Entering America's Most Conservative Amish Town

there's the Amish and then there's the Schwarz and Trooper Amish the most extreme subgroup of them all what I'm about to do is unheard of because Outsiders are strictly forbidden Schwarz and Troopers follow much harsher rules than other Amish they are known for driving horses and Buggies instead of cars using lanterns instead of electricity and taking only one bath per week so how am I getting access my friend Lizzy left the community when she was only 19 and hasn't been back in some time she's agreed to take me to her childhood home in Holmes County Ohio which looks like a Time War back to the 18th century my goal is to show you the secret life of America's most conservative community and find out what's really going on behind closed doors we are driving through a small town called Maslin I'm on the lookout for my first horse and buggy first one to find it wins this is where you feel everything slowed down yeah this road is like calming it's so peaceful when you live in a city where everything's hustle buzzle and you come here you start to appreciate the little things in life again a horse and buggy passing us right now that was crazy there was like surrounded by cars yeah this is where I used to the road I used to go to go to church every two weeks where and buggy the homage follow a branch of Christianity called anabaptism which focuses on adult baptism and non-violence they worship God and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ as written in the Bible Services happen in homes H barns or churches involving communal prayer singing and reading scriptures the Amish movement started in the late 17th century when Swiss leader Jacob Aman emphasized traditional practices leading to a split from mainstream menonite groups Schwarz and troopers make up a tiny slice of America's 300,000 Amish they are a subset of the old order who broke away around 100 years ago to anyone living in central Ohio it's easy to spot a new order person versus a Schwarz and Trooper person but how can you tell the difference for starters there are specific rules that must be followed by all homage people they all agree to live separately from the world pursue a limited education dress in modest clothes and refuse War but other decisions about technology travel limitations and livelihoods depend on individual groups for example some am shop at Walmart and own smartphones Schwarz and troopers on the other hand are the most isolated from society they strictly maintain the early teachings and are quicker to excommunicate Rebels like Lizzy they do not advertise businesses online and they have the lowest standards of living including no electricity or Plumbing Schwarz and Troopers marry Schwarz and Troopers teenagers are allowed to court their potential future spouses which includes hugging in a bed while fully clothed for now I'm on the lookout to see if anyone will speak to me this is how you know we've entered Amish Country the horse and buggy sign hello how are you good I like your horses where I come from in Arizona we don't have horses like that okay Bish blow ahead he was kind of confused when you started talking to him that's why I did it I wanted to see his face that was so cool wow you may have noticed that Lizzy was not speaking English that's because she grew up trilingual Pennsylvanian Dutch as her first English as her second and German as her third to read the Bible before driving to lizz's childhood home we stop in town to meet the less extreme Amish groups who live out here figured there's no better way to see Amish country than get around like they do on a horse and buggy and we found a guy named Mel who has offered to take around Amish Country this is like the Mercedes of buggies compared to how I grew up how so they have a break right here we did not have the brake there we were not allowed to have this what about this light definitely didn't don't we're not allowed to have that hey Jojo let's go JoJo he kind of D they you speak D the new box of the homage oh really yeah whatson what is your Amish sect old order old order and the New Order they believe the same but they just got different rules and how long were you gone 20 years since I left you can't go home I can go home well you can that's do that shock you some do some don't yeah stopped at a beautiful Viewpoint here you can see Amish country is just Flatlands grass Hills feels just like Wisconsin or Iowa Missouri all the Midwest why do Amish men shave their mustache well I was told that you know we're supposed to be conci anes objectiv for the Army Colonels we had mustaches so I that's why we don't have really how have the Amish evolved The Internet Is Now everywhere and are people adapting to it positively or they're unhappy about what's happening some are or some that ain't or some that are starting a new community how do you feel about it if they don't like it they don't want it move out of here what is one positive thing that you hope other people could learn from your lifestyle you say our upbringing yeah you know we are taught to work I got three boys in Kentucky at least live in Kentucky they're not Amish well I'd rather they would be Amish but you know Amish is not the only way Amish is just a way of life don't matter what how big my hat is how long my beard is how big a hus I have so do you use the internet I got a tablet so you do use it do you use YouTube yeah see that's a new girl got B oh wow I like you because you're open-minded Mel's perspective as a member of the old order helps me understand what