{{Short description|Anabaptist communities in Ohio}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox religious group | group = Ohio Amish Country | flag = | flag_size = | flag_alt = | flag_caption = | image = File:Amish in Ohio locator map.svg | image_size = | image_alt = | image_caption = The largest settlements of Amish in Ohio are centered around Holmes County (in red) and Geauga County (in pink).
| population = 84,065 (2023) | founder = | regions = | tablehdr =
| region1 = Holmes County settlement | pop1 = 39,525 | ref1 = | region2 = Geauga County settlement | pop2 = 20,440 | ref2 = | region3 = <!-- up to | region31 = --> | pop3 = <!-- up to | pop31 = --> | ref3 = <!-- up to | ref31 = -->
| religions = Anabaptist Christianity<br />(Old Order Amish • New Order Amish • Beachy Amish • Old Order Mennonites • Conservative Mennonites) | scriptures = | languages = Pennsylvania Dutch, High German, English<ref name="winnermanSTLPD12sept2010" /> | related-c = | website = | notes = }}
'''Ohio Amish Country''', also known simply as the '''Amish Country''', is the second-largest community of Amish (a Pennsylvania Dutch group), with in 2023 an estimated 84,065 members according to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College.<ref name="Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies-2023">{{Cite web |url=https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/population-2023/ |title=Amish Population Profile, 2023 |date=September 2, 2023 |website=Elizabethtown College, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies |access-date=September 3, 2023 |archive-date=September 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902140849/https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/population-2023/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Ohio's largest Amish settlement is centered around Holmes County and in 2023 included an estimated 39,525 children and adults, the second largest in the world and the highest concentration of Amish in any US county; the Amish make up half the population of Holmes County, with members of other closely related Anabaptist Christian denominations, such as the Mennonites, residing there as well.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Amish and Their Mennonite Neighbors |url=https://www.bestofamishcountry.com/post/the-amish-and-their-mennonite-neighbors |publisher=Best of Ohio's Amish Country |access-date=8 April 2023 |date=28 June 2019 |quote=While there are a few small groups of Mennonites that do not own automobiles, there are none in the Holmes County community that do not permit ownership of the automobile. In the Greater Holmes County Amish Community, automobile ownership is one of the ways one can define whether they are Amish or Mennonite. |archive-date=April 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408022646/https://www.bestofamishcountry.com/post/the-amish-and-their-mennonite-neighbors |url-status=live }}</ref> The second largest community in Ohio is centered around Geauga County.
Ohio's Amish Country in and around Holmes County is one of the state's primary tourist attractions and a major driver of the area's economy.
== History == thumb|right|An Amish farmer raking hay The Holmes County community was founded in 1808 and the Geauga County community in 1886.<ref name="kraybill2013">{{Cite book|last=Kraybill|first=Donald B.|title=The Amish|date=2013|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|others=Karen Johnson-Weiner, Steven M. Nolt|isbn=978-1-4214-0914-6|location=Baltimore|oclc=810329297|author-link=Donald Kraybill}}</ref>{{Rp|139}}
At the time of the Holmes County settlement's founding there was at least one sizable village of Native Americans on the northern edge of what would become Holmes County, near the Killbuck river. Jacob Miller and his sons, Henry and Jacob, travelled in 1808 from Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and built a cabin northeast of the current village of Sugarcreek in Tuscarawas County. Henry overwintered on the claim, and the other two returned to Pennsylvania for the winter. The rest of the family, including Miller's nephew Jonas Stutzman, returned the next year in a Conestoga wagon pulled by a team of six, a trip that took a month.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|last=Miller|first=Betty Ann|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eUZBAAAACAAJ|title=Amish Pioneers of the Walnut Creek Valley|date=1977|publisher=Atkinson Printing|isbn=978-0-685-87375-5|language=en|access-date=August 19, 2021|archive-date=May 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518140123/https://books.google.com/books?id=eUZBAAAACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> The Millers settled in Tuscarawas, and Stutzman continued on to the area of the current village of Walnut Creek, about five miles west, and built a cabin on the creek.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" />{{Rp|page=27}}<ref name=":11">{{Cite news|last=Vonada|first=Damaine|date=August 1998|title=Welcome to Ohio's Amish Country|pages=70–79|work=Ohio}}</ref> In 1810 six families and in 1811 two more families from Somerset County joined the Walnut Creek settlement. In 1818 the government decreased the land prices from $2 per acre to $1.25 and by 1835, the Holmes County settlement included two hundred and fifty families.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|27}}<ref name=":6" />
Beginning in the 1860s, a schism between conservative Amish, centered in Holmes County but occurring throughout North American Amish communities, separated the Amish into the Old Order Amish and the Amish Mennonites, most of whom merged into Mennonite communities.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|42–43}}<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|60}} During the 1900s, the Holmes County community experienced multiple schisms into over thirty different groups, birthing several new orders and some that eventually became non-Amish.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|146}} The Schwartzentruber Amish, considered the most conservative of Amish orders, split off in the 1910s.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|148}}<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|37}} The Andy Weaver order split off in the 1950s.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|37}} The New Order Amish, considered the most technologically liberal, split off in the 1960s.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|148–149}}<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|37}}
As of 2010 there were over fifty Amish settlements in Ohio<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|25}} and 418 congregations, more than any other state.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kraybill|first=Donald B.|title=Concise encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites|date=2010|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=978-0-8018-9657-6|location=Baltimore, MD|oclc=461896783}}</ref>{{Rp|page=8}} Ohio's rural counties are attractive to Old Order Amish because travel by horse-drawn vehicle requires essential services such as shopping, banks and medical care to be within a distance manageable by that method of transportation, which limits travel to about 10 to 35 miles per day depending on various factors.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|130}}<ref name=":0" /><ref name="winnermanSTLPD12sept2010" /> Ohio State University researcher Joseph Donnermeyer called Ohio "the perfect mix", saying, "You can't be too rural. You have to be close enough to a town with the basic necessities."<ref name=":0" />
