Amish Women at Marina Jack, Sarasota

Amish culture is probably one of the last things you’d associate with this picture.  It’s Marina Jack’s yacht club, in the city harbor at downtown Sarasota.  You can walk along the docks there, in a city park that juts out into Sarasota Bay, and see all the fine boats in harbor.  My wife Madonna and I were enjoying an afternoon there in April, looking at the boats and the city sculptures that line the pathways.  On one of the park benches, facing the view depicted here in the photograph, there were six young Amish women, some sitting with their matron, others standing beside the bench, apparently doing the same thing we were doing – dreaming about life aboard those yachts.  They had come over on the SCAT bus from Pinecraft, the Amish vacation community in the eastern suburbs of Sarasota, and they were there for the sights.  Just like anyone would be. 

I asked if they were from Pennsylvania or Ohio, and I got the ready answer, “Ohio.”  Then I asked if they were from Holmes County, and I got a friendly “yes” from all of them.  My wife said we were from Wooster, and several of the girls piped up: “Fredericksburg!” - just a few miles south of us.  We talked for a while about the boats and the weather, and I eventually asked if they had come down on one of the tour buses run by Pioneer Trails each week from Holmes County.  All of the girls smiled, and one of them said, “No.  We flew down.  Only gonna be here a week.”

So, what do you think of that?  Pinecraft is a good vacation spot for Amish people in winter, and many Holmes County folk go down for a week.  I used to think it was the buses that took them there, but now I know it’s airplanes, too.  They bunk in with friends or family, and go see the boats in the harbor.  Or they go to the beach.  It’s a little bit surprising, until you’ve seen Amish people in Sarasota a few times, but then you realize it’s not so surprising, after all.  Anybody would do it – get away to someplace warm. 

For the Amish, the best winter place is Pinecraft, Sarasota.  It’s warm there, and the harbor is one of the best in the country.  So are the beaches.  We go down for the weather, and Amish people do, too.  If you see them there someday, ask if they’re from Holmes County.  It’s a good ice-breaker, and chances are you’ll get a friendly reply.

Amish Women at Lido Beach

What would you do at one of the finest beaches in America?  Play in the surf?  Splash one another?  Look for shells?  That’s what these five Amish women were doing in the middle of April on Lido Beach, in Sarasota.  They had taken the city bus from Pinecraft, the Amish vacation settlement in the eastern suburbs, and we found them splashing in the surf with their shoes off. 

Are you surprised?  Maybe you didn’t know about the Amish taking winter vacations in Florida.  The cottages and trailers where they stay are owned by family and friends, and when they get down into that warm weather, like anyone else, Amish people want to go to the beach.  I write about this sort of thing in my seventh Amish-Country Mystery, Harmless as Doves, due out as a Plume trade paperback on June 26, 2012.  This year we were back in Sarasota for location research for the eighth story, The Names of Our Tears (Plume, 2013), which also is set partly in the little Pinecraft community. 

We saw these women wading to their knees, splashing each other in the surf, looking for shells, and laughing about the whole ocean experience.  An older Amish man with a large plastic bag sat on the sand near them, but well back from the surf, and when it got cooler that evening, he handed out sweaters and shawls. 

It reminds you that Amish are people, too.  If I have accomplished anything with my novels, I hope it is to dispel the stern stereotypes that so many Americans hold about Amish folk.  I think this picture goes a long way toward dispelling those stereotypes, too.  The hems of those dresses were all wet by sunset, and that’s nothing if it isn’t just plain fun.