The Amish are a religious group who live in settlements in 22 states in the USA and in Ontario, Canada. There are about 16,000 to 18,000 oldest group of Amish live in live in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Amish stress humility, family and community, and separation from the world.
Lancaster is located in south central Pennsylvania 1 1/2 hours west of Philadelphia and 3 hours drive from Washington D.C. Most of the Amish Country attractions are in Lancaster County, and almost all of the local Amish people live here as well. It is a good attraction for a one day trip if you live within a few hours away from the Lancaster county.
Click here Amish Related Attractions for travel information to Amish Village.
Tourist station in the Amish Village of Lancaster County
Amish still keeps the old style of farming.
Amish farming tools.
Amish farming tools.
Amish have their own schools.
Old Order groups all drive horses and buggies
The horse barn.
The horse barn.
The milk barrel
Amish house in the village.
Amish house in the village.
Lancaster county theater.
Men and boys wear dark-colored suits, straight-cut coats
without lapels, broadfall trousers, suspenders,
solid-colored shirts, black socks and shoes,
and black or straw broad-brimmed hats. Their
shirts fasten with conventional buttons, but their
suit coats and vests fasten with hooks and eyes.
They do not have mustaches, but they grow beards after
they marry.
Tourist attaction.
Tourist attaction.
Amish house.
A typical Dutch house in Lancaster.
Old Order groups all drive horses and buggies rather than cars.
Most Amish are trilingual. They speak a dialect of German
called Pennsylvania Dutch at home; they use High German at their
worship services; and they learn English at school. They speak
English when they deal with anyone who is not Amish. They pronounce
Amish with a broad "a" (Ah-mish).
The Amish are a private people who believe God has kept them together
despite pressure to change from the modern world. They are not
perfect, but they are a strong example of a community that supports
and cares for its members. They are a people apart; they are also a
people together.
Old Order groups all drive horses and buggies rather than cars,
do not have electricity in their homes, and send their children to
private, one-room schoolhouses. Children attend only through the eighth
grade. After that, they work on their family's farm or business until
they marry. The Amish feel that their children do not need more formal
education than this. Although they pay school taxes, the Amish have fought
to keep their children out of public schools. In 1972, the Supreme Court
handed down a landmark unanimous decision which exempted the Old Order Amish
and related groups from state compulsory attendance laws beyond the eighth
grade. Many Mennonites and progressive Amish do attend high school and even
college.