== Population == [[File:Augusta Township traffic (cropped).JPG|alt=Multiple horses and buggies on a rural road|thumb|Sunday traffic in Carroll County]] thumb|Amish farm in Holmes County Holmes County has the highest concentration in the world, with the Amish in 2020 making up approximately half the population, and the largest population of Amish of all orders.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|title=The Amish and the media|date=2008 |editor1-first=Diane Zimmerman |editor1-last=Umble |editor2-first=David |editor2-last=Weaver-Zercher |ol=16672558M |isbn=978-0-8018-8789-5|location=Baltimore, Md.|oclc=167496604 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Clark|first=Jayne|date=2 July 1995|title=Bargains and Old-fashioned Charm|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette}}</ref> Including all communities, Ohio has the second-largest population of Old Order Amish in the world, with in 2023 an estimated 84,065 members, second to Pennsylvania with 88,850, according to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College.<ref name="etown2021">{{Cite web|date=August 14, 2020|title=Amish Population 2021|url=http://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/population-2021/|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=Elizabethtown College|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812120226/http://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/population-2021/ |archive-date=August 12, 2021 }}</ref>
=== Holmes County === thumb|right|An Amish mother on a shopping trip Ohio's largest settlement is centered around Holmes County and in 2021 included an estimated 37,770 children and adults, the second largest in the world after the population of 41,000 centered around Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.<ref name="etowngroups">{{Cite web|date=August 10, 2021|title=Twelve Largest Settlements, 2021|url=http://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/twelve-largest-settlements-2021/|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=Elizabethtown College|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812115736/http://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/twelve-largest-settlements-2021/ |archive-date=August 12, 2021 }}</ref> The Holmes County community includes multiple affiliations or orders<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|142}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lumry|first=Amanda|title=Holmespun : an intimate portrait of an Amish and Mennonite community|date=2002|publisher=Eaglemont Press|others=Loren Wengerd, Laura Hurwitz|isbn=0-9662257-6-7|edition=1st|location=Bellevue, WA|oclc=52460591}}</ref>{{Rp|6}} and is the most highly-concentrated, diverse and complex of Amish settlements worldwide.<ref name=":7" /> The settlement includes eleven separate Amish affiliations.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|35}} Four affiliations, the New Order Amish, Old Order Amish, Andy Weaver, and Swartzentruber, as of 2010 made up about 97% of church districts in the settlement, with the Old Order Amish the largest portion.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|17–18}} The Swartzentruber Amish include three separate groups, the Swartzentruber-Andy Weaver (which is unrelated to the Andy Weaver group), Swartzentruber-Mose Miller, and Swartzentruber-Joe Troyer, each of which considers itself the true Swartzentruber.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|43}} Other Amish groups include Stutzman-Troyer, Roman, Old Order Tobe, New Order Tobe, and New Order Christian Fellowship.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|36}} There are multiple other populations of Anabaptists in the area, including Beachy Amish, Brethren, and Mennonite.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|32}}
The settlement stretches into the adjacent Ashland, Coshocton, Stark, Tuscarawas, and Wayne Counties.<ref name=":0" /> Holmes County itself has the highest concentration of Amish in any US county;<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Blackwell|first=Brandon|date=August 6, 2012|title=Amish settlements in Ohio, North America on the rise|url=https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2012/08/ohio_state_amish_settlements_i.html|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=The Plain Dealer|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301020554/https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2012/08/ohio_state_amish_settlements_i.html |archive-date=March 1, 2021 }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Fiala|first=Donna|date=August 20, 2015|title=Around Town: Truly conservative: Living life the Amish way in Holmes County, Ohio|url=http://www.naplesnews.com/community/around-town-truly-conservative-living-life-the-amish-way-in-holmes-county-ohio-ep-1238302577-331229001.html|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=Naples News|language=en}}{{Dead link|date=December 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> the Amish make up half the county's population.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Huntsman|first=Anna|date=April 28, 2021|title=COVID-19 Has Hit The Amish Community Hard. Still, Vaccines Are A Tough Sell|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/04/28/990986056/covid-19-has-hit-the-amish-community-hard-still-vaccines-are-a-hard-sell|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=NPR|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428145356/https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/04/28/990986056/covid-19-has-hit-the-amish-community-hard-still-vaccines-are-a-hard-sell |archive-date=April 28, 2021 }}</ref> In contrast, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the Amish represent about 7% of the county's population.<ref name="etowngroups" /><ref name="update">[http://amishamerica.com/12-largest-amish-communities-2017/ The 12 Largest Amish Communities (2017).] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101125752/http://amishamerica.com/12-largest-amish-communities-2017/ |date=January 1, 2018 }} at Amish America</ref>
Holmes County has been projected to become the first in the US with a majority-Amish population.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=Pfleger|first=Paige|date=August 27, 2019|title=Amish Paradise: Living Uninsured But Healthy In Rural Ohio|url=https://news.wosu.org/news/2019-08-27/amish-paradise-living-uninsured-but-healthy-in-rural-ohio|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=WOSU-TV|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423045948/https://news.wosu.org/news/2019-08-27/amish-paradise-living-uninsured-but-healthy-in-rural-ohio |archive-date=April 23, 2021 }}</ref> Amish in general have high birth rates; as of 2012 in Holmes County, the most conservative groups had both the highest birth rates and the highest retention rates of young adults deciding to be baptized into the order.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|162–163}}
=== Geauga County === thumb|Young Amish men, 1973 Ohio's second largest settlement is centered around Geauga County with in 2021 an estimated 19,420 members, the fourth-largest in the world.<ref name="etowngroups" />
===Counties by percentage=== Data from 2010 according to "Association of Religion Data Archives" (ARDA)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.thearda.com/us-religion/census/congregational-membership?y=2010&t=0&c=39075#REPORT |title=Association of Religion Data Archives |access-date=August 11, 2023 |archive-date=August 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230803202524/https://www.thearda.com/us-religion/census/congregational-membership?y=2010&t=0&c=39075#REPORT |url-status=live }}</ref> and from 2020 according to the "US Religion Census" report.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.usreligioncensus.org/node/1638 |title=2020 Study Information |access-date=August 11, 2023 |archive-date=October 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231003200133/https://www.usreligioncensus.org/node/1638 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.usreligioncensus.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/2020_USRC_Group_Detail.xlsx |title=U.S. Religion Census {{!}} Maps and data files for 2020 |access-date=August 11, 2023 |archive-date=July 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727073035/https://www.usreligioncensus.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/2020_USRC_Group_Detail.xlsx |url-status=live }}</ref> Data are only shown for Old Order Amish and exclude related groups such as Beachy Amish-Mennonite Churches, Maranatha Amish-Mennonite, Amish-Mennonites and Mennonites in general.
