Menno-Hof Shipshewana, Indiana
Have you ever wondered
how your Mennonite and/or Amish ancestors lived and worshiped? I was in a
Mennonite family history phase when I decided I wanted to take a long weekend
in Shipshewana, an Amish area about an hour from my home.
One of the attractions in Shipshewana is Menno-Hof. The word "Menno" is in tribute to Menno
Simons, an early anabaptist leader. "Hof "is the German word for
homestead.
The Menno-Hof site seeks
to portray accurate information about the Mennonites and Amish. Menno-Hof tells the historical story by using movies,
displays, stories, quizzes, charts, audiotapes, and tours. It is an
interactive, interesting, living history site.
The first stop,
"Good Fences Make Good Community", introduces visitors to the
Anabaptists. Menno-Hof uses the anabaptist term to describe the Mennonites,
Amish, and Hutterites whose movement began during the Reformation in the
1500's, in Europe. It is a good introduction to the anabaptists.
Menno-Hof is laid out so
that you follow the building through twenty-four areas, each area with its own
story to tell. I will highlight a few of these areas, but if you go don't skip
any, they all are interesting.
The Anabaptist movement began in Zurich, Switzerland in
1525. Menno-Hof's courtyard stop acknowledges this beginning.
A dungeon, like the one where Anabaptists were imprisoned, tortured, and executed, is replicated. Anabaptists were persecuted for wanting to have a church free from state control. Anabaptists was the first church in over one hundred years to call for and practice the separation of church and state.
The Harbor tells the
story of emigration from Switzerland. Anabaptists travelled to places
throughout Europe. Also, during this stop on the self-guided tour visitors are
told why the Anabaptists divided into Mennonites, Hutterites, and Amish.
The Harbormaster’s Shack, Sailing Ship, and Coming to
America explores the migration to America by the Anabaptists. William Penn
invited them to Pennsylvania, around 1683. It wasn't until 1841 that the
anabaptists settled in Indiana. Other migrations included Russian Mennonites to
America and Canada West.
Are you confused about
what is Mennonite, Amish, and Hutterite? A separate display at Menno-Hof charts
the similarities and differences. Anabaptists refers to all three at Menno-Hof.
Mennonites is the name that first became attached to anabaptists. The Amish,
under Jacob Amman, left the Mennonite group around 1693 because they felt the
Mennonites were becoming too much like the world around them. The Hutterites
are named after Jacob Hutter. They organized in Moravia (the Czech Republic).
Other displays include a
print shop, story corner, song samples, children's play area meetinghouse, and
residence set-up. Time is spent learning about the community and its people
and their beliefs.
Toward the end of the
tour is the "Tornado Theater" where one can experience the wind power
of a tornado and learn about how Mennonite and Amish crews helped with the cleanup
of natural disasters.
All and all I found
Menno-Hof to be a very, educational experience. Here are a few things I learned
at Menno-Hof.
- the Rhine River was the way many emigrants traveled to get a ship to America
- Mennonites and Amish were drawn to Indiana by the size of the trees and the friendliness of the people
- Conestoga wagons, prairie schooners, and horse and buggy were modes of travel from the East to Indiana
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