Amish Village in Strasburg

These two little cuties are moving at a very fast clip. Maybe not 45 mpg but I had to go that to get around them. There horses must take Prozac, they are so calm and collected.

Everything is just so darn cute around here. We will tour this house with a former Amish lady, now Mennonite. Later we'll stroll the grounds of a "village" constructed to resemble actual Amish stores and buildings.

The first room we walked into was the family room. This room includes what we consider the kitchen, dining, mending, sewing, reading, talking, and socializing rooms. It is a true great room, and all without electricity.

Running water comes by way of a small modernization of city plumbing. If on a well it would require a hand pump. The refrigerator was refitted to propane, lights and heating either wood, oil or propane. That old mixer on the counter is run by changing to compression power. The traditional green shades actually are for cooling. Wall colors are green, tan or blue.

The stove would originally have been wood but now converted to propane.

Upstairs are three bedrooms. The eldest children use it.

The largest bedroom is for all the rest of the children. I mean all. They sleep in the bed and as the eldest ones leave or get married the younger ones get to get up off the floor mats.

Cribs and toys, which are few.

Their wardrobes were functional and efficient. The refusal for zippers and buckles goes back to religious intolerance towards them. Those that were intolerant mostly wore large buckles so they did not want to look like them. Zippers are too progressive when a few pins will suffice. The material for the dresses and shirts is plain and meant to NOT draw attention to themselves. The dress on the far right is worn when a woman marries and then not again until she's buried. It's always guaranteed to fit because it's pinned together. One size fits all.

Hats for the men and boys are another thing. Boys where the straw hats until they reach maturity. Then they get a black hat with a smooth dome on top. Elders get the black hat with the indent on top later in life.

A blue bedroom. The parents room.

In the basement cooler room is the wringer washer, butter churn and indoor storage.

There were a number of buggies on the property.

The barn had lots of equipment and space for all the animals.

Like Baby Bessie

And this cute miniature ponies.

This horse was doing a good job of not looking over at me, no matter what I suggested. Well trained...but I can see it sneaking a peek with it's left eye.

These little piggies are adorable. They remind me of our own piggies, Lilly and Lucy.

Goats and chickens.

Haaaalllllppppeeeee meeeee he says.

Original water source and probably power too.

These goats are outside grazing away.

Lots of large plowing and planting tools.

The one room school house. Notice the desks at the front are smaller than the ones in the back. This must mean the younger kids sit up front.

The tool shed with all manual labor tools.

The backside of the house we toured.

Bill and I had a nice visit. The most informative part of the tour was learning the difference between Amish and Mennonite is they way they live. The Amish are more strict in their resistance and refusal to evolve from their customs. The Mennonites are strong believers in the same faith but more progressive in their acceptance of phones, electricity and printed material for clothing. They both wear the white caps except the Mennonites caps is flat and simple whereas The Amish caps have a raised gathered ridge across the crown of the head.

Amish cap first and second cap is a Mennonite oen.