Redneck Riviera, Amish Country and Music City, USA

Perspective….Holmes County, Ohio



This past Monday Susan and I completed a 12 day trek from Denver to Dallas to Destin, FL to Berlin, OH to Nashville, TN and then back to Denver. We mainly enjoyed the company of valued long-time friends and seeing some beautiful late spring scenery in those locales. The beaches near Destin are still beautiful evidences of God’s Creation and brought back many fond memories of trips our family made there while our children were growing up. Nashville is a “forest” of green and rolling terrain with rich southern history and a town with a church on almost every corner.

We also made a side trip to the Amish Country of Ohio located two hours northeast of Columbus. It is the largest Amish community in the world and has almost 40,000 members of that community. The largest concentration is in Holmes County which is a place of rolling, green farmland that is a “postcard” picture everywhere you look. The culture you observe there is interesting, nostalgic, odd and somewhat of a window back in time.

It is a religious community….that is built around a simple, rural lifestyle somewhat frozen in the mid 1800’s till the turn of the century. Our grandparents who lived on rural farms would have experienced their lifestyle when they were children. The Amish….are very slow to accept new technology or modern conveniences that they perceive would be harmful to family relationships. Here are some impressions and observations:

• It is a reminder that while technology can be used for good….we all know that it can have a negative effect on relationships. Their phone booths that are outside the home and shared by families….so that there use will not be abused….seems crazy, but I wonder if would be better if families had computers that were shared by everyone so that they would monitor each others content and activity?
• Why the horse and buggies? A horse is pretty well limited to a roundtrip of 25 miles….so they don’t separate families very far for very long periods of time….and they only go about 10 miles per hour. So…you have a lot of “forced family time”.
• Pie, bread and roast beef seem very important
• There is an impression of humility…and caring for “their” group….but you don’t see evidence of Christ…just a family Bible here and there. It’s really a “works’ based faith…not too far from Islam in my opinion…other than they are truly pacifists.
• The “Anabaptist” movement in Europe has affected many of us…a better understanding of those who were heavily persecuted by both the Catholics and Reformation Protestants would benefit us.