I'm getting into but things are about to get more intense as we approach lizz's Farm entering a Schwarz and trooper's home is not even rare it's unprecedented and we're about to find out what makes them so different we just pulled up to Lizzy's childhood House for everyone watching this video right now out of respect and Lizzie also told me not to film like her mom specifically and and faces of people so it's going to be tricky to film in the house but we can walk around here and maybe you can just explain some things is that okay yeah Lizzie has flowers for her mom that's so sweet of you everyone should give flowers to their mom exactly to be honest I am shaking as we pull up to lizz's childhood home when she left at 19 the church shunned her which means they cut her off entirely she hasn't talked to some of her siblings in 10 years and she still hasn't seen her mom in quite some time hey [Music] ma'am do this is this is my friend hi nice to meet you I'm Drew going to put him in there yeah that's so cute it brightens up the house [Music] yeah growing up Lizzie had 18 siblings sadly when she was only 13 her father's life was taken by a drunk driver who slammed into his horse and buggy that left her precious mother to raise all 19 kids by herself when Lizzie was 19 she had been exchanging letters with her boyfriend who belonged to another Amish community in New York state they fell in love at her sister's wedding one day he delivered a letter in her mailbox that said he had escaped and he would pick her up at 10: p.m. if she wanted to run away together Liz had only a few hours to make a decision and with 20 bucks in her pocket an eighth grade education no job and no social security number she said yes so then I climb out onto the roof my boyfriend is up on the hill flashing his flashlight I eventually climb all the way out to the edge and I'm like crouched down so finally I took a deep breath and I jumped and when you got in the car what did you do we all just like Scream Of Happiness of Happiness I'm walking around her mom's house it's so interesting it's like everything's made of wood there's no electricity there's no lights there's no power outlets it feels like life in the 1930s there's a train passing feels very Midwestern when I hear that [Music] sound wow how long does this take to make depends how fast you work well this is a one piece clothing okay gotcha and then they just cut it and then your mom made this mhm this is the sewing machine that's how you do it you sit down and so you sit down you know how to work this thing oh [Music] yeah is you little through this it's coming back too look at that line that was awesome it's pretty good she can start making you some things look at that I still got it did she pass the test yeah nice my German Precision yeah this is the washroom this is a keeping something full oh that's like a fridge mhm this is a kerosene this they use this in the summer instead of the winter so that they don't have to heat up the big stove you put these these pots on here whatever you want to cook I mean a burner it makes sense of how you cook and then they have portable ovens so in the summer if they want to bake bread or pies or whatever they literally put them on here this is the kettle mhm to heat water to do laundry this is a this is fancier than what I grew up with and then this is the washer there's a belt underneath oh yeah I see it take it right there and they probably have a a motor on the outside it's hooked up and then they run the motor you ring it through here put it in the rining top rinse it in there and then you ring it out again and then you hang it out on the cloth line to dry it sounds like a very complicated process it's pretty easy when you're used to this this right here is um the top they used to take bath you don't take showers here M there's no showers every Saturday night only once a week mhm get water heat up the water put hot water water in here put cold water in there take a bath why only once a week think about the process every Saturday you and your 18 siblings would take a bath here like one after another after another yeah all the younger ones would use like the same you know water whatever whatever but then um all the older kids would have their own water like we wouldn't share water we're about to check out the bathroom situation here okay it's not a bathroom oh it's an our house there's no bathroom cuz you can't take a bath in it okay let's see the bathroom H sorry let's see the ouse the ous I've seen much worse this is actually pretty fancy when I was growing up we had to use newspaper we didn't have toilet paper so you have to they have toilet paper now we they have toilet paper now as you can see you use like actual newspaper we had to cut up newspaper and use a newspaper we did not have isn't that like rough on your skin of course but I imagine with 19 kids it did not smell very good in here no this is actually not bad compared to what I have smelled but there's no light in here so what if it's 2: in the morning and you choose the bathroom flashlight here's the thing that I think that the the modern world can learn from the Amish is that we're very self-sufficient and very creative and sustainable I love that like we we're losing Touch of all those things like look how sustainable this is like they're not relying on any electricity they're not relying on anything necessarily modern if electricity goes out they're not doomed nothing's imported no everything's like consumed here yep they can be their own and that's what modern society has lost its