{|class="wikitable sortable" !County !Adherents<br>(2010) !Adherents<br>(2020) !Change<br>2010-20 !%<br>2010 !%<br>2020 |---- |Holmes |17,654 |19,793 |{{growth}}12.1% |41.67% |44.76% |---- |Geauga |8,537 |9,549 |{{growth}}11.8% |9.14% |10.01% |---- |Wayne |9,283 |9,130 |{{decrease}}1.6% |8.10% |7.81% |---- |Coshocton |1,760 |2,533 |{{growth}}43.9% |4.77% |6.92% |---- |Knox |2,111 |2,843 |{{growth}}34.7% |3.46% |4.53% |---- |Ashtabula |2,203 |3,725 |{{growth}}69.1% |2.17% |3.82% |---- |Ashland |1,661 |1,877 |{{growth}}13.0% |3.13% |3.58% |---- |Monroe |542 |475 |{{decrease}}12.3% |3.70% |3.55% |---- |Carroll |614 |937 |{{growth}}52.6% |2.13% |3.51% |---- |Hardin |939 |1,051 |{{growth}}11.9% |2.93% |3.42% |---- |Morrow |590 |1,175 |{{growth}}99.2% |1.69% |3.36% |---- |Tuscarawas |2,370 |3,128 |{{growth}}32.0% |2.56% |3.35% |---- |Noble |0 |434 |{{growth}} |0.00% |3.07% |---- |Gallia |733 |875 |{{growth}}19.4% |2.37% |3.00% |---- |Harrison |305 |429 |{{growth}}40.7% |1.92% |2.96% |---- |Jackson |339 |875 |{{growth}}158.1% |1.02% |2.68% |---- |Trumbull |3,864 |5,044 |{{growth}}30.5% |1.84% |2.50% |---- |Guernsey |552 |806 |{{growth}}46.0% |1.38% |2.10% |---- |Adams |471 |501 |{{growth}}6.4% |1.65% |1.82% |---- |Logan |640 |738 |{{growth}}15.3% |1.39% |1.60% |---- |Vinton |120 |194 |{{growth}}61.7% |0.89% |1.52% |---- |Highland |269 |570 |{{growth}}111.9% |0.62% |1.32% |---- |Morgan |95 |91 |{{decrease}}4.2% |0.63% |0.66% |---- |Meigs |92 |136 |{{growth}}47.8% |0.39% |0.61% |---- |Pike |97 |150 |{{growth}}54.6% |0.34% |0.55% |---- |Muskingum |293 |449 |{{growth}}53.2% |0.34% |0.52% |---- |Perry |50 |169 |{{growth}}238.0% |0.17% |0.48% |---- |Columbiana |0 |435 |{{growth}} |0.00% |0.43% |---- |Portage |387 |619 |{{growth}}59.9% |0.24% |0.38% |---- |Mercer |95 |153 |{{growth}}61.0% |0.23% |0.36% |---- |Defiance |124 |137 |{{growth}}10.5% |0.32% |0.36% |---- |Medina |616 |571 |{{decrease}}7.3% |0.36% |0.31% |---- |Richland |313 |343 |{{growth}}9.6% |0.25% |0.27% |---- |Van Wert |0 |70 |{{growth}} |0.00% |0.24% |---- |Belmont |95 |122 |{{growth}}28.4% |0.13% |0.18% |---- |Huron |103 |108 |{{growth}}4.9% |0.17% |0.18% |---- |Pickaway |53 |97 |{{growth}}83.0% |0.09% |0.17% |---- |Stark |447 |602 |{{growth}}34.7% |0.12% |0.16% |---- |Williams |63 |61 |{{decrease}}3.2% |0.16% |0.16% |---- |Marion |60 |96 |{{growth}}60.0% |0.09% |0.15% |---- |Preble |0 |62 |{{growth}} |0.00% |0.15% |---- |Washington |0 |85 |{{growth}} |0.00% |0.14% |---- |Athens |0 |80 |{{growth}} |0.00% |0.13% |---- |Licking |38 |210 |{{growth}}452.6% |0.02% |0.12% |---- |Hocking |17 |25 |{{growth}}47.0% |0.06% |0.09% |---- |Scioto |0 |62 |{{growth}} |0.00% |0.08% |---- |Fairfield |127 |110 |{{decrease}}13.3% |0.09% |0.07% |---- |Ross |103 |31 |{{decrease}}69.9% |0.13% |0.04% |---- |'''Total''' |'''58,825''' |'''71,756''' |{{growth}}'''22.0%''' |'''0.48%''' |'''0.61%''' |}
== Congregations == [[File:Amish youth groups at Behalt 1.jpg|thumb|An Amish youth group]] In Ohio in 1998 the typical congregation consisted of 25 families and met every other week at a different family's home.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Rovito|first=Markkus|date=April 1997|title=Religion Dictates Amish Life|pages=98|work=Ohio}}</ref> A meal is served following the service, which lasts approximately 4 hours.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":14" /> Hymns are sung from the ''Ausbund'', the oldest hymnal in continuous use.<ref name=":11" />
== Economy == thumb|Amish farmer plowing in Holmes County|alt=Mules pulling a plowA traditional source of income for most Ohio Amish is farming, and traditional farm life is central to the lives of most Amish.<ref name="winnermanSTLPD12sept2010">{{Cite web|last=Winnerman|first=Jim|date=September 12, 2010|title=Trip back in time: the Amish in Ohio|url=https://www.stltoday.com/travel/trip-back-in-time-the-amish-in-ohio/article_6f9cd665-c965-591c-bf07-a1deecb040b9.html|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701075535/http://www.stltoday.com/travel/trip-back-in-time-the-amish-in-ohio/article_6f9cd665-c965-591c-bf07-a1deecb040b9.html|archive-date=July 1, 2016}}</ref> In the southeastern areas of the Holmes County community, logging had been a traditional source of income.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Reese|first=Matt|title=Sheep offering options for Ohio's Amish|url=https://ocj.com/2013/10/sheep-offering-options-for-ohios-amish/|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=Ohio Ag Net {{!}} Ohio's Country Journal|language=en-US|archive-date=August 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818173743/https://ocj.com/2013/10/sheep-offering-options-for-ohios-amish/|url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2010 approximately 17 percent of Amish heads of household in Holmes County and 7 percent in Geauga County reported their primary occupation as farming.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|282}} In 2003 a group of Holmes County Amish leaders established Green Field Farms, a cooperative wholesaler of organic agricultural products whose membership is limited to those who use horse-drawn vehicles.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|286}}
From the early 2010s, sheep farming has become increasingly common as the land in much of the Holmes County area is better for foraging than for farming, and sheep are good foragers that do not need as much expensive feed as cows.<ref name=":2" /> Sheep can also be more profitable on smaller acreage than larger livestock.<ref name=":2" /> As early as the 1990s Amish farmers adopted organic farming methods; there were no certified organic dairies in Ohio in 1997, but within a few years there were more than one hundred, 90% of which were either Old Order Mennonite- or Amish-owned.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|286}}
Many Amish supplement farming income with sales of hand-made goods such as brooms, baskets, quilts, leather goods, woodworking, and other artisan products sold from homes or in local shops.<ref name="winnermanSTLPD12sept2010" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Larsen|first=Doris|date=December 16, 2004|title=Winter in Amish Country|url=https://clevelandmagazine.com/things-to-do/travel/articles/winter-in-amish-country|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=Cleveland Magazine|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115152339/https://clevelandmagazine.com/things-to-do/travel/articles/winter-in-amish-country |archive-date=January 15, 2021 }}</ref> Some own or work in area businesses surrounding the use of wood, such as carpentry, woodworking, furniture production, pallet production, or lumber wholesale or retail businesses.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Diebel|first=Matthew|date=August 15, 2014|title=The Amish: 10 things you might not know|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/15/amish-ten-things-you-need-to-know/14111249/|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=USA Today|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140816002817/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/15/amish-ten-things-you-need-to-know/14111249/ |archive-date=August 16, 2014 }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Eshelby|first=Kate|date=March 10, 2019|title=Turning back time with the Amish of Ohio|url=http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/mar/10/turning-back-time-with-the-amish-of-ohio|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190310130708/https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/mar/10/turning-back-time-with-the-amish-of-ohio |archive-date=March 10, 2019 }}</ref> As of 2010 three of the largest non-Amish employers of Amish were garage-door manufacturer Wayne-Dalton, Keim Lumber, and Weaver Leather.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|10}}
