# USA Dopers: How Often Do You Encounter Amish People? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 4, 2023, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589 "2023-09-04T17:20:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/81 "2023-09-08T14:57:04Z")
Suburban Maryland. Day-to-day, almost never. But they’re not that far away if I wanted to go to them. There’s about 2000 Amish in the state, mostly in the south and the eastern shore, but there are about a half dozen Amish Markets dotted around, and they often have tables at various farmer’s markets. ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/82 "2023-09-08T15:57:36Z")
Chester County, PA, so if we go west towards Lancaster we see Amish farms and businesses everywhere, both in western Chester County and Lancaster County proper. We live in a townhouse development, and right now there are at least two crews working around near our unit made up primarily of 20-something Amish workmen doing painting or residing. Finally, we go to Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia on a regular basis, and there are probably a dozen or more Amish or Old Order Mennonite businesses there. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/83 "2023-09-08T16:12:19Z")
When I do an online search on Amish markets in Maryland, I get (for the top item in the search) a map with 20 places in that they consider to be the Amish markets in Maryland (with star ratings for them). As I said in my previous post #38, I frequently go to the one in Laurel. I’ve walked past the one in Annapolis, but I haven’t gone in there yet. The ratings for those 20 are almost universally perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/84 "2023-09-08T17:57:13Z")
Turns out NC does have an Amish presence in Union Grove. There’s been other settlements, but they phased out. > **[North Carolina Amish - Amish America](https://amishamerica.com/north-carolina-amish/)** > > North Carolina is home to a single Amish settlement North Carolina has a limited history of Amish settlement. Today, a single church district is found at Union Grove in the western part of the state. The Union Grove, NC Amish North Carolina is not... ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/85 "2023-09-08T20:12:27Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Never met an Amish, but I see the occasional flock of Mennonites. Same here (Moscow, Idaho). A small community/extended family (?) of Mennonites about 20 miles North of town, we often see them at the grocery store etc. We’ve purchased plants from their nursery. I’ve been told that Mennonites are “Amish with electricity.” ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/86 "2023-09-08T20:14:26Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I’ve been told that Mennonites are “Amish with electricity.” And pickup trucks. And probably tractors. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/87 "2023-09-08T20:35:29Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I’ve been told that Mennonites are “Amish with electricity.” If these folks are wearing simple clothes, the men have beards, and the women are wearing prayer caps, they are probably Old Order Mennonites, which have been mentioned upstream. The largest ‘sect’ of Mennonites in the USA is Mennonite Church USA, which is also the most liberal of all the sects. It’s likely that you would not be able to tell a member of this congregation from a Methodist or Presbyterian or an atheist, for that matter. > [@mbh](#): > > And pickup trucks. And probably tractors. And, increasingly, fewer and fewer of the abovementioned congregation are farmers. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/88 "2023-09-08T21:02:06Z")
Though depending on the denomination the tractors may have steel wheels, no tires. I’ve been told that that’s to make it harder to take them on the road – and that the intention of making it harder to take them on the road is to discourage farmers from taking over other farms in the neighborhood. They’re not supposed to wind up with one family farming all the farmland for miles and hiring a mess of farmworkers who’ll never get their own farm; each family’s supposed to be able to get their own farm. I’m not sure about the technique, but I’m in favor of the motivation. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/89 "2023-09-08T21:13:51Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Mennonite Church USA Here’s the Wikipedia entry on this denomination: > **[Mennonite Church USA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mennonite_Church_USA)** > > The Mennonite Church USA (MC USA) is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the United States. Although the organization is a recent 2002 merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church, the body has roots in the Radical Reformation of the 16th century. > Total membership in Mennonite Church USA denominations decreased from about 133,000, before the merger in 1998, to a total membership of 120,381 in the Mennonite Church USA in 2001 and 78,892 members in 2016. In May 20... ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/90 "2023-09-08T21:19:57Z")
Live less than an hour from Amish county in Indiana. See Amish and Mennonites all the time. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/91 "2023-09-09T00:42:05Z")
The last time I saw them it was about 10 years ago at a farmers market selling baked goods on Chicago’s north side - I want to say Roger’s Park, but I’m not positive. I was told they were Amish, but it’s possible they were Mennonite. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/92 "2023-09-10T01:27:03Z")
There’s an Amish market about a mile away from me. That’s what everyone calls it anyway. I don’t know if they are Amish or other sects. I haven’t asked. There are also other non-Amish vendors. I’ve been to Lancaster County so I’ve seen them there. My daughter loved the Philly Zoo and there were always some visiting. I’ve seen them randomly here and there. No buggies anywhere close to me. A couple of weeks ago I saw someone in Amish garb. He looked to be about 18 years old. He was working on a crew that was renovating a Wendy’s. I found it odd. The rest of the crew looked like a diverse non-Amish group. It was the first time I saw an “Amish” worker alone in a non-Amish workplace. I don’t know how common that is. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/93 "2023-09-10T20:06:33Z")
