Friday, 17 May 2019
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| today's route |
A complication is that I have what I think is bursitis in my left elbow and have had for months. A few weeks ago it started hurting with even the slightest touch, making my left arm not quite as helpful as it would otherwise be. And it means it's harder for me to find a comfortable position to sleep in, with both arms being so sensitive.
Combined with that persistent tiredness that I'm still experiencing, I've been having a tough time of it recently. I decided that since I now know the tiredness isn't caused by an ulcer, I need to assume I'm anemic and eat more iron. So yesterday when I stopped at a grocery store I bought some spinach to replace the lettuce I'd been going to buy, and I'll see if that helps. And I'm paying more attention to the iron content of the foods I'm eating. Probably just need more sleep.
Today my goal was the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center in Berlin (pronounced BURR-lynn). Turns out my online directions were nearly useless. Roads said to have a state or county route number and a name didn't seem to exist; several routes were under construction and detours went miles and miles out of the way; several roads weren't labeled at all.
Even when I finally found Berlin, I stopped at the local Fire/EMS Station, figuring they'd be bound to know where the road was, only to find inside a group of Amish women with their hands deep in bowls of cole slaw. Only one of them knew where the Heritage Center was. As I left I saw the sign: Fish Fry tonight 4-8 PM. Very sorry I won't be here.
The highway sign said Berlin is the ♥ of the world's largest Amish community. I saw many horse-and-buggy outfits on the roads. I ended up behind one myself at one point and didn't have the nerve to pass, but at another time I saw a big tractor-trailer pass one going uphill.
Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center
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| trivets that become baskets |
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| explaining the trivet intricacies |
These trivets were among the many handcrafts displayed in the lobby of the heritage center.
The primary focus of this center, and the primary reason I came, is an incredible mural they have. They charged $8.75 for a tour, and it'd have been nearly useless to look at it without the guide. They wouldn't let us take photos, so you might want to check out this link for at least a glimpse of the thing. http://behalt.com/behalt-cyclorama/ The only artist was Heins Gaugle.
The mural runs all the way around the room - there's no obvious beginning or ending, except the guide showed us that it starts with the beginning of Christianity, and includes events like the Crusades, the printing of the Gutenberg Bible, the Church's 15th century selling of indulgences, and Martin Luther, but I was most interested in learning about these unusual religious orders. Here's a nutshell version.
In 1522 in Switzerland, a small group of Christians began a study group that compared Latin, Hebrew and Greek versions of the New Testament. They came to believe that the practice of mandatory infant baptism was wrong, that baptism shouldn't happen until a person was old enough to be able to make the choice for himself. The first documented adult baptism occurred in 1523. The government labeled them pejoratively as Anabaptists, those who were re-baptized.
By 1527 there was full-scale persecution of these folks, including death sentences. Some escaped to Austria, some to the Netherlands, some to what's now the Czech Republic. In 1537, a man named Menno Simons was asked to be a leader and he was especially noteworthy for seeking out the scattered followers and not just preaching to them but actually uniting them. The government called his followers Mennonites, and he and his wife lived the rest of their lives in hiding.
In 1605 Europe was overrun by Turks, who found the Hutterites - those of these folks who were living in the Czech Republic - to be easy targets: they lived communally and were committed to non-violence. There were few survivors.
By 1660 the government halted public executions of these folks, but children were taken into State custody and men were sold into slavery (I don't know what happened to the women).
In 1682, William Penn invited them to move to his land in the New World. A hundred years later, Catherine the Great invited some to move to Russia - she promised religious freedom in exchange for them being willing to farm there. When the military draft's religious exemption for pacifism was revoked, Mennonites and Hutterites emigrated to the US, bringing turkey red wheat with them. This hardy grain became the primary wheat planted in the central plains states.
The religion continues to spread; for instance, there are almost as many Mennonites in Mexico as in the US.
In general, these three Christian denominations believe the same things, including adult baptism and pacifism. Hutterites are still living communally, while the others are community-oriented but believe in private property rights. The Amish use little of modern technology, while the other two are fully integrated technologically. Similarly, the Amish stick to horse-and-buggy outfits while the others think tractors and cars are useful. The Amish educate their children only to the 8th grade, while the other two want their children to be educated. This difference in education leads to Amish children following careers as carpenters, caterers, timber harvesting and farming (though only about 30% are farmers). Children of the other two denominations enter many varied fields of work. Amish attend church in individual homes; Mennonites and Hutterites attend church in buildings designed for that purpose.
The area is home to about 280 church congregations. Berlin is 80% Amish and Mennonite. They use four different versions of the Bible in their worship services and study.
Women's bonnets are partly based on scripture and partly tradition. Men's hats and the buggies are strictly tradition. Many of their practises are simply tradition, not parts of their religious beliefs. They find it a way of honoring who they are and what they believe, rather than prescribed by those beliefs.
The guide expressed some frustration that almost sounded like bitterness at the portrayal of their religion by the media and popular culture. He said they're just people, no better or worse than anybody else. They're not living idyllic lives, they're just living their culture. He himself is Old Order Amish, which he said was a more conservative branch of the Amish denomination.
He covered much more ground than this and packed it all into less than an hour, talking very quickly so that I wished he'd slow down so I could take it in. It was really interesting and I'm glad I braved the problems with getting there to do it.
As I walked the dogs around the grounds, I took a few more photos.
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| one-room schoolhouse |
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| explains the school |
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| pioneer barn built into hillside |
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| explains the barn |
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| Peace Oak - the sign explains it |
More on the road
A primary business in this area seems to be cheese and I passed signs for at least 5 farms that advertised their cheese (Guggisberg claimed to have the #1 cheese in America). The Holmes Cheese Co. is building a new, larger building and hiring workers.
The town of Sugarcreek claims to be the Little Switzerland of Ohio and says it has the world's largest cuckoo clock. I'd have loved to check out all these things but I was already exhausted and still had to figure out how to get back to the campground. Turns out there's heavy traffic in the area at 1 PM on a Friday afternoon. I have no idea why. This isn't exactly a metropolitan area.
I've been seeing lots of blooming things in the last couple of weeks (spring seems to be coming so much later here than in VA or WV). Dogwoods are still beautiful, iris are really coming out, tulips, a law office had a large mass of blooming white azaleas.
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| Bridge of Dreams |
Except that all the leaves I saw were green green instead of fall brown, this is what I saw. It's a 370' covered bridge. Its highway sign says it's the longest in Ohio, but Wikipedia says it's actually #2 in Ohio, but it's the 3rd longest in the US.
I passed a lovely little place with a home and pond and ducks and beautiful horses and all looking very idyllic. And a For Sale sign.
I saw a pair of Canada Geese feeding in a field with 3 downy little chicks.
I passed through the town of Mt. Vernon, which is actually quite large and obviously very old. Founded in 1805, the buildings seem to date from around then, though it's all very nice and well-maintained.
I've been surprised to find not much litter along the roads of Ohio. It's got multiple cross-country roads running through it, and then a whole maze of local roads crisscrossing it, but not much litter. Either their adopt-a-highway program is very effective or Ohioans are much more responsible than Virginians (all the litter on their roads still hurts my feelings).
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