On April 1, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic protective gear shortages, members of the Holmes County settlement were asked by the Cleveland Clinic to sew masks for its employees and visitors.<ref name="williamsonNYT4april2020" /> Local businessmen John Miller and Abe Troyer organized a sewing "frolic", a term used by the Amish to mean put together a group effort.<ref name="williamsonNYT4april2020" /> Many Amish seamstresses had been idled by the pandemic's shutdowns, and Amish do not apply for social benefits, so the work helped sustain their families.<ref name="williamsonNYT4april2020" />
Other local businesses pivoted to creating face shields, dividers for field hospitals, fluid-resistant gowns, shoe coverings, and other items.<ref name="williamsonNYT4april2020" /> By April 9 the Cleveland Clinic was receiving 10,000 masks a day and one local business was producing 100,000 face shields per day.<ref name="williamsonNYT4april2020" />
=== Tourism === thumb|right|Amish-cuisine restaurant Efforts to promote the Holmes County community as a tourist destination began in the 1950s.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|last=Trollinger|first=Susan L.|title=Selling the Amish : the tourism of nostalgia|date=2012|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=978-1-4214-0467-7|location=Baltimore|oclc=823654526}}</ref>{{Rp|page=26}} Approximately four million tourists visit Holmes County each year as of 2012; the direct economic impact at the time was estimated at $154 million annually.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=26}} Amish tourism is a major part of the economy of Holmes County.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|392}}<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|30,177}}
Interest in the Amish was increased by the 1955 Broadway musical ''Plain and Fancy''.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|53}} By the 1960s, bus tours of Holmes County were available.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|53}} The towns of Millersburg (the county seat), Berlin, Walnut Creek, and Charm in Holmes County, and Sugarcreek just across the county line in Tuscarawas County, have a large tourism industry.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Walle|first=Randi|date=May 31, 2018|title=Explore Ohio Amish Country|url=https://www.columbusunderground.com/explore-ohio-amish-country-rw1/|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=Columbus Underground|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923042844/https://www.columbusunderground.com/explore-ohio-amish-country-rw1 |archive-date=September 23, 2020 }}</ref> In 2017, Holmes County was the second-most popular tourist destination in Ohio.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web|last=Lynch|first=Kevin|date=November 27, 2017|title=Holmes County tourism, hotels keep growing|url=https://www.the-daily-record.com/news/20171127/holmes-county-tourism-hotels-keep-growing|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=The Daily Record|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818131446/https://www.the-daily-record.com/news/20171127/holmes-county-tourism-hotels-keep-growing |archive-date=August 18, 2021 }}</ref>
==== Tourism centers ==== [[File:NewYork 2018-10-30 953.jpg|thumb|right|A row of five parked Amish buggies in Holmes County]] Ohio's Amish tourism centers around the towns of Berlin and Walnut Creek in Holmes County, and in Sugarcreek, just across the border in Tuscarawas County, all of which are situated along U.S. Route 30.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|pages=43–44}}
Beginning in the 1990s, business leaders have developed Walnut Creek into an American-Victorian themed town, which the University of Dayton's Susan Trollinger calls "puzzling" because of the stark contrast between Victorian overdecorating and the Amish plainness.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=49–50}} Tourist-oriented businesses typically include "resting places" such as parlors in hotels or wrapround porches lined with rocking chairs or other seating on retail shops, which emphasizes a sense of having plentiful time.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=57}} Her conclusion is that the Victorian theme and emphasis on resting places is capitalizing on the attraction of nostalgia for a simpler life with plentiful time, which it has in common with the Amish.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=|pages=51–60}} Large parking lots and sidewalks connect the business district, which is condensed into six square blocks and connected by wide sidewalks, further encouraging a feeling of a slower pace and life lived on foot.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=59}} American flags and other patriotic-themed decor are commonly displayed in both exterior and interior spaces, which Trollinger again finds interesting when contrasted to the Amish, who refuse to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and do not fly flags at their schools and homes.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=70}}
More tourists visit Berlin, permanent population 685, than any other town in Ohio Amish Country.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=83}} Berlin was the first town in Ohio to market the Amish to tourists.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=83}} Berlin's business district is large, with as of 2012 more than 40 shops, 10 hotels, and multiple restaurants large and small.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=85}} Trollinger calls its architecture and offerings "eclectic" but dominated by the American frontier and the 1950s, and she points out that, like Walnut Creek, all call back to the past.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=|pages=88,106}} Trollinger argues that the frontier theme in Berlin presents a story of peaceful people leaving crowded cities behind in order to make a better life for themselves and their families.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=94}}
