Mennonites in Maryland

Last updated

The Mennonites in Maryland maintain a small population dating back over a century. The majority of Maryland's Mennonites live in Southern Maryland or on the Eastern Shore, while smaller Mennonite communities exist in Grantsville, Baltimore, Howard County, and elsewhere scattered throughout the state.

Contents

Mennonite communities

Central Maryland

Baltimore

Hampden Mennonite Church in Baltimore, November 2017. Hampden Mennonite Church, 1234 W. 36th Street, Baltimore, MD 21211 (24712134408).jpg
Hampden Mennonite Church in Baltimore, November 2017.

While Mennonites in Maryland have traditionally lived in rural areas, an increasing number are relocating to urban areas such as Baltimore. Three Mennonite congregations existed in Baltimore in 2015, including Wilkens Avenue Mennonite Church in Southwest Baltimore, North Baltimore Mennonite Church in Roland Park, and Hampden Mennonite Church in Hampden. Hampden Mennonite Church also maintains the Hampden Christian School; both the church and school are located on West 36th Street in the building formerly occupied by Trinity Reformed Church. [1]

Old Order Mennonites from rural Pennsylvania and African-American horsemen in West Baltimore have come together to preserve the city's arabber tradition. Arabbers are a mercant tradition handed down over generations of African-American families. Baltimore's arabbers maintain three horse stables, while Mennonites from Pennsylvania Dutch Country provide assistance. The leader of Baltimore's Arabber Preservation Society, Daniel Van Allen, has described the relationship as "the meeting of two subcultures...They're not involved with the same big-budget, big-money economy that the modern people are." The arabbers' horses are taken to New Holland, Pennsylvania to be shod. [2]

Ellicott City

New Life Mennonite Church (formerly Maple Grove Mennonite and First Mennonite Church of Columbia) in Ellicott City maintains a community garden called "Seeds of Life". [3]

Southern Maryland Dutch Country

There is an Old Order Mennonite community in Loveville. The Mennonites of Loveville maintain a farmers' market/produce auction, as well as craft shops and an annual quilt auction. In nearby the nearby communities of Mechanicsville and Charlotte Hall, there is also an Amish community. The Old Order Mennonites share certain similarities with the Amish, such as use of the horse and buggy. In recent years, increasing development has threatened the Amish and Mennonite communities of Southern Maryland. [4] [5] [6]

In the late 1990s, over 100 Mennonite families lived in Southern Maryland. [7]

Western Maryland

The town of Grantsville is home to a small Mennonite and Amish settlement known as Tomlinson's or Little Crossing, located along Braddock Road. [8]

By 1888, four Mennonite congregations existed in Washington County; Reiff Mennonite Church, Stouffer Mennonite Church, Clear Spring Mennonite Church, and Miller Mennonite Church. [9]

Alta Schrock, a Mennonite community activist and biology professor who was the first American Mennonite woman to earn a Ph.D., founded the Spruce Forest Artisan Village in Garrett County, Maryland. [10]

List of Mennonite churches in Maryland

Notable Mennonites from Maryland

Schrock leading the Audubon Club at Goshen College Audubon Club, Goshen College (7650652148).jpg
Schrock leading the Audubon Club at Goshen College

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garrett County, Maryland</span> County in Maryland, United States

Garrett County is the westernmost county of the U.S. state of Maryland completely within the Appalachian Mountains. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,806, making it the third-least populous county in Maryland. Its county seat is Oakland. The county was named for John Work Garrett (1820–1884), president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Created from Allegany County in 1872, it was the last county to be formed in the state. The county is part of the Western Maryland region of the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grantsville, Maryland</span> Town in Maryland, United States

Grantsville is a town in the northern part of Garrett County, Maryland, United States, near the Pennsylvania border. The population was 968 as of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oldtown, Maryland</span> Census-designated place in Maryland, United States

Oldtown is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, along the North Branch Potomac River. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 86.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berlin, Holmes County, Ohio</span> Census-designated place in Ohio, United States

Berlin is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in central Berlin Township, Holmes County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 1,447. Located in Ohio's Amish Country, the village is part of a large regional tourism industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Lowell Stoltzfus</span> American politician

James Lowell Stoltzfus is a former Republican state senator, having represented Maryland's 38th Legislative District. He was also a member of the Maryland House of Delegates for District 38.

Weavertown Amish Mennonite Church is a Beachy Amish Mennonite congregation located in the village of Weavertown, between the somewhat larger villages of Bird-in-Hand and Intercourse in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Amish Mennonites came into existence through reform movements among North American Amish mainly between 1862 and 1878. These Amish moved away from the old Amish traditions and drew near to the Mennonites, becoming Mennonites of Amish origin. Over the decades, most Amish Mennonites groups removed the word "Amish" from the name of their congregations or merged with Mennonite groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinecraft, Florida</span> Census-designated place in Florida

Pinecraft is a census-designated place located in Sarasota County. The population was 486 at the 2020 census. It is part of the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The neighborhood is a popular winter vacation spot for many North American Amish and Mennonites, particularly from Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania.

John A. Hostetler was an American author, educator, and scholar of Amish and Hutterite societies. Some of his works are still in print.

