In 1897, Mennonite and Amish families from northern and western states began to relocate to former plantation land in Southeastern Virginia along the banks of the Warwick River. Their move to these 1,000 acres was part of a larger, though little known, movement in the Mennonite Church in the late nineteenth century to settle church colonies in the post-Civil War South.
By developing the depleted soils of former plantations into successful farms and creating new Mennonite congregations, Mennonite leaders hoped to keep their church vital and growing in a time of shrinking membership. They also hoped to find a strategy for mission work in keeping with their faith. Holy Experiment: The Warwick River Mennonite Colony, 1897–1970 explores a critical period of church history through the story of the only Mennonite colony planted in the American South to survive this experiment and eventually thrive.
 

In 1841, four Amish Mennonite families left their homes in southwestern Pennsylvania and traveled in horse-drawn wagons to Elkhart County, Indiana. Their journey was distinctly American, as...

<p>In a cold November of 1910, a group of Conservative Amish Mennonite ministers who shared a theological and cultural heritage gathered in Michigan to support each other in furthering the mission...

<p>Edsel Burdge Jr. and Samuel L. Horst tell the stories of three centuries of faith and life among the Washington County (Md.), and Franklin County (Pa.) Mennonites. From small beginnings in...