Bridgewater Review

Volume 16 | Issue 2 Article 5

Dec-1997

Life in the Slow Lane: The Old Order AmishCultural Landscape of Lancaster County,PennsylvaniaGlenn MillerBridgewater State College

This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

Recommended CitationMiller, Glenn (1997). Life in the Slow Lane: The Old Order Amish Cultural Landscape of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.Bridgewater Review, 16(2), 3-6.Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol16/iss2/5

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LIFEIN'THESLOW LANE:

The Old OrderAmish Cultural

Landscape ofLancaster County,

Pennsylvania

Glenn Miller

AMISH ORIGINS

T he Old Order Amishare a religious sectthat grew out of the Menno­

nite Church which originated in Ger­many in 1525, in the early years ofthe Protestant Reformation. Due toreligious persecution by thePrussians, the Amish migrated fromGermany's Rhineland to settle inWilliam Penn's colony of Pennsylva­nia in the early 1700s. The Amishpeople are often called "Dutch,"which is a corruption of the Germanword Deutsch. The Amish, there­fore, are of German descent, and notfrom the Netherlands. But despite the oc­casional problem in identifying the eth­nic background of the Amish, they never­theless have become part ofAmerica's plu­ralistic society.

The Amish closely intermarry andusually live in tight-knit communities tooffer each other support and to minimizeacculturation from the modem world. Be­cause of the close intermarriage, they haveonly a few surnames, with Stoltzfus, King,Fisher, Glick, Esh, Lapp, and Beiler beingthe most common. The first names are

almost all drawn from The Bible: Moses,John, Abraham, Aaron, Issac, Peter, Ruth,Rebecca, Sarah, and Rachel.

Basically, the Amish today live simi­lar to the way their ancestors did almostthree hundred years ago. They use horse­drawn transportation and do not hook upto electricity. They live a fairly simple life,and are sometimes referred to as "the PlainPeople." There are about 100,000 Amishin the world today. Their largest settle­ment is in Holmes County, Ohio, in theeast central part of the state. The secondlargest Amish settlement is the oldest andbest known, that of Lancaster County,Pennsylvania. Other Amish settlementsare found in over twenty U.S. states,Canada, and several countries in CentralAmerica and South America. The author

Amish Buggy

was raised in Lancaster County, and itsAmish community and landscape are theprimary focus of this essay.

AMISH BELIEFS

The separation between the AmishChurch and the Mennonite Church tookplace in 1693. Although their actions arereferred to as a "breakaway," it might beequally correct to say that the AmishChurch began as a result of a strong con­viction to continue some practices which

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the Mennonites dropped. At the time oftheir schism the Amish and Mennonitesappeared identical, and held to the sameBiblical faith. The Amish practice ofshun­ning those excommunicated from theChurch created the main point of conten­tion. Other minor issues also contributedto a decision to part ways with the Men­nonites.

Most of the Amish beliefs are takenfrom literal interpretations of The Bible.In particular, from the book of Leviticus,God tells his people: "be ye separate." Andso, the Amish are separate: in their lan­guage, dress, transportation, and manyother aspects of their culture. They dolive a lifestyle that is distinctively differ­ent from their non-Amish neighbors wholive in the same region. Most Amish are

extremely devoutindividuals. TheAmish attempt tofollow New Testa­ment standards forliving. They teachthe entire Bible andbelieve that the NewTestament is thefulfillment of theOld Testament. TheAmish religion issimilar to the Jew­ish religion in thatit can be brokendown into Ultra Or­thodox, Orthodox,Conservative, andReformed sub-groups. The OldOrder Amish of

Lancaster County, the focus of this essay,represent the ultra orthodox, or the strict­est way of life.

The Amish live in geographically de­lineated church districts, with aboutthirty-five families per district. There areno separate church structures, as theygather every two weeks in the home of adistrict member. The service starts around8:00 AM and continues until about noon­time. Men and women sit separately onbackless benches arranged in rows. The

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Amish believe in clearly defined genderroles, in all aspects of life.

The service begins with the singingofhymns from an old German hymnbook,the Ausbund. There are no musical scores,and the congregation sings in unison, un­accompanied, which resembles aGregorian chant. Following the singingthere is a short sermon, silent prayer, andScripture readings in High German. Themain sermon follows which lasts about anhour, and is given in Pennsylvania Dutch,which is more correctly defined as Penn­sylvania German, which is a combinationof Palatinate German and English. Afterthe main sermon otherordained men give theirown comments and theservice ends with alengthy prayer from anAmish prayer book. Theservice rarely varies fromthis format. Amish min­isters are chosen by lotfrom the adult malemembers, and Acts 1:15­26 is the basis for thispractice. No special edu­cation is thought neces­sary for the ministry.

