Amish America

Settlements that failed: Skeeter birds, flaming muck, and the Dismal Swamp

Today, a small New Order Amish settlement is found in western North Carolina, near the town of Union Grove.

Before this settlement came about, (and not counting a short-lived community in the late 50's), the only other full-fledged attempt to settle in the Tar Heel State occurred in 1918, lasting a full quarter-century before extinction in 1944.

The Amish who originally came here, mainly from Geauga County, Ohio, as well as from Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Kansas, settled in Currituck County near the town of Moyock, on land reclaimed from the not-too-invitingly named Dismal Swamp.

The settlement was a slow-grower--Luthy tells us that by its ninth year, it had only 12 families--and seemed to be something of a waystation for itinerant Amish in search of better pastures, with one resident commenting 'some came and others left all the time we were there.'

Despite the settlement's 'reluctance to launch', there was at least a substantial basis for farming in the fairly productive 'black, muck soil' of the reclaimed swamp. 

Other interesting facts about the settlement:

• It was home to one of the first Amish parochial schools, and probably the only one to be held in a hotel, a temporary setup the Amish used in the year 1925.

• Amish from other settlements nicknamed the Moyock Amish 'talking machines', referring to their habit of commenting incessantly on their homes in NC while visiting other settlements, in the hopes of attracting more settlers.

• Corn, soybeans, peas, potatoes, and peanuts were all suitable to be raised here, but the best money-maker turned out to be peppermint.

Mind your butts

Although it seemed quite suitable for farming after being drained, the Dismal Swamp had a peculiar, some would say inconvenient, characteristic-- flammability.

The black muck soil would become so dry that it would easily ignite.  Hunters from the cities often dropped cigarettes and matches, causing wildfires that 'would burn until the next rain'.

Another drawback of the area:  according to one Norfolk, Virginia resident, 'it was kind of a mosquito paradise.  The natives  said the mosquitoes were so big they would sit on the trees and bark--(bark of the trees)'--yuk,yuk.

photo: Hyde slides

But it was neither fiery turf nor beastly skeeters that finally drove the Amish from Moyock--in the end, it came down to a much more commonplace reason.

No ministry. 

Only one spiritual leader had ever settled there, and only briefly.  'Lack of ministry' is one of the nine cardinal reasons Luthy gives for failure of Amish settlements.  No word on why ministers were not enticed to Currituck County, but going out on a limb, the prospect of being eaten alive by bird-sized mosquitoes while their croplands flamed around them might have served as a deterrent.

Luthy closes the Moyock chapter:

'Today all the buildings which the settlers constructed on the reclaimed swamp land have vanished. A person who visited there in 1975 reported:  "All traces of the former Amish settlement that once was at Moyock is completely gone--not one building these folks built is still standing."'

(Source:  David Luthy's The Amish in America: Settlements That Failed, 1840-1960.)

Amish technology and 'friendliness'

Diversity in the Amish world is a common theme in this blog.  Ever wonder how different Amish groups use technology?

Judging by the chart, it can be seen that the most conservative groups include the Swartzentruber Amish, Nebraska Amish, and the Amish of Buchanan County, Iowa (the three of which Amish historian Steven Nolt groups together under the ultraconservative label, referring to the Buchanan group in particular once being seen as 'almost a conservative conscience within the larger Old Order world), as well as certain segments of the Adams County, Indiana settlement.

Often within the same settlement, there will be differences in what is allowed.  For example, in the northern Indiana settlement, churches on the west side of the community allow gas-powered lawnmowers, while those on the east tend to stick with those old-time rotating-blade pushmowers.

Holmes County, Ohio is a very diverse Anabaptist area.  Donald Kraybill says that there are nine distinct Amish groups living in this, the largest of all Amish settlements.  The four most significant, in order of increasing conservatism, are the New Order, Old Order, Andy Weaver Church, and the Swartzentrubers. 

Speaking from experience, I have found that this gauge of openness to technology is also a fairly good gauge of how open the Amish groups are to contact with outsiders. 

For instance, in Holmes County, I generally found it much easier to approach members of the Old and New Order churches.  People from those churches were fairly open and talkative.  I got a slightly colder though not unpleasant reception from Andy Weaver members, but found it most difficult to connect with people from the Swartzentruber districts.  Members of 'lower churches', as they're called, just seemed a bit less open to outsiders, or at least to me.

The Amish in Arthur, Illinois, Nappanee, Indiana, or Kalona, Iowa, compare to the Holmes County Old and New Orders in my personal experience on the 'approachability scale'.  Of course it all comes down to the individual, but as you meet a lot of people in a specific settlement, general patterns seem to emerge.

 

The chart, by the way, is from this site, which takes it from Stephen Scott and Kenneth Pellman's book, Living Without Electricity.  Scott is a member of a group somewhat related to the Amish, the Old Order River Brethren, and has written a number of informative, concise works on the cultural practice of various Plain groups, including Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites, such as Plain Buggies, and Why Do They Dress That Way?  Highly recommended.