AMHC honored as chamber’s Community Service Award winner

The members of the Holmes County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau recognized the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center at this year’s annual banquet, where it bestowed the Chamber Community Service Award on the AMHC for its ongoing service to the area.

Eric Gerber of Commercial and Savings Bank presented the service award, and he said that in serving one of the world’s largest Anabaptist communities, the AMHC has shared the story of the area’s culture and tradition in many ways.

“The Amish & Mennonite Heritage locates itself at the intersection of heritage and hospitality,” Gerber said.

Throughout the decades the AMHC has dedicated itself to connecting Amish Country and the Anabaptist story to people all around the world. Its mission is to inform visitors about the Anabaptist faith, culture and lifestyle that has become a central part of the area.

“The center serves to preserve the Anabaptist history and contemporary interpretation of the community culture,” Gerber said.

One of the driving forces behind the success of the AMHC has been the mural “Behalt,” a cycloramic painting created by Heinz Gaugel that displays the history of the Anabaptist people from the 16th century to present day.

Gaugel passed through Holmes County in 1962 and was mesmerized by the area, eventually choosing to settle down on a farm in Holmes County in 1972. The 265-foot mural, one of four cycloramas in America, remains the center’s most unique teaching tool with staff providing tours and giving detailed information that describes each scene on the mural.

Since executive director Marcus Yoder took over and began tracking where visitors were from, the AMHC has hosted visitors from all 50 states, but that is far from the whole story. Visitors from all but nine nations in the world have graced the mural and learned the story of the Anabaptist faith.

“Of the 195 nations in the world, we have had visitors from 186 of those countries, and every one of those visitors hears the story that begins with Jesus and walks its way around to the modern world,” Yoder said. “I get excited about that because we have the opportunity to openly talk about faith, family and community. We exemplify that as we tell the story of God’s faithfulness in our people’s history.”

In addition to the mural, there is the Ohio Amish Library, a historic pioneer barn with a real Conestoga wagon, a pre-Civil War schoolhouse, a museum dedicated to the Anabaptist customs, a bookstore and gift shop, and an intricate series of very old books from the Ausbund collection that focuses on the words of God featured in the musical history of the Anabaptist people, the collection going back several centuries.

Yoder accepted the award on behalf of all of the employees, volunteers and the board, and he said, “As a nonprofit in this community, we hold a unique space to inform people about our world. Our vision is to share locally, to give those pieces of our story to teach not only the visitors who come, but our own people. We share locally and affect globally our story, and stories are what changes people’s lives.”

Yoder said this marks the 30th anniversary of when Gaugel chose to move “Behalt” into the center on County Road 77, and the additions to the center continue to keep it fresh and meaningful to anyone interested in better understanding what drives the Amish and Mennonite people of Anabaptist faith.

“It’s been an honor for all of us to be able to share the center’s vision and story of the Anabaptist people with so many,” Yoder said. “We have a very important role to play, not in just telling our story to people all around the world, but to instill in people right here at home their heritage and what it means to be of Anabaptist faith.”

While people from around the world have visited the AMHC, many right in its back yard have never ventured in to see “Behalt” or the other pieces of history inside the facility.

“It may be somewhere you have driven by many times but never visited,” said Kent Miller, Holmes County Chamber board president. “Please go because it is truly a gem for our area, telling our Anabaptist faith story and heritage.”