that is one of the coolest lessons I think from this video they are living peacefully and they're not harming the environment in all reality they are helping the environment they're planting 500 onion plants that's awesome this is just for green onions what' you say they're they're planting it before it rain oh before it rains yeah oh that smells smells good over here I like she want something to eat the Stow system is so cool cool like it works you like you don't need electricity to cook so what kind of butter is that apple butter I don't even know what apple butter is but it sounds good wo I taste cinnamon and apples and it's like a jam kind of it's a German explosion in your mouth and the bread is so good it's like warm and gooey bread M it's not really butter it's more Jam it's a jam it's not it's called apple butter cuz it's apples my God s this this bread though the bread best bread I always tell people this the best bread you'll ever have in your life freshly baked warm bread look at this really cool pump this is old fashioned oh for water for water this this is rain water you don't drink this one is it for washing stuff yeah for washing whatever it's really dark in what is this basement this is the Sellar basement wo it's cold down here it's cold down here so you come down here to cool now this is this is the real deal right here look at this W this is can all the c meat that's sealed this is ground probably ground beef this is chicken and it's it's cold like you feel it it's really cold it's really cold yeah so people get really scared about like you can't can and preserve meat like that and keep it they've been doing it for hundreds of years the way that you do it is you put it in the jar you put the this LD on with the Rings cover it all with water and you have it uh boiling for like 3 hours wow that preserves the meat that's it seals the meat you get it out let it cool it can last like years like this or usually usually um every year they renew it so it'll wo look behind you holy crap I didn't even see this um that's grape juice that's probably app C cool down that's what we have to sell for yep yeah you like coffee I like coffee you you want to try the Hat on is it disrespectful can I try it on oh yeah you can is this yours yeah it's mine ooh see even with the red I just got to shave my mustache and then I he's never been around any of the like Amish stuff a lot of the stresses and anxieties that we have it seems like you guys don't have those stresses here oh we have stress too it's just a different kind of stress you guys sell these hats you can have that no no no I'm I'm going to take your hat I I'll just get another one no I'm not going to take your hat bro that one is old already anyways how old are you I'm 36 you're 36 I thought you were going to say 25 yeah have you ever left Ohio yeah I left the I was all the way out in Colorado I went with my brother Mard Colorado would actually came off the train what is it like to kind of see other states for you or different oh I like to see it I mean I it was nice in Colorado like just to see it I mean I don't really for me I wouldn't really be interested in moving out there but what do you enjoy most about the Amish Lifestyle the way I was raced I guess anytime really like I mean the big cities and people put it stress you out I like I like Mar just be myself out I guess and you never once had a desire to use the Internet or anything no I never did oh my whole job is on the internet like I go around the world and tell stories about different cultures and communities and then I document it and I share those videos with people on YouTube do you know what YouTube is well I just I know you have YouTube I don't really know what to do on YouTube it's just like video content basically I can travel around the world and interview people with big cameras and then I I put put them on YouTube and then people watch them they comment and they they engage with it and they say wow cool video and then the more views I get the more money I can make because like there are advertisements played on the videos I see and that's how I make a living cool right yeah anyways good luck in your farming yeah I'll try my best now we are heading upstairs to lizz's bedroom where she hasn't stepped foot in years it smells the same oh how does it feel to be in here I honestly I have no words like it's just all the things are flooding back you've gone through so many changes whereas they have it that must be even crazier for you I chose to leave yeah they didn't yeah the choice so that was my choice I Now understand I know two sites the modern world and the non modern world they know one site they have right to their feelings and their thoughts and how they feel about it and so do I but we're friends like we we're not as your mom said we're friends we're friends we're friends I had lot many many dreams in this room about leaving and I remember literally I was standing at this window putting my dress and outfit on for church and I had gotten in trouble for putting a pen on the wrong way I'm staring out the window and I I said to myself if I'm going to go to hell for putting a pin on wrong in my dress I'm going to go to hell driving a car wow this is the window you this is the window I was meant to be here for the time that I was but I was never meant to be here for the rest of my life I also believe that some people in the community have a bigger calling and maybe they were meant to leave but it's the strength of the community and the culture and the relationships of the family and the