Amish vs. Mennonite: What's the Difference? (A Lancaster Visitor's Guide)
By Best of Lancaster
Visitors to Lancaster County use "Amish" for every plain-dressed person they see — but the county is home to both Amish and Mennonite communities, plus a spectrum of groups within each. The differences matter, and locals notice when you know them. Here's the visitor-level explanation.
The Shared Root
Both are Anabaptist Christian movements born in 16th-century Europe — committed to adult baptism, nonviolence, and plain living. The split came in 1693, when Jakob Ammann broke from the Mennonites seeking stricter discipline; his followers became the Amish. Both groups settled Lancaster County in the early 1700s under William Penn's religious tolerance, and both are still here, often farming neighboring land.
The Practical Differences You'll See
- Transport: Old Order Amish drive gray-topped horse buggies. Old Order Mennonites in Lancaster drive black-topped buggies — and many Mennonite groups drive cars (traditionally plain black ones).
- Technology: Amish homes are off the public grid (gas lamps, diesel/pneumatic workarounds for business). Many Mennonite groups use electricity, phones, and tractors; conservative ones still steel-wheel their tractors.
- Dress: both dress plain, but Mennonite women's dress prints are often small-patterned where Amish dress is solid-colored; Amish men grow beards (no mustache) after marriage.
- Worship: Amish hold church in homes, rotating among families. Mennonites build meetinghouses — the plain white churches you pass on the back roads are theirs.
- Engagement with visitors: many of the county's guides, shop owners, and tour partners are Mennonite — often the people best positioned to explain Amish life respectfully.
The Spectrum, Not the Stereotype
"Amish" and "Mennonite" each cover a range — from Old Order to New Order Amish, from horse-and-buggy Mennonites to congregations indistinguishable from any Protestant church. Lancaster County's roughly 40,000 Amish belong mostly to the Old Order; the Mennonite population is larger and far more varied. The full etiquette rules for visiting either community are in our Amish culture guide — the photography rule applies to both plain communities.
Learn It From the Source
The best explanations come from guides with lifelong relationships in both communities — the small-group farm visit covers exactly this ground, and the questions are welcome:
Then go deeper over a meal at an Amish family's table:
Plan the full visit with our tours comparison and the things-to-do guide.
