Amish Projects
CFA coordinates programs with Amish craftsmen in four parks around the Country. CFA’s focus is on the Catoctin Mountain parks, but provides coordination of other parks nationwide.
Nappanee, Indiana
The Indiana Amish Anabaptist Service Program (IAASP) of Nappanee, Indiana was started in 2013 in Catoctin Mountain Park. Every March a group of 12 come for a month to work in Catoctin Mountain Park. In 2019 the group began doing projects at Cunningham Falls and Gambrill State Parks. Also in 2019, the group also began staying at ThorpeWood and doing projects there to cover the cost of their accommodations. The group consists of House Parents (an adult couple), Job Coaches (an adult couple) and 8 young men ages 21-23. They pay their own way to and from home, buy food from the community, and do service in the park and lose a month’s income from their jobs back home. They stay at ThorpeWood while in the area and do service for them as well. They work on many different jobs while in the park: log replacement on buildings built during the CCC/WPA era; window repair in the cabins, roof and floor replacement in cabins; projects at Greentop, Round Meadow and Misty Mount; plus, many other projects.
IAASP projects are to be established to fit the following objectives:
• provide work projects in a national setting that are beneficial to the nation’s health, education, safety, or national interest.
• provide types of employment and types of residence that protect the faith of conscientious objectors in an environment of ethical and moral values.
• develop an approved network among the Amish population to conduct all activities necessary to all parts of the employment projects.
Davies County (southern) Indiana
The group from Davies County started in 2018 working at Cumberland Gap Historical Park in Middleboro, KY. They work at an historical site called Hensley Settlement. The settlement was established in 1903 by Burton Hensley, Sr. on Brush Mountain high in the Cumberland Mountain Range. The characteristics of early pioneer life were present and kept alive at Hensley Settlement. This would become a unique settlement. The Settlers were self-sufficient at a time when the rest of the nation’s people were relying on each other’s for their needs. As a result of the Hensley’s and Gibbon’s efforts, an isolated community of rural Appalachia survived until the last inhabitant, Sherman Hensley, left in 1951. The projects at Hensley are all done to historical detail; shingles are handmade (1,500) per roof; logs replaced; fencing, porches, foundations redone; hog and chicken pens reworked; barns reworked, etc.
CFA has been active in initiating
and coordinating this effort
Adams County (Fort Wayne) Indiana
2023 was the first year for this group and they worked at New River Gorge National Park & Preserve in West Virginia. During the year they worked on the respiration restoration of the Kaymoor Steps – a set of 821 wooden steps that descend more than a mile into the New River Gorge. All materials had to be hand carried. The Adams County Amish also helped restore, replace, paint the siding on the Thurmond Depot station and other projects. Thurmond Depot was a bustling coal town in the early 1900’s and is still a stop on the Amtrack Cardinal line.
CFA also coordinated this project.
Monta Vista, Colorado
2024 was the first year for this group and they worked on projects at Fort Union, New Mexico. They worked replaced picket fencing, repaired and added on the two old buildings, and did a number of other projects including work at sister parks in the area.
CFA was instrumental in initiating this effort