We used to live in Middlefied, OH (at that time, the third largest Amish community in the world). Our next door neighbor was Amish and two doors down was a Mennonite church. Since we moved closer to Cleveland (37 years ago) any contact has been sporadic, although we still see them in various stores or being driven to housing construction sites. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2023, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/94 "2023-09-10T21:06:19Z")
I’ve never seen Amish people where I live, Long Island, NY. They’re sometimes around at Amish Market, a store in midtown Manhattan, [https://www.amishfinefood.com/](https://www.amishfinefood.com/) but the staff there is all non-Amish. In upstate New York in the Mohawk Valley I’ve seen them occasionally from the highway, working on their farms or riding in buggies, [New York Amish - Amish America](https://amishamerica.com/new-york-amish/) And a few times I’ve seen them in stores in Watertown NY. @ratatoskK your post reminded me of the closest encounter I’ve had with a group who were probably Mennonite, friendly young women walking down a narrow path to enjoy the view from the Bass Harbor lighthouse in Acadia Maine. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/95 "2023-11-18T00:06:10Z")
Well, when we lived in Middlefield, our next door neighbor was Amish and they were all over the roads and the stores in town. Since we’ve moved closer in toward Cleveland, I encounter them weekly, or so, in stores or passing construction sites. The Mennonite church was two houses down on our other side, so about the same. Middlefield, OH was the location of the third largest Amish community in the U.S. when we lived there 37 years ago. I believe it has fallen to fourth or fifth largest community in the ensuing years. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/96 "2023-11-18T00:20:27Z")
Never actually saw a Amish person except on tv. I know a former Mennonite woman. She converted to Protestant after marrying. She continued sewing, quilting, canning, gardening etc. using skills that what were taught inside the Mennonite community. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/97 "2023-11-18T00:26:43Z")
In California, pretty much never. But there was one time probably at least 15 years ago I was on a flight from Sacramento to Chicago, seated across the aisle from a woman in Mennonite style dress. After we landed she pulled an old 1990s era cell phone out of her bag and turned it on. So I assume she wasn’t Amish, but some sort of Mennonite or Anabaptist. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/98 "2023-11-18T12:58:24Z")
I had an Amish encounter this week. Apparently someone is harvesting trees across the road from where I work. It is way back in the woods so I never realized it was going on. An Amish guy in full Amish dress came into my building, startling my receptionist by asking if he could use our phone. If he wasn’t Amish she would have just handed over the phone, but since he was Amish (??) she said she had to check with her boss. I came out and he explained about doing tree work. Some equipment had failed and he needed to call his boss, who was driving the log truck. He called a number from a paper he had and discovered the log truck had broken down and the driver (an English man) couldn’t get a signal to call the “big boss”. So the Amish dude made a second call and informed him. I offered him a ride home, but he said someone was on his w. Then the Amish dude said I looked familiar. I thought he looked/sounded familiar also. Turns out ~5 years ago I was kayaking a lake near Smicksburg (an Amish community) often after work and he was fishing there. We had several discussions. Later that day in our work group chat, the receptionist posted, “OMG! An Amish guy came in to use the phone and _kayaker knew him!!!_. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/99 "2023-11-18T13:30:55Z")
After reading this thread I’m not sure if the people I’ve encountered outside of the “hotspots” (central PA and southern MD) are actually Amish or some other sect/denomination. I should know better. 35 years ago I went university to a place with a large Mennonite community and they frequented the drugstore I worked at. I think I should be able to distinguish Amish vs Mennonite visually (I mean by clothing/grooming) but I guess I haven’t looked into it. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589/100 "2023-11-18T18:42:22Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > An Amish guy in full Amish dress came into my building, startling my receptionist by asking if he could use our phone. If he wasn’t Amish she would have just handed over the phone, but since he was Amish (??) she said she had to check with her boss. Huh? Seems to me you’d be more likely to hand a phone over to an Amish person, not less. An Amish person won’t be carrying their own phone, and therefore has good reason to ask to use yours. Most people these days are carrying their own phones, and therefore shouldn’t need to use yours. > [@kayaker](#): > > Later that day in our work group chat, the receptionist posted, “OMG! An Amish guy came in to use the phone and _kayaker knew him!!!_. I think your receptionist needs to be taken aside and given a short speech along the lines of “it is entirely normal for people to not be like you. If you’ve got to freak out about it, keep it to yourself while in this workplace.” > [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > I think I should be able to distinguish Amish vs Mennonite visually (I mean by clothing/grooming) but I guess I haven’t looked into it. Around here the beards seem to be an indication for men (IME Amish have them; Mennonites don’t.) But I don’t know whether that’s true of all groups; it might just be the particular conferences we have living in this area. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-dopers-how-often-do-you-encounter-amish-people/989589.md?page=6)