Pennsylvania Amish Autumn Afternoon

by Janice Pariza

Title

Pennsylvania Amish Autumn Afternoon

Artist

Janice Pariza

Medium

Photograph - Photography Art

Description

An Amish buggy is parked at home on a sunny afternoon in Volant, Pennsylvania.
I love Autumn, especially in PA! The Amish laundry lines and half curtains in the windows are everywhere in sunny October.
The land on which the borough of Volant currently sits on was bought from the Native Americans in 1784. The first gristmill was built on Neshannock Creek in 1806, upstream from the current site. It was abandoned after a few years, and a new mill was built in 1812 at its current location.

In 1847 an Amish settlement was established between New Wilmington and Volant. In 1868, J.P. Locke purchased the mill and 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land and began laying out a settlement of 30 lots, which he called Lockeville. With the help of the railroad, his attempts to create a settlement were successful. Lockeville began to grow and prosper, and in June 1893 the settlement changed its name to Volant and was incorporated as a self-governing unit.

The first store was built in 1877 by John and William Graham. By the turn of the 20th century the village was a bustling commercial community. Thanks to the New Castle-Franklin railroad Volant became a popular shopping district. The mill remained the nucleus of the town. Because of Volant's rural location there was a livery stable, two harness shops, a blacksmith and a veterinarian, as well as some shops. In addition, there was a college which attracted students from the surrounding communities. As the town progressed toward establishing larger business ventures, a stone quarry was begun around 1900, as well as a lumber mill and brick company. The growing need for petroleum spurred an oil boom north of Volant. The drilling continued until the beginning of World War I.

With the Great Depression came a gradual decline of the economy. As the economy worsened the business district diminished to almost nothing. The mill, which was primarily responsible for Volant's success, closed its doors in the early 1960s, and the trains stopped running through Volant in 1975. Volant soon became forgotten and returned to its rural roots.

In 1984, a renaissance began with the old mill as its centerpiece. Opening its doors for the first time in over 20 years as a country gift and antique store, it paved the way for a business revival that still continues. Encouraged by its success, other shops were opened on Main Street. After several years of rapid growth, there are now over 50 shops and restaurants, turning Volant from a sleepy little village into one of western Pennsylvania's most popular tourist attractions.
Most Amish women tend to wash clothes using an old-time tub-style wringer washers. Some Old Order and Swartzentruber Amish still use boiling water in a large pot and “swoosh” the clothes around until the clothes are clean. The clothes must be washed, rinsed, hung out, gathered in, pressed, folded and put away.

PURCHASE OPTIONS:
Prints of this art are available on canvas, metal, acrylic and gallery prints, framed or unframed, greeting cards and iPhone or Android phone covers along with so many other quality items. FAA and Pixels has a large selection of frames, mats and surfaces available for you to create museum quality masterpieces of your original print selections. Should you have any questions, feel free to contact me and I can give you any suggestions! Thank you!

IF YOU LIKE MY ART, I would be appreciative it if you would take a moment to favorite, like, tweet, or pin to Pinterest, Instagram and share on Facebook . This enables my art and photography to be found on FAA and other internet searches.

To me, photography is an art of observation. It is about finding something interesting in an ordinary place. I have found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.

I hope you enjoy my gallery and would appreciate any comments you may have and of course it would be wonderful and a real honor if you were to purchase a piece of my art.

I hope you enjoyed this visual journey! Please return often as I upload fresh work quite often! I am grateful for your time!

Uploaded

January 8th, 2021

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