My knowledge of Amish has been just admiring their farms and seeing families traveling on the road in horse drawn buggies, mostly in PA and some in Ohio. None locally in northern WV that I was aware of.

I live on rural property off a dirt/gravel road and a last Spring (May 2023?) I was sitting on the porch when I faintly heard people talking out at the road, which isn't visible from the house. So I walked out the drive through the woods to the road and there were 3 adult men and 7-8 boys probably 9-13 years old standing in my small meadow on the other side of the road, all dressed in homemade jeans and wearing straw hats, obviously Amish.

One of the men said "we're just passing through, you don't mind if we rest here for a few minutes do you?"

I said absolutely not.

He said they were just out on a 2 day walk on trails and dirt roads north into PA to a community center. After chatting a few minutes they took off down the road.

I thought what a wonderful thing for the men to do with those boys, similar to what I experienced in Boy Scouts over 1/2 a century ago.


Then walking back to my driveway I noticed another group of people coming down the road, so maybe 10 minutes behind the boys were 3 Amish women with 8-9 young girls. The women were talking, the girls listening, they didn't stop but just smiled at me as they walked past.



I have a number of little roads that I ride in the area and on one this Spring I noticed a small farm for sale with a dilapidated old house. The next time I rode past the "for sale" sign was gone and a young Amish woman was there chasing, playing tag, with her two young 4-6 year old boys. When I rode past a couple weeks later there was a new building up, sort of a shop/house.

This Summer about when I was needing a new roof for my house I got a card in the mail from "Miller's roofing, specializing in metal roofing". I scheduled him to come and when he did saw he was Amish. Asking where he lived he said they just relocated and described the farm I had seen for sale.

I had him replace my roof. His crew consisted of he, 4 other Amish men, all thin and fit. They all smoked little cigars and had cell phones but they were seldom on, and if that it was during their lunch 1/2 hour. They worked efficiently and did top notch work.

I know nothing of their religion but I have to say I'm a little envious of their focus on lifestyle, community, and family.

If they were using cell phones, they likely were not Amish, but Mennonite.

Similar beliefs, but not as strict when it comes to modern technology.

Amish and Mennonites are not just in PA, they’re in 32 US states believe it or not. Pennsylvania just seems to have the largest concentration of them and I think it’s where they first settled.

I was at a Reading Phillies minor league (AA) game on Saturday night in Reading, PA and saw a couple Mennonite girls there, that was a first for me.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
If they were using cell phones, they likely were not Amish, but Mennonite.

They identify as Amish. They use battery dills/ screw guns. But he hires a driver with a truck to transport them to jobs. They themselves travel in horse drawn buggies.

The Amish are kind of odd when it comes to electricity. Battery powered tools are okay, but plug in motors are not. I don’t really understand that logic, but at the same time, I kind of do.

What is more odd is the charging of the batteries. Generators or solar panels. They’re all about being off grid.

I like Peter Santanello videos. This one is interesting, Amish town in Florida.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Amish and Mennonites are not just in PA, they’re in 32 US states believe it or not. Pennsylvania just seems to have the largest concentration of them and I think it’s where they first settled.
<<snip>>

We have a community of them here in north Alabama between Section and Rainsville. I will see them on occasion when passing through on my way to Georgia.

Amish have 'evolved' over time.

I grew up in a county that was half Amish, and when I go back I see things I never saw before. Some Amish have cell phones. Saw an Amish girl working in a bakery named 'Mccaleh' ( or however you spell it - it was not a Biblical name like Ruth, Esther, Leah...). They have solar stations for charging things like their cell phones and batteries for their horse drawn buggies.

They still use farm tractors, but where I'm from They don't use pneumatic tires. They either use metal rims or fill the tires with some kind of fluid.

Lots of rules, and I never bothered to try to learn them all. . .

There are Old Order Amish who eschew pretty much all modern conveniences. Here in the part of Ohio where I live, there is a large Amish community. They are a study in contrasts. They don't own cars or drive, but they'll ride in a van to buy groceries at Walmart. Many do have cell phones, and battery powered devices are acceptable. Amish riding E-bikes is the norm around here, and they're extremely popular.

Some of what is or isn't allowed also comes from the Elders . If they feel that it will negatively affect the community then it's a no go .

I had always heard that the main reason the Amish didn't use things like electricity and landline phones was because they don't believe in credit and you can't really prepay for electricity.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
The Amish are kind of odd when it comes to electricity. Battery powered tools are okay, but plug in motors are not. I don’t really understand that logic, but at the same time, I kind of do.

What is more odd is the charging of the batteries. Generators or solar panels. They’re all about being off grid.

Their faith instructs them to not be a part of or connected to the (sinful) outside world. It's not that it tells them that electricity is bad, it's being connected to the outside world's systems is what they want no part of.

It was 30 years ago, but the Amish guy I sat next to on a Greyhound bus from Mobile to Chicago said they could use diesel engines, but only ones they could start by hand because electricity itself was verboten. They used stationary diesel engines to run overhead shafts in their woodworking shops. They ran belts from those shafts down to their lathes, drill presses, saws, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Their faith instructs them to not be a part of or connected to the (sinful) outside world. It's not that it tells them that electricity is bad, it's being connected to the outside world's systems is what they want no part of.

Except, apparently, cellular phone networks.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Their faith instructs them to not be a part of or connected to the (sinful) outside world. It's not that it tells them that electricity is bad, it's being connected to the outside world's systems is what they want no part of.

Except, apparently, cellular phone networks.

Which is crazy, because access via cell opens up a world of terrible shit.

Amish neighbors moving in? I think I'd be fine with that. I think I'd like that a lot better than a couple of neighbors I've actually had.

Sunbeam Wireless is a Mennonite cell phone company which makes flip phones for the plain people.
They have a wide array of restrictions - but no version has video or internet.

Some play music, some don’t. Some have cameras, some don’t etc.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
Amish neighbors moving in? I think I'd be fine with that. I think I'd like that a lot better than a couple of neighbors I've actually had.

Absolutely True!
Rod

In my trip to the old family home in New York, I noticed a huge growth in the Amish and Mennonite community. Used to be a couple farms between Malone and Potsdam, now it seems like the bulk of Route 11 along that stretch is all Amish and Mennonite. I think it's cool, personally.

The locals bitch about them not being taxed by the state. Vote for different people so you're not so burdened, genius.

We just did all the site work for a big development in northwest Ohio,The Amish are framing every new home going in there. The Yoder Toter picks them up at 430 am for their 2 hour drive up here, the driver of the Yoder Toter parks in the Shade from 630 till 2pm then loads all Amish into said Yoder Toter and the requisite stop at the Speedway for cigs and and Monsters or 24oz tall boy beers for the 2 hr ride home it’s crazy to see what they will and won’t do. As nice as their properties look, I’ve never seen a job site that looked as shitty as theirs when they are there. They give zero fucks about cutting 2’ off an 8’ 2x4 and chucking the rest in the scrap pile