, Richard, I am embarrassed to say that I just finally had the time a few weeks ago to go to your site and read your stories there. They were great! I so enjoyed them. I will be a regular follower in the future. Thank you for providing this!
Erik, some of the Amish in west Tennessee are from the Ethridge area. We in fact had a family this week move over there. So they do have Swartzentruber ties.
Different community?
Diann I think you may be referring to the Stantonville people then, from the previous post? They were the ones from Ethridge, also West TN, a couple counties down from Carroll. https://amishamerica.com/tennessee-amish-growth/
The photos I’ve seen from Carroll County are of buggies with SMV triangles and a couple of other clues that they are probably “higher” than the Swartzentruber folks.
Interestingly there is also another group in Tennessee (
east TN, Knox County) known as the Jeck Jecky people who stopped fellowshipping with other Swartzentruber churches over church disagreements. They are discussed some in New York Amish by Karen Johnson-Weiner. They have apparently adopted “more modernisms” but I don’t know exactly what that refers to.https://amishamerica.com/karen-johnson-weiner-swartzentruber-interview-footnotes/
http://books.google.pl/books?id=Fl7ofXu8klAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=new+york+amish+johnson-weiner&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7xGUUKS3MYfbtAbD44GwBA&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=jeck%20jecky&f=false
Thanks Erik! We tease our Amish friends that have moved over close to the Tennessee river that they just want to be close to a good fishing hole.
East TN Amish
I had no idea there was any group with Amish ties in East TN. I grew up in Knox/Sevier counties, and still have relatives in that area. I would like to learn more about this group.
Naomi I’ve been double checking, asking about this and I believe I goofed the location in what I wrote above.. I actually think Knox Co. refers to a location in another state and not to Knox Co, TN. I am not exactly sure which Tennessee location the Jeck Jecky people are found in. In Tennessee there are currently 6 communities-at Ethridge, and smaller ones in Carroll County, Weakley County, the Stantonville community, and it looks like one at Lawrence-Lewis Counties. And looks like one other location I’m not aware of. Sorry for the confusion.
Naomi, I have a friend that lives in Etowah, TN, there are a few Amish close to her. There are also some living in Monterey, TN, @ Muddy Pond.
Local
I live in the Carroll County area and are friends with several Amish families here. They are a fairly conservative group, but not nearly as conservative as others. Most have moved to the area because of limitations in their chosen professions. Here, they are allowed to have others drive them in vehicles, whereas in other states, such as Ohio, they are only allowed to drive buggies. This severely limits their career choices. They are also allowed cell phones for business use and mingle regularly with the “English” in community events, fundraisers, etc.
As for the size, most of these families chose Carroll County specifically because there is only one church in Huntingdon and one in McKenzie. They left larger communities for the freedom of a less restrictive church and smaller community. Most of the children do remain within the church. My friend tells me there hasn’t been an instance of someone leaving the church in many years. They simply choose to find spouses in other communities. There is about an equal amount of people who marry and move out as move in, so the numbers stay about the same. It has only grown slightly in the last 10 years or so.
Looking
I have been looking for Amish farms in the McKenzie area and in the Huntington area and also in bruceton if anybody knows of any can you please email me at Tammy walker96@gmail.com
Amish
I am thinking on visiting them. I grew up close by.
thank you!
The Amish in America: Settlements that Failed by David Luthy gives one explanation, but I’m sure there are more.