Sunday Gathering - Lawrence County, PA
by Susan Rissi Tregoning
Title
Sunday Gathering - Lawrence County, PA
Artist
Susan Rissi Tregoning
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
A large gathering of brown-capped Amish buggies can be seen in the distance parked beside a barn on an Amish farm in New Wilmington, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania.
To find a large gathering of buggies like this on a Sunday morning means that I found one of the Amish family homes responsible for hosting the bi-weekly church service. These buggies are the late arrivals or those that traveled the farthest since they had to park by the road.
The Amish gather to worship every other Sunday and do not have a physical church building. Instead, the congregation takes turns hosting worship services in their homes. That family is also responsible for preparing a meal for the gathering.
Church districts usually consist of 25 to 35 families, taking into consideration the distance each family must travel by horse and buggy to the farthest home in the district. When the district reaches approximately 40 families, they create another district since the congregation becomes too large to gather in the smallest house or outbuildings in the district.
The small villages of New Wilmington and Volant, located approximately 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, are the state's second-largest Old Order Amish sect settling here in 1847. Old Order means they still drive horses and buggies, wear plain clothing, and speak Pennsylvania Dutch and High German. In this area of Pennsylvania, they are sometimes called the "Byler Amish" since Byler is the most common last name in this community. The brown-capped buggy color is unique to the Lawrence County Amish.
Copyright 2023 Susan Rissi Tregoning
Uploaded
April 25th, 2023
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