The Amish believe intaking care of their own.While paying taxes,Amish farmers secure anexemption from payingsocial security if they are self-employed.Grown children take care of their elderlyparents in their homes, as it is extremelyrare for an Amish person to reside in a con­valescent home. They seldom receive So­cial Security benefits or Medicare. Amishdo not take out insurance, except for farmliability, in case one of their animals causesan accident. They believe that when atragedy occurs it is an act of God. How­ever, when tragedy does strike an Amishfamily, for example in the form of fire orlong-term medical disability, the Amishcommunity will help with the necessarylabor and share the costs through theAmish Aid Society. The Amish people willoften come to the aid of non-Amish, too,

when a disaster strikes, even beyond theborders of Lancaster County and the Stateof Pennsylvania.

THE AMISH LIFESTYLE& CULTURE

Being farmers in the early 1900smeant that Amish families in ruralLancaster County usually sent their chil­dren to public one-room school houses,along with non-Amish, or "English" chil­dren. As school-size increased in the post­World War II era, the Amish felt that toomuch acculturation took place betweenthem and the non-Amish. Therefore, in

Amish One Room School House

1972, the Amish pulled their children fromthe public schools. Some of the previouslyabandoned one-room school houses werere-opened, and several new ones werebuilt. Amish education basically meansemphasizing "the three R's," which arereading, writing, and arithmetic. Childrenonly complete eight years of education,which the parents feel quite adequatelyprepares them for life as they know it. Asa result of a Pennsylvania Supreme Courtdecision which allows them to "dropout"early, the Amish meet the requirementsof compulsory education until the age ofsixteen by receiving agricultural and do­mestic training at home. They also at­tend a three-hour Saturday morning ses-

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sion of vocational school in their one­room school houses. Teachers are usu­ally young women, often with only aneighth-grade education themselves. Stu­dents may spend all eight years in thesame single school room, with the sameteacher. The older students often help theteacher instruct the younger pupils, manyof whom are their siblings and cousins.

The Old Order Amish have retainedthe st~ictway oflife, which includes wear­ing a plain garb. Women wear long dressesof solid-colored material, black hose andshoes, a prayer veiling of white organdymaterial, and a black bonnet over the veil­

ing when outer protection isappropriate. The men wearsolid-colored shirts, darkbutton-down fly trousers,and black felt or straw broad­brimmed hats, dependingon the season. Hooks andeyes replace buttons onAmish suitcoats and vests tocommemorate their perse­cution by the Prussians inthe 16200s, who were thennoted for their brass buttonson their military uniforms.

The children dressmuch the same as theadults. Most Amish cloth­ing is designed and sewn byAmish women. Dress be­comes a visible symbol

which strengthens group loyalty. One cannever forget his or her Amish identitywhile wearing the distinctive clothing.

Historically, the Amish have been anagricultural people. They still attach greatimportance to working the soil and re­maining close to nature. The averageAmish farm size in Lancaster County is arelatively small 60 acres. In spite of whatmay seem to outsiders as archaic meth­ods, the Amish are generally quite success­ful commercial farmers, and usually findit more economical to specialize in theirproduction. Lancaster County is the lead­ing non-irrigated agricultural county inthe United States, in terms of the dollar

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value of the produce, and is nicknamed"the Garden Spot." The main crops grownin Lancaster County include com (for live­stock feed), wheat, tobacco, alfalfa, clover,barley, rye, soybeans, and various grassesfor grazing. It should be noted that Amishmen may smoke cigars, yet cigarettes areavoided totally. The growing of cigarettetobacco as a commercial crop by theAmish farmers, while not being users ofthe product, remains a paradox.

In recent years, economics, large fam­ily size, and a lack of available farm landhave pushed many ofthe Amish into otheroccupations. Today, they frequently workas carpenters, painters,and masons. Many alsowork for lumber com­panies and feed mills,or operate "cottage in­dustries" out of theirhomes. The growth ofemployment in non­farming occupationshas brought the Amishinto greater contactthan ever before withthe non-Amish popula­tion. This is of greatconcern to manyAmish elders, as theyworry about continuedacculturation.

The Amish tend toget married at an earlyage, often in their lateteens and early twenties. Amish weddingsare all-day celebrations, held on Tuesdaysand Thursdays in October and November.The reasons for these specific times haveto do with their traditional agriculturallifestyle. Weddings involve their extendedfamily members and most of the Amishin their local community. Therefore, wed­dings have to be held after the harvest sea­son, and before the holy Christmas sea­son. Since many of the Amish earned theirliving by taking their produce to the localfarmers' markets, certain days of the weekwere set aside for weddings at times whenthe farmers' markets were closed.

