Diann shared a couple of photos with us from a nice weekend drive here in Ohio. This is of an Old German Baptist Brethren meetinghouse on the east side of I-75 between Tipp City and New Carlisle. The Old German Baptist Brethren are heavily concentrated in this part of Ohio and can often be spotted in area supermarkets and shopping centers wearing their distinctive plain dress. These GBs should not be confused with the Old Order German Baptist Brethren. This far smaller church still uses horse-and-buggy and is clustered in a few small congregations near Covington, Ohio and Delphi, Indiana. The GBs, while considered a plain church, originated from a completely different religious movement than the Anabaptist Amish. The GBs are Pietists. One question I don't know the answer to but would be curious to know is: do the Old ORDER GBs practice home-worship like the Amish? If anyone knows, let us know! As you can see here, the GBs do worship in a building known as a meetinghouse. Thanks for sharing, Diann! I will be posting more about the GBs in the weeks and months ahead.
I live in Newton Twp. just south of Covington. The horse and buggy GB's that I know have two churches. One is east of Covington, the other west of Pleasant Hill. They alternate churches so that travel time is equal.
We live near a German Baptist Brethren area here in Indiana, so I'm looking forward to learning more about them! I've done a little research by reading The Back Road to Heaven, which covers several different plain groups.
Betsy
Just discovered that Google Reader was not flagging your posts so am late to answer this. The Old Order German Baptist Brethren have three congregations in the Bradford Ohio area. The ones at Painter's Creek and Covington have meeting houses. The congregation centered near Gettysburg/Bradford have home services rotating between the member's homes. All three congregations worship together weekly rotating the location of the meeting between the three venues.
Yes, the church you are looking for meets in a meeting house. I believe they have two in Ohio. One is near Covington, OH on Rt 41 just South of Farrington road. You can see the open shed near the back of the lot to hold the horses.
The picture you have in this post is my local meetinghouse.
Sharon, thanks for the info! So you live near New Carlisle?
I sure do. I live on Old State Route 40 near 235 which runs north to New Carlisle and south to Park Lane.