Hype for the Future 40C: Southeastern Pennsylvania

Historically, settlement patterns have largely been blocked by the mountainous zones throughout the Eastern United States, known as the Appalachian Mountains. Further east along the mountains and valleys, however, is the vast majority of the population of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, with the largest city, Philadelphia, located within the region, as well as Allentown, Reading, Lancaster, York, Bethlehem, Easton, Chambersburg, Shippensburg, Carlisle, Harrisburg, and numerous other communities with a significant historical significance in every case.

Hype for the Future 39E: Amish and Mennonite Communities

While the Amish and Mennonite communities are obviously identifiable by the abstinence from modern technology and related amenities of modern life, the Mennonite communities are often more diverse, with communities ranging from Amish-style to Mennonite communities with full modern conveniences, though continuing to prefer plain colors such as white and/or black. While horses and buggies are usually unable to exceed 25 miles per hour safely, thus the legal obligation for the safety triangles, select communities within both the Amish and the Mennonites may reject the triangle on religious grounds, thus resulting in legal court cases in repeated instances. Even Wisconsin v. Yoder of 1972 was about the Amish communities where religious beliefs resulted in limited schooling and the lack of secondary education, particularly beyond the eighth grade. Mennonite communities, however, may have access to universities in the local areas, and although private, Mennonite values remain particularly simple, so nearby areas are preferred in every case related to the church. The Hutterites are yet another Anabaptist group, largely associated with communities in and around Yankton, South Dakota, along the Missouri River, as well as elsewhere in the Dakotas far from the Amish and Mennonite traditions’ physical locations (and the Hutterite migration may have been more recent).

The largest Amish and Mennonite communities alike are located in and around Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Elsewhere in the nation is typically either Amish or Mennonite, with Amish more prevalent in communities such as Holmes and Geauga Counties in Ohio; Adams County, Indiana, home to the Swiss Amish; Arthur, Illinois; and just a few communities in the State of Wisconsin, particularly in the Driftless Area in the southwest, west of the City of Madison. On the contrary, however, Mennonites are more common in communities with historic German and Germanic heritage in communities scattered more throughout Pennsylvania as well as the Appalachian Mountains, Blue Ridge, and Piedmont regions. Also of important note is that not all Germanics are German, and Swiss heritage is also prevalent in such plain communities (in fact, the Amish are typically more associated with Switzerland and the immediate area of modern-day Germany, as in Baden-Württemberg). Austrian settlement in the modern United States of America, however, would not occur in any significant form within early American history.