Crossroads Heritage Center about early Valley Mennonite life
The CrossRoads Heritage Center, also known as the Valley Brethren-Mennonite Heritage Center is a must-see for Valley visitors, particularly people who wish to learn more about how the Valley was settled.
Visitors to the Heritage Center can see exhibits and tour a 12-acre facility where interpretative guides tell stories in the 1854 Burkholder-Myers House, the nearby Wash House, the Blacksmith Shop, and the 1904 Whitmer School/Cove church, all furnished with period furniture. Visitors can also see a video about the settling of the Shenandoah Valley by the Brethren and Mennonites.
“We don't display artifacts as much as we try to introduce people to the way people lived in the Valley in the 19th Century,” says CrossRoads executive director Steve Shenk.
The CrossRoads Heritage Center is located on the west side of the City of Harrisonburg, on a lovely, open hillside. It is also a few miles north of the Rockingham County town of of Dayton, around which live a large concentration of Mennonite families.
Mennonites get their name from a 16th-Century Dutch theologian, Menno Simons. His religious teachings, based upon “re-baptizing” or “Anabaptist” theology, conflicted with the prevailing status quo and as a result, his followers were often persecuted and eventually had to flee to other areas. Today there are over a million Mennonites worldwide in approximately 50 countries. The Brethrens also have their religious roots in Anabaptist sects, having emerged from Germany to become established in eastern Pennsylvania in the early 1700s
The peace-loving Shenandoah Valley Mennonite community found themselves at the center of conflict during American during Civil War Union Gen. Phillip H. Sheridan's famous 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, also known as the Burning. The campaign included the destruction of many Valley farms and other Confederate supply resources, and the town of Dayton narrowly escaped being burned. Although the Mennonites declared themselves as conscientious objectors and many continued their allegiance to the Union, they suffered losses at the hands of the Union army.
The non-violent character of Mennonites even shows through in the way that visitors are greeted at by visitors center tour guides. “We don't have memorized speeches that we give,” Shenk says. “We just try to really understand where the person's coming from, what their background, what their interest level is, and we connect at that level. So, often times, what our visitors like the most is just the interaction with our hosts.”
Although Mennonites and what Shenk refers to as their “cousins,” the Amish, are perhaps best known for the different way that they live and dress, espousing many of the modern conveniences for a more agrarian life. Travel any of the picturesque back roads in the Harrisonburg-Dayton area and you are likely to encounter a horse-drawn buggy. Shenk is quick to point out that most Mennonites are more conventional in the way they look and live. Although they may now often blend into a contemporary crowd, Shenk says that they still think like Amish and Mennonites. That is, they don't feel that they need vengeance whenever they are wronged and believe in working and worshiping together as a cooperative group, without any single individual lording it over anyone else.
Shenk says that, in the fact of recent trends in reduced numbers among some church groups, the Mennonite community is holding its own. He says that, ever since early Mennonites were persecuted they are less concerned about outreach activities and more concerned about service, including aid to the Haitian earthquake victims. "But we're not as good at saying, 'You should follow our way, because we we have such a good way. Our Christian way is the best.' We just can't talk like that," Shenk explained.
Learn more about the Crossroads Heritage Center online at www.vbmhc.org. Steve Shenk was a guest on the Jan. 16, 2010 edition of The Shenandoah Valley Radio® program.
Although Mennonites and what Shenk refers to as their “cousins,” the Amish, are perhaps best known for the different way that they live and dress, espousing many of the modern conveniences for a more agrarian life. Travel any of the picturesque back roads in the Harrisonburg-Dayton area and you are likely to encounter a horse-drawn buggy. Shenk is quick to point out that most Mennonites are more conventional in the way they look and live. Although they may now often blend into a contemporary crowd, Shenk says that they still think like Amish and Mennonites. That is, they don't feel that they need vengeance whenever they are wronged and believe in working and worshiping together as a cooperative group, without any single individual lording it over anyone else.