By Kevin Williams
The area around Frankfort Ohio (generally south and west of the town) is home to about 16 Old Order Mennonite families. The community formed 10 years ago as a"daughter settlement" of the much larger Old Order Mennonite community (Groffdale Conference) outside of Dayton, Virginia. The Mennonites outside of Frankfort are generally farmers and came here because of affordable land prices.
This is an area where the pancake flat fields of the rest of Ohio butt up against the farthest west hills of Appalachia. So there is a rolling beauty to the landscape of this community.
The pictures here are from the Mennonite church, or rather what they refer to as a meetinghouse. This is one of the biggest differences between the horse and buggy Mennonites and the Amish, the Amish worship in their homes, while Mennonites do not. The Mennonites here do rely on horse and buggy for transport, but they do use tractors when farming and electricity is permitted in the home. Other difference: Unlike Amish men who generally wear beards, OOM men do not. Here are some scenes from their church on Parrett Road.
A long hitching post sits outside the church for horses to be tied. With only 16 families in the church, this is plenty big enough.
The front of the meetinghouse shows the standard separate entrances for males and females that most Mennonite meetinghouses still use.
A source of tap water is on site to give horses if the day is extra hot.
I did ask permission to come to the property and take photos, explore, etc and was granted permission. The church was shuttered since it was a weekday but there was this one lone shutter that was open. I really wanted to peek in the window and maybe even get a photo, but, my luck it was the only window that was above a deep stairwell. Underneath that window is a set of stairs that goes to a basement multi-purpose room. I climbed the railing and tried to dangle myself in front of the window, but it was near impossible to get to...so I gave up..
The church sits a top a bluff overlooking surrounding Mennonite farms. The view is the very definition of bucolic...
And, of course, the outhouses. Well, are they in the technical sense? This community does allow indoor plumbing, so you'd think there'd just be restrooms inside the church. But there are not there are separate outbuildings for men and women, like this one. Still, I wonder if maybe these have flush toilets and faucets? It'd just seem strange to have flush toilets and home but outhouses for the church. Inquiring minds want to know...
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