Different Strokes

It’s not uncommon for people from North Carolina to take a family trip to Pennsylvania to tour Gettysburg, visit the chocolate factory and amusement park in Hershey, and go to the area around Lancaster known as Amish country. Our family made that trip in 1995 and we still fondly remember the amazing Amish bakery we came across in the midst of Pennsylvania farmland. It is a little strange though to think that we included in our vacation plans an excursion that consisted of driving by and looking at people who are different from us.

There aren’t many Amish communities in North Carolina but a small one was settled forty or so years ago in western Yadkin County. The new arrivals established the Shiloh General Store in Hamptonville, with grocery items, baked goods, jellies and jams, and furniture, mostly created by the Amish people living in the area.

Katy and I stopped by the store for a visit after a morning in Mount Airy and were impressed by the quality of the products. Luckily for us it was lunchtime because they sell delicious sandwiches with chips for the incredibly low price (for 2025) of $6.99. All of the people in the store were Amish, most of them young, and very friendly. As we sat outside eating our inexpensive lunch, two young men in Amish garb rode by on bicycles. Again, I wondered at the spark of excitement I experienced simply seeing people who live and dress differently than I do.

The South is stereotyped as a monolithic society made up of conservative white people. Thank goodness our state is far more diverse than that! From members of an Indian tribe in Robeson County fighting for recognition, to natives of Ocracoke who still speak as their ancestors did centuries ago, to scientists at the Research Triangle worried that their important work will be defunded, to children in Charlotte heading to soccer practice, to immigrants from Mexico working construction in eastern NC, to community college students studying hard in mountain communities and, yes, to Amish people in Yadkin County, we are all North Carolina. May we always celebrate – and respect – our differences.