church that keeps them here number one number two is the fear of the church were you able to be open and share these feelings with your siblings or you were just like internally I had to internalize it I left a note that I was leaving and sometimes when I look back at like what that note says I I literally go how did I even know to write that because I said this has nothing to do with anybody else here this is me but I have to go have you talked to your mom about that note ever but she got it for sure oh yeah is this what you imagine the outside world would be no all I know is when I when I left I 1,000% knew it was where I was supposed to go but I had no idea what my life was going to look like or what it was going to lead to because I knew so little of the world like if I'm standing here and I just like look at the barn I look at the railroad tracks I remember I I look at like where my life is now and it's just there was a time in my life where I didn't respect this and I have so much respect for this now without this I wouldn't be who I am today I have this [Music] yeah was really special experience at Lizzy's mom's house everything's so traditional here it's kind of reminds me of the menites in Wisconsin but this one is it's different they're just more traditional more old school so what is this this is the uh business right now it's pretty empty it's not SE season for vegetables but look homemade butter you cannot get butter any better than this oh my God best eggs you'll ever have $2 so I have to tell you something M so right before I left mhm and walked out my mom was like you guys can just take those I was like no I said no he'll pay for it she doesn't want to take money from me even if it's your mom mhm is it because you left the community or because because I'm a Shan I was a member of the church I got baptized into a church became a member and when you leave you Shan but I'm not H so I can so you can pay for it but she won't take your money not mine she said well that's just the just just the way it is and let's just be friends she goes let's just honor it and let's just be friends like let's just leave it like I have to honor it and follow it because of the church but I want to be friends with you so like let's just and I was like no no no that's fine I'm good with that she basically she's saying like I want to be friends and want to keep the peace she seems to not mind that you're you've left she she doesn't care that I left but she's prettyy traditional last year when I went through uh divorce like they don't do divorce like they don't believe in it or whatever I didn't I honestly didn't know like how she was going to respond to it and she was like totally cool I thought it was interesting when we first walked in there wasn't a moment of like hey how have you been she was just like yep I'm cooking the I was like just straight business she's like yep what's going on I'm quilting I'm cooking I I said what are you doing she's like you can see what I'm doing that's literally what she said she's sarcastic she so but if I give her money she'll take it yeah she doesn't want to ask you questions she's not curious about your life and sometimes she asks a couple questions but I think the comprehension of like my life is so vast there's no like correlation like people ask me that about my twin where they're like I hope you get to see your twin or what do you to talk about or do you write her letters and I'm like I don't write her letters because our lives are so incredibly different I don't even know what to say to them do you think your mom knows what YouTube is no [Music] [Laughter] so we were never allowed to have ice house I wonder how and why it changed from when you were make their own rules make their own rules oh my God it's literally ice you did not have this growing up no blocks of ice like huge pieces of ice so now they don't have to go to the neighbors to uh put their ice cream in the neighbors freezer so that's supposed to last all summer yeah that's amazing this is where we used to put up hay and straw and do thrashing did you dress like them like when you were younger yes the way that they're dressed that's how I dressed and now look at you it's a little different so this is the the building that we used to what they call the the Milling is this building the same when you were growing up mhm this is the corn so we husk the corn all by hand W it's like a slide of corn they feed the corn to the pigs and then they use it to make their feed it's a little different this is what we use for light this opens right here mhm and that's where you put the kerosene what is kerosene fluid flammable fluid flamable fluid yes here there's a wig that goes down into the kerosine and so you light up the the wig as long as there's kerosine in there it'll light up like the whole night it'll stay mhm and if you don't have that fluid it doesn't work no you don't you definitely don't want to use gas that's gas is more flammable than the kerosene so kerosene is the safe one this is quite different cuz they don't milk cows for uh money anymore but this used to be all cow stalls like the ones over here you milked in here 15 cows and wow this is a Cow Milking stool this is what you sit by the cow and you sit down and you Milk The Cow we in the horse barn right now these are all there's another horse over here family horses there's a lot you guys have a lot of horses yeah they have to what is the significant role of horses for Amish people horse and buggy and then for farming anytime that they have to go plow the fields do