Last week I made a short visit to the Pinecraft Amish community at Sarasota, Florida. Â I wanted to share that visit with you via a series of photos. Â If you haven’t heard of it, Pinecraft is an unusual Amish community for a few reasons. It is located in a city (Sarasota, population 52,811–technically just outside city limits). It is more of a vacation destination for…
I’ve been getting a lot of emails about a recent New York Times story about the Pinecraft Amish community, aka the “Amish Las Vegas”. Pinecraft is a neighborhood in Sarasota, Florida, and home to the only Amish population in the Sunshine State. The year-round Amish presence is small, but Pinecraft’s numbers swell every winter, when tour buses bring loads of visitors from communities in Ohio,…
From what I hear, Spring actually follows Autumn in Pinecraft. Taken by Katie Troyer. Â See more Florida Amish photos at Katie’s blog.
I recently came across a few images of Amish-themed murals. Â This first one is found on Bahia Vista boulevard in the Florida Amish community at Pinecraft, Sarasota. I’m not really an art person, but I usually enjoy murals when I meet them in my travels. Â Maybe it’s just the element of the unexpected, in finding a massive piece of artwork outdoors. I also like how…
We’ve got a winner today for the subscription to the Pinecraft Pauper.  Sorry it’s a bit later in the day than normal-I’ve been laid up with a fever trying to get healthy before Xmas (unfortunately, the weather where I live is nothing like Florida’s!). But first, if you didn’t catch them, we had some interesting comments from “Pinecraft insiders”: Susan wrote: My husband grew up in…
Florida Plain newspaper The Pinecraft Pauper gears up for season #2 The Pinecraft Pauper is a community newspaper of the Pinecraft neighborhood of Sarasota, Florida, home to a small but sturdy collection of Amish and Mennonites. The Pauper was founded by local writer Daniel Fisher, and features news, human interest stories, puzzles, cartoons, tips (“Make your own carryon luggage for pennies, by taping a cardboard…
Time for the winners! Thanks to everyone who read the interview with Sherry Gore, author of Taste of Pinecraft: Glimpses of Sarasota, Florida’s Amish Culture and Kitchens.  What fun it was to get Sherry’s inside take on this unique community.  Also really enjoyed reading your comments and great questions. Before we roll out the winners, I asked Sherry if she could share a recipe and…
One distinguishing characteristic of the Pinecraft Amish community in Florida is that it attracts Amish from a range of backgrounds, many of whom are seasonal visitors. Because of this, Amish at Pinecraft are likely to follow differing guidelines for daily living (or at least do so while in their home communities). These guidelines, which take in everything from technology used to style of clothing, are…
Hear the words “Amish vacation”, and we’re likely to think family trips to Amish Country, rides in over-sized buggies and picking up pies for office buddies. But what do Amish themselves do when they get the itch to get away from it all? In Monday’s interview, Sherry Gore discussed the unique Amish community of Pinecraft, a popular destination for vacationing Amish. Yet not all Amish…
Sherry Gore is a national scribe for The Budget, editor of The Pinecraft Pauper, and columnist for the Amish magazine Ladies Journal. Sherry is also a mother of three residing in Sarasota, Florida, home to Pinecraft, a well-known community of Amish and Mennonites. Sherry has written an especially neat cookbook called Taste of Pinecraft: Glimpses of Sarasota, Florida’s Amish Culture and Kitchens, a tribute to…