Sugarcreek's historical beginnings were rooted in cheese production. Swiss immigrants arrived in the early 1830s, used the milk from Amish dairy farms to produce their cheese, and in the 1950s created an annual Ohio Swiss Festival; the success of early festivals as an attraction for tourists resulted in local business leaders transforming the town into a Swiss village starting in 1965.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|pages=117–119}} By the early 1970s, the first tourist-oriented businesses were opening, with the tourism industry in Sugarcreek centered not only around the Amish but also around a steam-engine passenger train operated by the Ohio Central Railroad that ran between Sugarcreek and Baltic until 2004. Since the train stopped running, tourism in Sugarcreek has decreased.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|pages=118–120}} Trollinger theorizes that, unlike Walnut Creek and Berlin, which support a nostalgia that reassures tourists that what they are nostalgic for still exists in America, and is therefore a nostalgia of hope, the Swiss theme of Sugarcreek inspires a nostalgia for something that is forever gone—that is, a period in which the United States was a white-majority country—and so does not reassure.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|pages=134–135,142}}
==== Tourists and the tourist experience ==== According to Trollinger, the Amish tourist experience is targeted very strategically to attract a specific audience.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=141}} She describes typical Amish Country tourists as a "relatively homogeneous group": white, working or middle-class, middle-aged to retirement-aged Americans visiting with their spouse and another married couple who arrive in late-model American-made SUVs or minivans and often wearing shirts with American flags, sports team logos, or Harley Davidson logos.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=|pages=28–29}} Trollinger concludes that the average tourist is of "moderate income, average education, and moderately conservative views."<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=28–29}}
Trollinger theorizes that Amish Country tourism reassures visitors that a form of traditional American life still exists even during and after periods of rapid societal change.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=|pages=xxi,33–43,50–55}} She notes that the largest of the tourist-oriented restaurants serves scratch-cooked meals "family style", serving all food in common serving dishes from which each person serves themself, serving dishes are refilled until all are satisfied, and nothing on the table is a convenience item, which she says "recreat(es) a cultural memory of family" and the sharing of a homecooked meal.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|pages=54–57}} The most visible Amish in Amish country are typically young women making, serving, or selling food; shopping with multiple young children in tow; or men doing woodwork or farming or driving buggies.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|pages=79,105}} Taken all together, Trollinger argues, the tourism experience in Amish Country, and especially in Walnut Creek and Berlin, reassures the tourist that "it is still possible to live at a leisurely pace, to have clarity about what it means to be a man or a woman, to feel patriotic".<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=79}}
According to Trollinger, some Amish view tourists as an opportunity to "shar(e) their Christian witness through their visibly different common life and daily practices."<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=xiv}} Some "expressed compassion" for the tourists, whose daily lives were filled with pressure and who were charmed by the slower paced and simpler life of the Amish.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=xiv}}
==== Amish Country Byway ==== [[File:Amish Country Byway - Downtown Millersburg - NARA - 7716951.jpg|thumb|The Amish ByWay, Millersburg]] The Amish Country Byway is an Ohio Scenic Byway, designated in 1998, that runs {{Convert|164|mi|km}} through many Amish communities in Holmes County.<ref name="ACB">{{cite web|author=|date=June 2019|title=2020 Amish Country Byway Corridor Management Plan (CMP)|url=https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/static/Programs/ScenicByways/CMPs/2020-CMPs/ACB%20CMP%202020%20Update.pdf|access-date=August 31, 2021|publisher=Ohio Department of Transportation}}</ref> The byway focuses on backroads with views of rolling farmland and concentrations of Amish homes, farms, and home businesses.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Warren|first=Rich|date=May 2010|title=Into Amish Country|pages=42–44|work=Home & Away}}</ref>
== Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center == The Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center is a museum in eastern Holmes County, in Berlin, Ohio.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web|last=Brownlee|first=Amy Knueven|date=July 1, 2011|title=The Simple Life|url=https://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/daytripperblog/ohio-amish-country/|url-status=live|access-date=August 19, 2021|website=Cincinnati Magazine|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905222143/http://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/daytripperblog/ohio-amish-country/ |archive-date=September 5, 2015 }}</ref> It opened in 1981 as the Mennonite Information Center. By 1989 it had moved to the current structure which was finished to include the Behalt Cyclorama as well as a bookstore. The center was renamed in 2002 to reflect its mission as a cultural center.<ref>{{cite web|date=|title=About Us | Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center|url=http://behalt.com/about-amish-mennonite-heritage-center.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806121512/http://behalt.com/about-amish-mennonite-heritage-center.html|archive-date=August 6, 2017|publisher=Behalt.com|accessdate=April 26, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Alice T. Carter|date=August 3, 2013|title=Road Trip: Ohio's Amish Country|url=http://triblive.com/lifestyles/travel/4171710-74/amish-ohio-county|publisher=TribLIVE|accessdate=April 26, 2017|archive-date=December 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223064406/http://triblive.com/lifestyles/travel/4171710-74/amish-ohio-county|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Miller|first=Nancy Baren|date=July 1997|title=Amish Buggies in Little Switzerland|pages=94+|work=Family Motor Coaching}}</ref>
