Amish Landscapes: Houses and Barns

Compare the church maps of the Amish with the Mennonites. Both are "plain" people, but most of the Amish are located in rural areas and try to avoid contact with the outside world as much as possible. Despite their conservative religious beliefs and behaviors, the Old Order Amish (the most "traditional" of the Amish) have modified their basically 19th-century technology over the years. These are the changes that the Old Order Amish church districts have made in Lancaster County, PA, over the years:

1930s	washing machines with gasoline motors
1940s	propane stoves; hiring cars and trucks; mechanical milking machines
1950s	community telephones; hay balers
1960s	diesel-powered machinery; generators for welders; gasoline-engines on farm machinery
1970s	air and hydraulic power; chain saws; calculators
1980s	electric converts; telephones in shops

What is distinctive about this Old Order Amish house and setting?

Answers:
1) large stone-house with side addition (white, wooden siding) for a very large family, which characterize the Old Order Amish;
2) horse-drawn carriage with wooden wheels (rubber tires are not used)

The living room is set up for worship. What things indicate a 19th-century home?

Answers: 1) grandfather clock, 2) wood stove, 3) oil lamp, and 4) hand-woven rag rugs

The kitchen is characteristic of the 19th century. How is this Old Order Amish kitchen different from other contemporary farm kitchens?

Answers: 1) sheet-metal sink in a wooden cupboard, 2) water hand-pump, 3) kerosene lamps, and 4) wood stove

Created by Ingolf Vogeler on 1 February 1996; last revised on 06 April 2005.