Rollerblading Amish

By John Farrier in Society & Culture on Jan 10, 2011 at 7:42 pm

What? The Amish are into rollerblading? It’s news to me, but here’s a 1996 New York Times article attesting to this cultural quirk:

”It’s faster than a horse, and it’s fun,” said Mr. Herschberger, 20, who skates the 25 miles in two hours, almost twice as fast as an Amish buggy. ”You just feel free.”

Mr. Herschberger has abundant company on the roads of southeastern Pennsylvania. In the last few years, hundreds of Amish, most of them young, have taken up in-line skating to run errands, play hockey or just zigzag for pleasure.

Among the 150,000 or so Old Order Amish, who live in 230 settlements in 22 states and Canada, in-line skating is justified as an efficient, sensible means of locomotion, another example of how the modern can square with the traditional.

Article Link and Pictures via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: Visboo


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  2. helimx
    Jan 10th, 2011 at 11:46 pm

    why not just regular ol’ roller skates????

  3. Christopher Hoeft
    Jan 11th, 2011 at 12:12 am

    That amish girl is hauling ass if she is doing 25 miles in 2 hours. That means she is mantaining a average of 12.5 mph.

    Slowly the amish are being seduced by modern tech. Give it another 10 years and theyll be on the internet like buddhist monks.

  4. Ratz
    Jan 11th, 2011 at 1:56 am

    Surely roller blades are too high tech for them?

    “I never wear buttons but I got a cool hat And my homies agree, I really look good in black”

  5. Christian Lafay
    Jan 11th, 2011 at 3:11 am

    helimx; ‘Cause they suck, heh.

    Ratz; I think they are just drawing the line at electricity. They’ve been trading with English forever so it’s not as if mass produced goods are beyond them.

    What I want to know is why not bikes. Seems it would be quicker and loss prone to roller-discos. And when do they have time for hockey?! Must be very liberal.

  6. Jeff the Baptist
    Jan 11th, 2011 at 3:24 am

    “Surely roller blades are too high tech for them?”

    The amish are not luddites, they’re a strict religious society. They place strong emphasis on simple humble clean living. Whether they accept a technology has more to do with it’s perceived effect on their family and community than the means of production.

    The rollerblade thing has been going on for at least ten years now. They’ve looked at using cell phones as well, but I don’t think that stuck. I doubt they’ll ever get into the internet because of all the porn.

  7. Raf
    Jan 11th, 2011 at 4:40 am

    i act as an internet liaison for my Amish neighbors and can attest to their interest in using it for practical purposes like buying or selling or looking up directions…

    i have to agree tho that a normal bicycle seems like it should be an ok thing…they use scooters and occasionally i’ve seen inline skates but around here anyway they aren’t often used

    they play hockey on sunday afternoons when they also have various organized games like volleyball among the young unmarrieds

  8. Colt Seaver
    Jan 11th, 2011 at 1:20 pm

    Why no bikes? Mechanical advantage, that’s why.
    Roller blades offer no mechanical advantage. You’ll see plenty of adults riding scooters, too, many of which are bikes modified to eliminate a chain.

  9. Vonskippy
    Jan 11th, 2011 at 1:54 pm

    So do the Amish pith their young, or is it all self delusional brain washing?

  10. Randi
    Jan 11th, 2011 at 2:09 pm

    they dont want to use electricity but I have seen many of them riding the bus and if they are buying roller blades (because I’m sure they can’t fashion them out of wood), where do they think the blades come from? A factory that uses electricity. I live really close to the Amish and some Mennonites, they are all pretty much hypocritical from what I have experienced. They talk about how technology is damning yet they have stores with electrical lighting and are constantly using technologies. Yea, roller blades don’t seem advanced by our standards but they cannot change the rules just because the times around them are changing.

  11. ted
    Jan 11th, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    Seems a little hypocritical, since there’s plastic in a pair of roller blades, not to mention all of the factory work that goes into it. It would be more sensible for them to use roller skates (and easier to make according to their principles).

  12. Floorman56
    Jan 12th, 2011 at 5:24 am

    So do the Amish pith their young, or is it all self delusional brain washing?

    I take it you have never heard of Rumspringa At 16 They are required to experiment and explore with the ” Real World” They throw massive parties where kids come for 100′s of miles , Drive , smoke, get cell phones, drink, and only come back to the community if they want too.

    As for why they don’t get roller skates the in lines just work better on the types of roads they have

  13. Bikebreath
    Jan 12th, 2011 at 9:30 am

    Can’t they wear helmets? Going down at 12.5mph ain’t pretty and I know…a helmet saved my life.


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