=== ''Behalt'' === thumb|Amish teenagers from Indiana and Pennsylvania on a trip to see Behalt '''''Behalt''''', meaning "to keep or to remember", is a {{convert|10|x|265|ft|abbr=on}} cyclorama by Heinz Gaugel located in the museum.<ref name=":03">{{Cite web|last=Brown|first=Gary|date=October 18, 2013|title=Postcard from ... Berlin: Behalt Cyclorama tells the story of the Anabaptists|url=https://www.dispatch.com/article/20131018/news/310189835|url-status=live|access-date=August 19, 2021|website=The Columbus Dispatch|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819180914/https://www.dispatch.com/article/20131018/news/310189835 |archive-date=August 19, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Behalt Cyclorama|url=https://behalt.com/behalt-cyclorama/|url-status=live|access-date=August 19, 2021|website=Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201122318/http://behalt.com/behalt-cyclorama/ |archive-date=February 1, 2020 }}</ref><ref name=":22" /> According to the ''Columbus Dispatch'' it has been called the “Sistine Chapel of the Amish and Mennonites”.<ref name=":03" /> Anabaptist scholar Susan Biesecker-Mast calls it "an effort to exceed the tourist economy of Holmes County by offering a transformative rhetoric for its visitors".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Biesecker-Mast|first=Susan|date=July 1, 1999|title=Behalt: a rhetoric of remembrance and transformation|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&issn=00259373&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA203025956&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs|journal=Mennonite Quarterly Review|language=English|volume=73|issue=3|pages=601–615|access-date=August 19, 2021|archive-date=May 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518141231/https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&issn=00259373&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA203025956&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs&userGroupName=anon%7E376b3d6c&aty=open-web-entry|url-status=live}}</ref> The painting was created over 14 years and completed in 1992.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web|last=Lueptow|first=Diana|date=April 25, 2019|title=Memory Center|url=https://www.akronlife.com/api/content/d1d297ee-6796-11e9-ac20-12f1225286c6/|access-date=August 19, 2021|website=Akron Life Magazine|language=en-us|archive-date=May 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518141231/https://www.akronlife.com/travel/memory-center/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Minnich|first=Kate|date=April 1, 2016|title=Behalt|url=https://www.the-daily-record.com/article/20160401/NEWS/304019352|url-status=live|access-date=August 19, 2021|website=The Daily Record|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819180414/https://www.the-daily-record.com/article/20160401/NEWS/304019352 |archive-date=August 19, 2021 }}</ref> It is one of four existing cycloramas in the US and one of only 16 in the world; ''Behalt'' is the only existing cyclorama painted by a single artist.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":22" /> It follows the development of Anabaptism from the time of Jesus through the 1990s and portrays approximately 1200 biblical and historical figures.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Glaser|first=Susan|date=December 25, 2011|title=Explore the vast variety of Ohio's religious cultures|url=https://www.cleveland.com/travel/2011/12/explore_the_vast_variety_of_oh.html|url-status=live|access-date=August 19, 2021|website=The Plain Dealer|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819174709/https://www.cleveland.com/travel/2011/12/explore_the_vast_variety_of_oh.html |archive-date=August 19, 2021 }}</ref><ref name=":13" />
== Medical care == The Amish do not reject medical care, but an increasing number reject vaccination; in the early 2010s, 14% of the Amish in Ohio reported their children were unvaccinated, while in 2021 59% reported not vaccinating children.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Scott|first1=Ethan M.|last2=Stein|first2=Rachel|last3=Brown|first3=Miraides F.|last4=Hershberger|first4=Jennifer|last5=Scott|first5=Elizabeth M.|last6=Wenger|first6=Olivia K.|date=February 12, 2021|title=Vaccination patterns of the northeast Ohio Amish revisited|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0264410X21000268|journal=Vaccine|language=en|volume=39|issue=7|pages=1058–1063|doi=10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.01.022|pmid=33478791|s2cid=231678869|access-date=August 18, 2021|archive-date=May 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518141231/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264410X21000268?via%3Dihub|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 2014 Holmes and Knox Counties experienced a measles outbreak after men from the community returned from a mission trip building houses in the Philippines.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Schladen|first=Marty|date=March 21, 2020|title=In Ohio's Amish Country, coronavirus is taken seriously, health officials say|url=https://www.beaconjournal.com/news/20200321/in-ohios-amish-country-coronavirus-is-taken-seriously-health-officials-say|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=Akron Beacon Journal|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322022808/https://www.beaconjournal.com/news/20200321/in-ohios-amish-country-coronavirus-is-taken-seriously-health-officials-say |archive-date=March 22, 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Gastañaduy|first1=Paul A.|last2=Budd|first2=Jeremy|last3=Fisher|first3=Nicholas|last4=Redd|first4=Susan B.|last5=Fletcher|first5=Jackie|last6=Miller|first6=Julie|last7=McFadden|first7=Dwight J.|last8=Rota|first8=Jennifer|last9=Rota|first9=Paul A.|last10=Hickman|first10=Carole|last11=Fowler|first11=Brian|date=October 6, 2016|title=A Measles Outbreak in an Underimmunized Amish Community in Ohio|journal=New England Journal of Medicine|language=en|volume=375|issue=14|pages=1343–1354|doi=10.1056/NEJMoa1602295|pmid=27705270|issn=0028-4793|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Tribble|first=Sarah Jane|date=June 25, 2014|title=Ohio Amish begin vaccinations amid largest measles outbreak in recent U.S. history|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/ohio-amish-reconsider-vaccines-amid-largest-measles-outbreak-u-s-history|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=PBS NewsHour|language=en-us|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019164827/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/ohio-amish-reconsider-vaccines-amid-largest-measles-outbreak-u-s-history |archive-date=October 19, 2019 }}</ref>
Holmes County has the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the state, and fewer than 1% of Amish had been vaccinated by April 2021.<ref name=":1" /> When vaccines became available for COVID-19, the county posted the lowest vaccination rates of Ohio's 88 counties and among the lowest in the country.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|last=Stratford|first=Suzanne|date=July 29, 2021|title='Not surprised': Holmes County reporting lowest COVID-19 vaccination numbers in Ohio|url=https://fox8.com/news/not-surprised-holmes-county-reporting-lowest-covid-19-vaccination-numbers-in-ohio/|url-status=live|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=WJW-TV|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729021750/https://fox8.com/news/not-surprised-holmes-county-reporting-lowest-covid-19-vaccination-numbers-in-ohio/ |archive-date=July 29, 2021 }}</ref> As of February 13, 2022, fewer than 20% of county residents had been vaccinated as compared to approximately 60% statewide.<ref>{{Cite web|date=February 14, 2022|title=Overview|url=https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/dashboards/covid-19-vaccine/covid-19-vaccination-dashboard|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220212110444/https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/dashboards/covid-19-vaccine/covid-19-vaccination-dashboard|archive-date=February 12, 2022|website=coronavirus.ohio.gov}}</ref>