the seating any kind of farming that typical other Farmers would use tractors for they use the horses for this just a sheep a lot of sheep lots of sheep so this used to be where all the cows would live oh that scared the out of me I thought it was a person it smells interesting in here yeah it does maybe because there's horses right here eating no not feeling it not feeling it this is the buggy they're pretty big this is where you sit this is a this is the brake so this is attached to this right here so when you go downhill you have to put the brake on to help the horse then there's the blankets that they cover up with this is where the lantern goes this Lantern is for buggies and you have the light there and you turn it around so it's like a stop light in a car mhm a reflector yeah is that for night only or always night only yeah vastly different from the other order of Amish the reflective tape on the back of these buggies is a Hot Topic they ride without the yellow slow moving signs which all other Amish use since they are driving on federal roads there have been many accidents like what happened to lizz's father but the tape is how local Ohioans can spot the difference between shorts and groupers and other subgroups if you come back here in 50 more years probably going to look the same it's going to look the same pretty much might be a little a little different like like the toilet paper you know it's different the freezer the Ice House freezer thing that's that's different but they won't be driving cars in 50 years is it a growing population or a shrinking population well they do have lots of kids true so actually but as the world progresses they more than might be like I'm doing something well then there's people that leave obviously that like takes away from the right total count what is this place so this is where I went to school now unfortunately we can't see the schoolhouse anymore cuz they tore it down how does the school system work in the Amish community we we go first through 8th grade only only M then we graduate 8th grade we get promoted to housework recently looked at my 8th grade graduation card and it said promoted to housew workk oh my God and you probably didn't even learn that many things no we learned uh English writing reading German spelling and some vocabulary so learning how to speak in different languages and then after eighth grade then I became a maid and if you if I stayed in the community I eventually would have gotten married and had lots of babies and I was like I'm out we're not doing that this is part of what shaped me this is part of my past but it also like taught me so much and there's so many valuable things that I learned hey buddy hey hey are you from this house yeah how how many years have you lived here since 76 so she she went to the Amish school here 76 yeah wow she went to the Amish school here yeah I used to go to school there what was cool about is is you guys used to sing your lessons instead of talking like they do in regular school they you would sing We would sing yes you're obviously not Amish but you live around Amish people what what is it like to be how are they as people as Neighbors well they talk to me a little bit but they pretty well keep themselves my biggest fallacy is that oh he's on me so he's a carpenter you know it's like saying you know I I'm Welsh so I'm this or that or anything else you know but they're basically they're good they're good people they take care of things unless you've lived it no one can fully understand what it's like to grow up Amish I'm happy to meet other members of the community who live alongside them but there's something sad about the schoolhouse only existing in lizz's memory I didn't know what to expect going through all of the memories I mean it's extremely nostalgic like every time I come back here I I feel things that I haven't felt in a while so it reminds me of where I came from and why I am who I am today I'm so happy that we did this because it was an absolutely phenomenal experience and your mom is a rock star and I hope that people can feel that in the scene in your house yeah well the rainstorm has approached and I just dropped Lizzie off at her sister's house and I got to say that was one of the most interesting experiences I've ever had in America I just think it's so cool that the USA is so big and there's so many different countries and cultures and religions and beliefs and the Amish is just one of them they're friendly people they're harmless people and that's kind of why I wanted to come learn about this culture because I want to share with you the real story of Amish especially hearing it from Lizzy's point of view someone who grew up there and has left it's been very very special thank you so much for watching this video I hope you learned a thing or two about one of America's most interesting communities and I'll see you see you guys in the next video peace [Music]

Channel: Drew Binsky

Views: 365,879

Keywords: drew binsky, drew binsky vlog, drew binsky travel, travel, amish, drew binsky amish, amish drew binsky, lizzie amish, lizzie ens, Swartzentruber, swartzentruber amish dress, swartzentruber amish dating, amish ohio, amish documentary, amish people, cult, american cults today, conservative, religion, religious, holmes county ohio, lancaster pennsylvania, old order amish, old order amish singing, mennonite, cults, drew binsky america, drew binsky ohio, midwest, american people, cultures

Id: 3FtOsDzTlNU

Length: 28min 49sec (1729 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 14 2024