I think we are finally catching up on our sleep, so we head to the town of Shipshewana, IN where we first go to the Menno-Hof, a barn that was raised in eight days by 250 volunteers. The interior took a lot longer to finish. There are separate rooms all telling the story of how the religion was started, when it was started, how they were persecuted, when and how they split and moved throughout the world. We learned what their beliefs are, and the difference between Mennonite, Amish and Hutterites.
The flower bed in front of the building is one of many flower quilts throughout the area. We sow about 4 or 5. The rain had diminished some of the colors and blooms, but they were still amazing to see.
While inside we walked through a replica of part of a ship that would have carried the immigrants to the USA. Many settling in Pennsylvania where William Penn had set aside vast acres of land for a settlement for religious freedom. Below is a picture of the “berths” the people used and a story of a child who didn’t make it to USA.
Remember to click on the picture to make it larger. The story tells the sad story of Laura and the hardships these people had to endure to gain freedom in USA.
On our way out is a quilt showing the many countries that have Mennonite and Amish communities.
David—we took a special set of pictures for you about Nepal.
After learning all about the people of the area we found a place to eat, “The Blue Gate,” and then went to the sop next door to see what they had.
Look what Frank found! Jeff this is for you. The “after” of restoring a Model “A” roadster.
While we were there we went in back and signed up for a buggy ride and Amish dinner later that evening. Then we took a drive and found a furniture store to look through and a co—op vegetable stand. We filled up with fresh vegetables to take back to the coach.
Well, I guess we aren’t quite caught up on our sleep. We had to park in the furniture store parking lot and close our eyes for about 30 minutes before our buggy ride and dinner.
We parked looking out to the street and watched the buggies go by. How do you like the parking designation?
We caught our buggy ride a little after 6 pm. First we had to go out to the farm and pick up the others, who had taken the full tour including milking the cows. We didn’t go for the full tour. Both of us had seen milk barns and cows being milked. Besides I don’t really like milk.
Here we are behind our driver. We had to go in the farm wagon and then switch to a more comfortable buggy.
Above is the farmhouse. I love the one cornstalk on each side of the sidewalk in the flower bed. The homes here are so clean and well maintained. You never see any junk around them. Simple and plain!
Chris was our driver and Betty was the horse that pulled the buggy. She was a very nice horse and Chris’s nickname is Santa!
We left the farm house and went to another home for dinner. There were seven people in the buggy ahead of us. They were all from South Carolina and traveling together. So we had Chris and our buggy to ourselves! We had a very nice dinner served by a young couple and their three children. I didn’t take any pictures in case it would offend them. The little girls were twins and about 6 years old. Their brother was older and very quiet. The father talked to us quite a bit. He works outside the home in the RV industry. Many of the Amish do work that is not on the farms. The land is running out and only the eldest boy inherits. They tend to have large families because they don’t believe in birth control! Ten kids is not uncommon. Our host told us that his son is older than his youngest sister, and he is one of eight children.
Hey, Mark, how would you like to have this building for your glass shop? Many of the places have businesses in their homes or on their property. This is just one of the many signs we saw advertising either a service or a product. It is a beautiful, safe, peaceful part of Indiana and we really enjoyed our day with the Amish.
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