Holmes County is the least-insured county in Ohio, as the Amish typically do not use commercial health insurance but instead contribute to a community fund.<ref name=":4" />
== Politics == The Amish tend to be conservative and to vote that way.<ref name=":3" /> Voting outcomes in Holmes County on issues that are important to the Amish, such as those concerning the schools and alcohol sales, tend to be affected by the Amish vote.<ref name=":3" /> In some Holmes County townships, all businesses, except for gas stations, are closed on Sundays (cf. ''Sunday Sabbatarianism'').<ref name=":3" /> Many of Holmes County's townships are dry.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}}
== Housing == thumb|Laundry drying under a porch roof on a cold, wet day in Holmes County The Amish in Ohio typically build spacious two-story houses. Styles include the I-house, which is side-gabled and typically a single room deep, typically symmetrical on all sides, and includes full-length porches on the front and back sides.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=50}} Sometimes the I-house will add a wing in the back.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=50}} A second form is a one-and-a-half or two story gable front house. Roof pitches are moderate and houses are typically wood-clad and painted white.<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=50}}
== Schools == In 1914, the first clash over state-regulated mandatory school attendance until 16 occurred in Geauga County when three Amish fathers received fines for not sending their children to school for 9th grade.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|251–252}} In the 1920s and 1930s, there were similar clashes in other states, which resulted in a rise in Amish parochial schools and a case before the Supreme Court that held that mandatory school attendance until 16 interfered with free exercise of religion among the Amish.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|254–255}} Many Amish schools are former one-room public schoolhouses that the local Amish church districts purchased when public schools consolidated into multi-classroom campuses.<ref name=":15">{{Cite book |last=Johnson-Weiner |first=Karen |title=Train up a child : Old Order Amish & Mennonite schools |date=2007 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-1-4356-9211-4 |location=Baltimore |oclc=310123226 }}</ref>{{Rp|page=|pages=109,207}}
As of 2010, the Flat Ridge Elementary School, a public school in the East Holmes Local Schools district, had a student body that was 100% Amish.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|last=Hurst|first=Charles E.|title=An Amish paradox : diversity & change in the world's largest Amish community|date=2010|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|others=David L. McConnell|isbn=978-0-8018-9790-0|location=Baltimore|oclc=647908343}}</ref>{{Rp|8}} Holmes County as of 2009 had over 200 Amish parochial schools; approximately half of the Amish students in the county were enrolled in public schools.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|142,153}} The Amish celebrate January 6, or Epiphany, as "Old Christmas"; the public schools remain open but Amish students are excused, which means that some classrooms, or in the case of Flat Ridge Elementary entire schools, are empty.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lynch|first=Kevin|date=January 4, 2022|title=Old Christmas is a time for reflecting, visiting family among Ohio's Amish|url=https://www.the-daily-record.com/story/news/2022/01/04/faith-and-family-ohios-amish-ready-celebrate-old-christmas-jan-6/9079609002/|access-date=January 31, 2022|website=The Daily Record|language=en-US|archive-date=January 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131115840/https://www.the-daily-record.com/story/news/2022/01/04/faith-and-family-ohios-amish-ready-celebrate-old-christmas-jan-6/9079609002/|url-status=live}}</ref>
=== Curriculum === Amish schools are regulated by the ''Minimum Standards for the Amish Private Elementary Schools of the State of Ohio'' (Ohio Minimum Standards), which requires that certain subjects be taught, including English, mathematics, geography, history, health, German, and vocal music. Except for German class, classes are required to be taught in English, which still is the second language for most Amish.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|pages=111,146}} In practice, each school sets its own curriculum, and, according to Karen Johnson-Weiner, despite the Ohio Minimum Standards, certain subjects—typically geography, history, and health—are sometimes not taught because of objections from teachers or parents.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|page=111–113}} Some Old Order Amish parents object to teaching history because "there is too much glorification of war". Johnson-Weiner reported in 2007 that students at a school taught by a Swartzentruber member didn't study geography or health because of the teacher's objection to teaching those subjects.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|page=112}}
=== Textbooks === Texts are typically chosen from those offered by several publishers, including Pathway Publishing Company, Gordonville Printing Company, and Study Time, which are Old Order Amish presses, or the Schoolaid Publishing Company or Rod and Staff, which are Mennonite presses.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|page=112}} thumb|1901 McGuffey Reader Some, such as Gordonville, reprint texts such as ''Essentials of English Spelling'', first published in 1919, for very conservative schools. Some supply reprints of early editions of ''McGuffey Readers'' to Swartzentruber schools.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|pages=208–209}} The ''Dick and Jane'' series from the 1950s are valued by some schools for presenting a non-Amish world but one that "does not expose (students) to the dangers of modern society".<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|pages=209–210}} The ''Strayer-Upton Practical Arithmetics Series'', first published in the 1920s, similarly uses story problems that do not represent modern life.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|pages=58,210}} The texts are also valued for their emphasis on rote learning, mastery of basics, and respect for authority and for relative lack of emphasis on discussion-based learning.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|pages=210–211}} Many conservative Old Order Amish also avoid carrying religion into the schools, as they believe parents and religious leaders, rather than schoolteachers, should be teaching religion; these older texts tend to be "moralistic...but religiously neutral".<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|page=211}} The older texts are also valued for the continuity they provide; children are learning from the same textbooks as their parents and grandparents.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|page=211}}
