A study of three Amish homesteads: one in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, one in Holmes County, Ohio, and one in LaGrange County, Indiana. Stephen Scott, the author of Why Do They Dress That Way? and Plain Buggies, examines the history and cultural development of a typical Amish house and barn, one in each of the three largest Amish communities in North America. Home is the center of Amish life and most life events: birth, marriage, daily work and play, retirement, and even death happen there. The three Amish homesteads explored in these pages have been occupied by the current family of residence for at least four generations: the Stoltzfus Farm of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the Yoder-Miller Farm of Holmes County, Ohio, the Bontrager-Miller Farm of LaGrange County, Indiana. Amish Houses and Barns also includes a photographic essay of typical Amish architecture in each of the three communities. Its numerous anecdotal stories—“Barn Fire,” “The Farm Is Strip-Mined,” and “Amish Style Graffiti”—enhance the human story.
