To get a good background about the Amish a tour of the Amish Farm and House gives the visitor a good basic background of who the Amish are, how they live and what they do. The tour are through an old farm house that was an Amish house at one time. Purchased by non-Amish "English" (Amish call their non Amish Neighbors) and set up to look like Amish abodes. The Amish Farm & House was the first to be set up, in 1955. The owner, the late Aldoph Neuber, was the of son the owner of the then Willows, a restaurant and motel that stood where the American Music Theatre is today. Neuber, was answering a need of early tourists: the want to know how the Amish lived. At the Willows the visitors would ask about the Amish. The Amish didn’t want tourists coming to their houses. The historic farmhouse (one of the few remaining on Route 30 in that area) came up for sale and Neuber bought it and made it an attraction. At the time there were still Amish tenant farmers living in a portion of the house that was not opened for tours. They farmed the surrounding land. Local people thought that Neuber was making a mistake, but time has proved him right. The attraction has enlightened millions of visitors as to how the Amish live and has answered there billions of questions over the more than 50 years it has been open. The Amish Farm and House has added Amish Countryside tours that explain and show how the Amish farm and live outside the house.
Not only did Adolph Neuber have the foresight to open the farmhouse, but he became one of the pillars of the hospitality industry of the area. Helping create policies that have made the area famous for its hospitality. He also helped many others get started in tourist related businesses. When it came time for Neuber to sell he paid a great tribute to the then owner of Dutch Wonderland, the late Earl Clark and his family. Because the Clark family ran its business in a way that Neuber felt was along the philosophical policies he held, he asked Clark if he wanted to buy the Amish Farm & House, instead of putting the business up for sale on the open market. Clark said yes and Neuber was happy with his decision.
A buggy ride is a way for visitors to the area to get a feel of how the Amish travel in their daily lives. The drivers are knowledgeable about the Amish and like to answer questions as you clip clop past Amish farmland. Aaron and Jessica's located at the Plain & Fancy Farm located between Bird-in-Hand and Intercourse and the Buggy Rides at Red Caboose in Strasburg give visitors the feel of how the Amish travel about their day.
Visitors who wish to know the relationship of the Amish and the Mennonites will find all the information they probably will want by visiting the Mennonite information center just west of the Tangier Outlet Center on Route 30 East across from the colorful Dutch Indoor Village collectables store. The Mennonite Information Center has a film which explains the difference between the Amish and Mennonites.
The Mennonite information center came about in 1959 when a visiting Mennonite minister from Hannibal, Missouri asked why the local conference wasn’t giving the visitors to the area information about the Mennonites. He was Nelson Kauffman, a noted Mennonite paster, leader, teacher and evangelist.
The information center has recreated the Tabernacle in the Wilderness to explain the basis of the Mennonite faith. For those visitors that wish to do more research into the Mennonite and Amish faiths, there is a Mennonite Historical Society beside the information center.
When we talk about, read about, or see
about the Amish rarely do we find any information about the Amish
love of sports. Of sports? These plain people who don't want to
have anything to do with the outside world loving sports? Now
come now!
Well the Amish do like sports and enjoy
playing them and following them. At our famous Gordonville Fire
Company spring sale which is known for its quilt sale and the
first big Amish outing of the season (the Amish support their
local fire companies both with money and volunteers), there are
always photos of Amish boys playing a bean bag game. Its like
dodge ball where the players inside the circle have to dodge the
bean bag thrown by those making up the circle. This is well publicized
as an Amish sport.
Baseball is probably the most loved
sport of the Amish. It is also the one that they know the most
about. From the first warm day of spring untill well into the
fall whenever the Amish get together if there are enough for a
game there usually is one. Recess is a time for a pick up baseball
game at most of the Amish one room school houses. I remember a
photo of the front steps of a one room school house that ran a
number of years ago in the Intercourse News. There were at least
a dozen ball gloves and some bats on the steps and in the front
yard a hubcap that was used for home plate.
The Amish also follow baseball in the
newspapers and attend some games usually as guests of "English"
(What Amish call non-Amish. It comes from when Pennsylvania was
populated mostly by English settlers and those from Germany, the
"Pennsylvania Dutch") friends. A local dealer was quoted
recently, "the Amish are more up to date than you or I on
baseball".
The other day I passed a scene that
was right out of pictures of picnics of generations ago. In the
side yard of an Amish house was a picnic in session. The children
were playing baseball. In the rear was a line of old round back
metal chairs filled with Amishmen talking and watching four other
Amishmen playing horse shoes. The tables had red and white clothes
on them awaiting the upcoming dinner. There was also plenty of
talking going on.
Visiting is an important part of the
Amish way of life. Because of the Amish belief of no phones the
community does not talk everyday, therefore when they do get together
they talk eye to eye.
Croquet is another sport. In the late
afternoon after the chores are finished a round of croquet with
family or friends is a nice way to relax with a little fresh squeezed
lemonade. The set of croquet that I saw recently looked as though
it would have been a treasure in any antique shop. The mallets
were large, the balls regular and the wickets weren't wire, but
iron.
One evening while talking with an Amish
advertiser I noticed a group of Amish teenagers drawing two buggies
together at the edge of his land close to a night light on an
adjoining "English" property. Ropes were tied to the
buggy wheels to support the poles so a volley ball net could be
strung between both buggies. Then they started to play. No need
for TV, the kids get together to talk and play a favorite game.
Fishing is also very popular. It is
a sport that the whole family can enjoy and one that is relaxing.
Here too "English" acquaintances will set up trips to
go deep sea fishing off the New Jersey coast. Fishing also provides
food for the table, except for the one that got away!
There are also swimming holes and ponds
for a swim in the hot of the summer after a day of farm chores.
You will note that all the sports that
have been mentioned are played in groups and none are contact
sports. The Amish love to visit and do things as a family and
community. Singular sports such as golf and tennis, don't fit
the Amish life-style, but more importantly are more prideful sports
that are not a team or community effort but individual. Competition
is not part of the Amish way of life and along with its brother
pride is guarded against by the community. That is why everyone
wears the same cloths, has the same buggy and wears no jewelry.
A life of work, family, religion and community has no room for
pride or competition.
There is one sport though, that the
Amish don't play but do follow. That is Football. Why? They just
seem to like it. The other day I saw on the reflector triangle
of an Amish buggy a "REDSKINS" bumper sticker, Ah Youth!