Other publishers, such as Pathway, created texts that are specifically designed for use in Old Order Amish schools, which use a combination of curated stories and essays originally published elsewhere and those written for the purpose. The eight-grade Pathway Reader, ''Our Heritage'', contains poetry by Longfellow and Whitman as well as the stories of Dirk Willems and the Hochstetler Massacre.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|pages=216+}} Illustrations in the series contain no images of people. Some conservative communities have rejected the Pathway Readers as too progressive in its approach and too implicitly religious, .<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|page=218}} Pathway Readers, the first of which were published in 1968, had not been revised as of 2007.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|page=219}}
School Aid and Study Time also publish purpose-created textbooks, along with teaching materials, and periodically updates texts with input from teachers and new pedagogy.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|pages=219–223}}
Some teachers, especially in Swartzentruber schools, create their own teaching materials, making multiple copies for student use with homemade hectographs.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|page=252}}
=== Teachers === According to Johnson-Weiner, writing in 2007, teachers are typically not chosen from a pool of applicants but instead recruited by school board members.<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|page=126}} Ohio Minimum Standards does not require teachers to have more than an eighth-grade education but does encourage "a self-imposed research into the school's accepted subjects".<ref name=":15" />{{Rp|page=127}}
== Media == thumb|''The Budget'' office in Sugarcreek|alt=Sign in front of building reads "Serving the Sugarcreek area and Amish Mennonite communities throughout the Americas".|200x200px ''The Budget'', a weekly Amish and Mennonite correspondence newspaper distributed in various Amish communities throughout the United States and in other countries, is produced in Sugarcreek, which is part of the Holmes County settlement.<ref name="williamsonNYT4april2020">{{Cite news|last=Williamson|first=Elizabeth|date=April 9, 2020|title=In Ohio, the Amish Take On the Coronavirus|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/us/politics/amish-coronavirus-ohio.html|access-date=August 18, 2021|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=April 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423074104/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/us/politics/amish-coronavirus-ohio.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Issues contain letters from "scribes", usually women, reporting what has been happening in their church district.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|102}}<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|page=188}} The paper is published in English; while the first language that most Old Order Amish learn is Pennsylvania Dutch, a dialect of German, many older Amish did not learn to read or write it.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book|last=Schreiber|first=William I|title=Our Amish neighbors|date=1962|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|pages=145–146|language=English|oclc=603972387}}</ref><ref name=":14">{{Cite news|last=Williams|first=Deborah|date=12 July 1998|title=Living off the land, the Amish way|pages=G1, G4|work=The Buffalo News}}</ref> William Schreiber notes the tendency for German phrasing and the occasional German word in many contributions.<ref name=":10"/>
''The Budget'' started in 1890 as a local newspaper for the town of Sugarcreek.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|pages=189–190}} The first 14-page issue was published May 15, 1890, by John C. Miller, known as "Budget John".<ref name=":10" /> By the 1920s, most of the letter correspondents were Mennonite, but by the late 1930s they were mostly Old Order Amish.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|pages=189–190}} By 1959, the paper was delivered to 42 states and 10 foreign countries.<ref name=":10"/>
As of 2008, the paper published approximately 300 letters each week and had a subscription of 10,000.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|page=182}} As of 2010, each edition ran to 50 pages, primarily containing letters from Amish communities throughout the world, and sold for $1.<ref name="winnermanSTLPD12sept2010" /> Scribes are unpaid but receive envelopes and stamps;<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|page=185}} handwritten letters arrive to the office of the newspaper via mail and fax.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Giffels|first=David|date=23 May 1999|title=All the Amish news that's fit to print|pages=4–6|work=Akron Beacon Journal}}</ref> Steven Nolt called ''The Budget'', along with another Amish correspondence newspaper ''Die Botschaft'', important vehicles for creating a sense of community.<ref name=":8" />{{Rp|pages=183–185}}
The ''Gemeinde Register'' is a biweekly newsletter published in Baltic, Ohio, that serves the Ohio Amish community.<ref name="kraybill2013" />{{Rp|156}}<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hurst|first1=Charles E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SvxpZ37sRd8C&dq=Gemeinde+Register&pg=PA333|title=An Amish Paradox: Diversity and Change in the World's Largest Amish Community|last2=McConnell|first2=David L.|date=April 5, 2010|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-9790-0|language=en|access-date=February 4, 2022|archive-date=May 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518142238/https://books.google.com/books?id=SvxpZ37sRd8C&dq=Gemeinde+Register&pg=PA333#v=onepage&q=Gemeinde%20Register&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>
Carlisle Printing near Walnut Creek publishes the ''Ohio Amish Directory'' once every five years; as of 2010, it had grown to 900 pages and includes births, deaths, marriages, and occupations for all Amish except the Swartzentrubers.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|9}}
== Amish Helping Fund == In 1995, several Old Order Amish leaders created a nonprofit to assist young couples in purchasing their first home. As of 2010, the fund held $80 million and had never had a foreclosure; loans are restricted to purchasing property for earning a livelihood and not for hunting.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|103}}
== See also ==
* Bergholz Community, an offshoot of the Holmes County Amish community
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Amish}} {{Ethnicity in Ohio}}
Category:Amish Category:Anabaptists Category:Protestant denominations established in the 17th century Category:German-American culture Category:German-American history Category:German diaspora in the United States Category:Culture of Ohio Category:Cultural regions of the United States Category:Peace churches Category:Protestantism in Ohio Category:Anabaptism in Pennsylvania Category:Protestantism in Wisconsin Category:Religious organizations established in 1693 Category:Simple living Category:Swiss-American culture Category:European diaspora in North America Category:Amish in Ohio