When the winter hits hard in Ohio and Indiana, between fall harvests and spring plantings,
Amish folk think of Pinecraft,
Florida, and the enterprising
people of the Pioneer Trails bus line are happy for it. They run up to six tour buses a week out of Holmes County’s
Amish country, plus a bus or two from Indiana
and Pennsylvania, heading down to the eastern
suburbs of Sarasota,
where Pinecraft straddles Bahia
Vista Boulevard, at the intersection with Beneva.
The earth there is not fit for farming, being mostly sun-baked sand and
crushed shells, but the Amish people in Pinecraft don’t do any farming ,
anyway. It isn’t a rural community. They have, instead, a cluster of retirement
bungalows, vacation cottages, single-wide trailers, and tiny houses, and the
whole point of going there is to get away from farming for a spell, and enjoy
the warm weather, the beaches, and the southern hospitality of relatives and
neighbors who keep a bed or two for tourists who need to get away from the cold
weather.
The post office in Pinecraft is a squat little building with outside
mailboxes for the tourists, and the church – the Mennonite Tourist
Church – acknowledges the
transient nature of the population. On
Bahia Vista, there are a couple of Amish restaurants and a produce market, a
quilt shop, a gift shop, and a furniture store, but other than that, Pinecraft
doesn’t look Amish at all. At least it
doesn’t look like our typical Ohio Amish farm country. And if you travel through there too fast,
maybe racing to get out to the beaches, you might miss it altogether. You might miss the white-bearded Amish men
riding around on bicycles and tricycles, or miss that little Mennonite lady
running her electric cart along the narrow streets between the trailers. Besides, in Sarasota,
the average person doesn’t think of Ohio
farm country at all, and it is no wonder that most people travel through here
and completely miss the little Amish community sitting right in the middle of
all the rest of this sun-drenched beach country.
But one thing you shouldn’t miss is the arrival of one of the Pioneer
Trails buses at the Mennonite church.
If you get a schedule of departures and arrivals at Yoder’s restaurant,
you can join all the fun on the parking lot, just when the bus from Ohio shows up. All the locals gather there to meet the bus,
and to see who has made the trip this week – maybe relatives, maybe friends, or
maybe just neighbors from Holmes
County. (Surprise, you have house guests!) You can also get your copy of the latest
Sugarcreek Budget Amish newspaper, and you can pick up whatever packages a
friend has shipped down to you from home.
When the bus unloads, there’s a quick little old-home reunion right
there on the parking lot of the church, and then just as quickly as it takes to
say hello, everyone has gone back home with their newest visitors. Quickly, now, let’s get out of the sun.
If you visit Pinecraft in Sarasota,
you’ll recognize the Amish attire. If
you know what to look for, you’ll also recognize the fine, authentic Amish
cooking at Yoder’s Restaurant. You may
even spot the Guggisberg Baby Swiss cheese that they sell in the shops.
But most people don’t go to Sarasota
to see the Amish. That’s what Ohio is for. We go there, instead, for the white sand
beaches, the sparkling marinas, and the palm trees swaying on the breezes, all
set against a deep blue sky. But, you
see, that’s why the Amish go there, too.
Maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll notice an Amish family at the beach out on
Lido Key. It’s quite a sight to see.
Hard to imagine, you say? Not once
you’ve been to Pinecraft.Labels: Amish, Amish Culture, Amish-Country Mysteries, Holmes County, P. L. Gaus