The Beachy Amish Mennonites, also known as the Beachy Amish or Beachy Mennonites, are a Conservative Anabaptist tradition of Christianity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland Route 495</span> State highway in Maryland, United States

Maryland Route 495 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known for most of its length as Bittinger Road, the state highway runs 23.02 miles (37.05 km) from MD 135 in Altamont north to U.S. Route 40 Alternate in Grantsville. MD 495 passes through rural areas of central Garrett County, connecting Bittinger with the northern and southern parts of the county. The state highway also provides an alternate route to US 219 between Interstate 68 (I-68) and resorts around Deep Creek Lake. MD 495 was constructed from both ends starting in the mid-1930s. By the late 1940s, the state highway was complete except for a 5 miles (8.0 km) gap south of Bittinger; this gap was filled in the mid-1950s. The southern terminus of MD 495 was extended to Altamont in 1956.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amish</span> Group of traditionalist Christian church fellowships

The Amish, formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss and Alsatian origins. As they maintain a degree of separation from surrounding populations, and hold their faith in common, the Amish have been described by certain scholars as an ethnoreligious group, combining features of an ethnicity and a Christian denomination. The Amish are closely related to Old Order Mennonites and Conservative Mennonites, denominations that are also a part of Anabaptist Christianity. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, Christian pacifism, and slowness to adopt many conveniences of modern technology, with a view neither to interrupt family time, nor replace face-to-face conversations whenever possible, and a view to maintain self-sufficiency. The Amish value rural life, manual labor, humility and Gelassenheit.

Conservative Mennonites include numerous Conservative Anabaptist groups that identify with the theologically conservative element among Mennonite Anabaptist Christian fellowships, but who are not Old Order groups or mainline denominations.

The Orthodox Mennonites, also called Wellesley Orthodox Mennonites and Huron Orthodox Mennonites, are two groups of traditional Old Order Mennonites in Canada and the US with about 650 baptized members. Even though plain to a very high degree and primitivist concerning technology, they are rather intentionalist minded than ultra traditional. Since 1999 they were joined by several other Old Order Mennonite communities.

Over the years, as Amish churches have divided many times over doctrinal disputes, subgroups have developed. The "Old Order Amish", a conservative faction that withdrew in the 1860s from fellowship with the wider body of Amish, are those that have most emphasized traditional practices and beliefs. There are many different subgroups of Amish with most belonging, in ascending order of conservatism, to the Beachy Amish, New Order, Old Order, or Swartzentruber Amish groups.

The Noah Hoover Mennonites, called "Old Order Mennonite Church (Hoover)" by the Mennonite World Conference, and sometimes called "Scottsville Mennonites”, are a group of very plain Old Order Mennonites that originally came from the Stauffer Mennonites and later merged with several other groups. Today it is seen as an independent branch of Old Order Mennonites. The group differs from other Old Order Mennonites by having settlements outside the US and Canada and by attracting new members from other groups on a larger scale. They have more restrictions on modern technology than all other Old Order Mennonite groups. They are rather intentionalist minded than ultra traditional.

Charity Ministries, also called Charity Christian Fellowship, is a Conservative Anabaptist network of churches that was formed in 1982 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Alta Elizabeth Schrock was an American biology professor and community activist in Western Maryland who was the first Mennonite woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amish in Maryland</span>

The Amish in Maryland maintain a small but well-established population. There have been four Amish communities in the history of Maryland, three of which currently exist. The three Amish communities of Maryland are located in Western Maryland, Southern Maryland, and on the Eastern Shore. Historically, an Amish community also existed in rural Baltimore County, but had disappeared by the 1950s. The Amish communities of Maryland are all inhabited by the descendants of Amish migrants from Pennsylvania. In 2018, Maryland had an Amish population of around 1,575 people.

References

  1. ↑ "For Mennonites, Christmas still a matter of simple gifts". The Baltimore Sun . Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  2. ↑ "How Mennonite farmers are helping to keep Baltimore's arabber tradition alive". The Baltimore Sun . Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  3. ↑ "As community gardens take root, Howard County gardeners search for space". The Baltimore Sun . Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  4. ↑ "Maryland Amish". Amish America. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  5. ↑ "Southern Maryland Dutch Country". WETA. November 2012. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  6. ↑ "The Amish of Mechanicsville, Maryland". Amish America. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  7. ↑ "MENNONITES REBUILDING FAMILY'S BURNED HOME". The Washington Post . Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  8. ↑ "U.S. 40 in Grantsville, Md., Garrett County [Pictures]". The Baltimore Sun . Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  9. ↑ Cassel, Daniel Kolb (1888). History of the Mennonites. Philadelphia: D.K. Cassel. p. 171. ISBN   0524049548.
  10. ↑ Deardorff, Robert (March 15, 1964). "JUST PLAIN FOLKS; Mountain Town in Western Maryland Is Showplace for Local Artisans". The New York Times. p. XX21. In an effort to help these people support themselves, and to keep their skills from dying out, a local woman, Dr. Alta Schrock, gave up a university teaching job a few years ago, went into the mountains to seek out the craftsmen and organized the Penn Alps center. This since has grown into one of the most unusual tourist attractions in Maryland.
  11. ↑ "The Religion of JC Chasez, singer with 'N Sync". Adherents.com. January 9, 2001. Archived from the original on February 11, 2006. Retrieved 2021-02-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  12. ↑ "Dr. Alta Elizabeth Schrock". Salisbury, Pennsylvania Historical Web Site. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  13. ↑ "J. Lowell Stoltzfus brings to Annapolis a Mennonite devotion to peace, but recent events are helping to sharpen his aggressiveness". The Baltimore Sun . Retrieved 2021-02-03.

Biography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.