Weddings are all-day occasions, andup to 300 guests may arrive at the bride'shome around 8:30 AM on the weddingday. As with their church services, themen and women sit separately on backlessbenches. The wedding ceremony consistsof hymn singing, Scripture readings, shortsermons, the main sermon, and the wed­ding vows. Ahuge noon meal follows theceremony. In the afternoon the people sitaround tables and sing. Guests stay andhave another large meal at supper, andcontinue to visit and'sing until after 11 :00PM. Guests do not take gifts to the wed­ding, but give them to the couple whenthe newlyweds visit in their homes in the

Amish Farm

weeks following the wedding. Gifts arealways simple and practical items. Mar­riage vows are taken very seriously by theAmish. Divorce is extremely rare amongthe Amish, and would result in the excom­munication of the member.

IMPACTS OF TOURISMON THE AMISH IN

LANCASTER COUNTY

For the first half of the Twentieth Cen­tury the Amish basically kept to them­selves, and no one seemed to both them.However, a 1950s Broadway play entitled"Plain and Fancy" that depicted Amish life

5

triggered a major tourist boom inLancaster County. Since then, LancasterCounty has become one of the leadingtourist attractions in the United States,with over 3,000,000 visitors per year. TheAmish themselves do not operate any ofthe tourist attractions, yet they sometimesbenefit financially from tourism by sell­ing produce and handicrafts at stalls out­side their homes to tourists passing by.When the movie "Witness" was releasedin the early 1980s, featuring the box of­fice star Harrison Ford, many of the Amishfeared a second wave of tourism wouldstrike the region. Tourism was up signifi­cantly the following year, but some of the

increase was probablydue to an increase in ter­rorist acts in Europe.Tourism in the "AmishCountry" has continuedunabated.The Amish often tum

their backs to a tourist'scamera. They take nopictures themselves andusually do not appreci­ate anyone photograph­ing them. As with manyof their practices, theybase their objection tophotographs on biblicalScripture. Specifically,the Second Command­ment handed downfrom God to Mosesstates:"Thou shalt not make

unto thee any graven image, or any like­ness of any thing that is in heaven above,or that is in the earth beneath, or that isin the water under the earth." (Exodus20:4)

The Amish's reaction to tourism var­ies, as do the tourists' reaction to theAmish. Many tourists respect the Amishand do not intentionally cause offense.Most who are fortunate enough to becomeacquainted with Amish people genuinelylike them and find them to be, indeed,"real people." Not surprisingly, the Amishappear to discipline themselves and obvi­ously take the tourism better than many

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Lancaster County Place Names

non-Amish residents of the region. Mostlearn to ignore or endure the insults andthe stares, unlike the scene from Witnessin which Harrison Ford, dressed as anAmishman, attacked his tormentors.

Non-Amish who live in the LancasterCounty tourist region are often frustratedwhen driving because of the long lines ofslow-moving, mostly out-of-state cars.Many locals empathize with their Amishneighbors and feel that tourism often un­fairly exploits them. However, another fac­tion of the local population welcomes thetourist dollars with open arms while op­erating the various tourist attractions,motels, and restaurants.

THE FUTURE OFTHE AMISH

Will the Amish people and their cul­ture survive the impacts of tourism andmodem-day society? Some feel that tour­ism will "kill the goose that laid the goldenegg." Unlike Colonial Williamsburg in Vir­ginia, which is a restoration, and OldSturbridge Village in Massachusetts,which is a reproduction, the LancasterCounty Amish live in an authentic land­scape which transports us all into the liv­ing past in modem times. Although it hasbeen found that tourism does not directlyforce the Amish out of the region, the tour­ism industry has driven up the cost offarmland which has indirectly causedmany of the Amish to seek cheaper farm­land elsewhere, away from the areas eas­ily accessed by tourists.

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Another great fear is that increasedexposure to local non-Amish residentsand tourists that come from many statesand countries will have a negative in­fluence on the Amish lifestyle andthreaten the continuance of their strictreligious beliefs, especially among theiryoung. In spite of the relatively strictlifestyle in which they are raised, Amishyouth usually choose to remain in theAmish faith. A small percentage willleave to join less "plain" churches. How­ever, a strong and stable family unit andchurch loyalty will keep most Amishmembers within the fold, probably forgenerations to come. ~

Glenn Miller is Professor of

Earth Sciences and Geography