On April 24, 2018, the Friends of the Pumpkinvine held our annual dinner in Elkhart for the first time. Our previous 16 dinners had been in the Pumpkinvine towns of Goshen, Middlebury or Shipshewana, and although we have many supporters in Elkhart, we weren’t sure if people from the three main towns identified with the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail would travel to Elkhart for this dinner. We also had avoided Elkhart because we had trouble finding a suitable venue for 250 people, i.e., one with good food, good sight lines to the stage and a great sound system. But the renovation of the Lerner Theater and Crystal Ballroom created an outstanding venue, and thanks to the persistence of Brittany Short, the annual dinner’s chair, we decided to give the Elkhart a try, and the results were very gratifying. The room was full (260 registered) and the three screens made it possible for everyone to see what was projected.

My theme for the evening was the incredible patience our supporters have shown in supporting the Friends of the Pumpkinvine over the last three decades, even when there was little tangible progress to show for their financial support. Still they were faithful.

More recently it was the Community Foundation of Elkhart County that has been patient with the slow progress we’ve made in closing two gaps in the Pumpkinvine in Elkhart County. They understand that it takes time to negotiate a route through the land of five rural landowners.

I also reviewed some of the highlights of the year on the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail and for our organization, the Friends of the Pumpkinvine. These include the covered picnic table between CR 35 and CR 37, the repairs to the bridge over the Little Elkhart River in Middlebury, redecking of bridges over Rock Run Creek in Goshen and Mather Ditch in Middlebury. A major event was the opening of the Ridge Run Trail in Middlebury connecting the Pumpkinvine with the Essenhaus, Greencroft Middlebury and North Ridge High School. The Friends of the Pumpkinvine were not directly responsible for this one-mile spur off the Pumpkinvine, but we claim it as a child that wouldn’t exist without the Pumpkinvine.

Another theme of the evening was how the Amish community in Elkhart County responded to an appeal for contributions to close the gap in the trail between CR 20 and CR 35. For some time, we have recognized that our Amish neighbors are some of the heaviest users of the Pumpkinvine, yet only one or two have become members. We thought that the community that used the trail the most would contribute toward its expansion or upkeep, if we found the right approach. We consulted with Junior and Mary Schlabach, two Amish friends, and they suggested we send a letter, authorize by the bishops, to be read in the churches. We did that in November 2017 and the response was very gratifying. As I said at the dinner, the Schlabachs ask that we not publish the total raised, but what I can say is that the Amish churches would be eligible to have their name placed on the recognition rocks we have promised to individuals and organizations that gave $10,000 toward closing the gaps in the trail more than once.

I left the annual dinner with renewed appreciation for our supporters who have waited patiently as the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail came together like a giant jig saw puzzle over 25 years.

From the president

Recently I purchased a copy of the Indiana Amish Directory 2017: Elkhart, LaGrange, and Noble Counties, a 1090-page volume edited by Joas and Freda Miller from Middlebury, Ind. In the forward, the editors say: “Our goal for the Directory is to make it a reliable source of birth, marriage, and death date information. Also we try to provide accurate addresses, church district maps, and locations of Amish homes, schools, and cemeteries.” And they have succeeded in a grand way: the book is a combination of genealogy, atlas, church history and labor statistics – a comprehensive overview of the Old Order Amish community in northern Indiana.

The book is organized by church districts, and each district includes a map showing the county roads, with numbers keyed to a list of names on the opposite page that indicates where families live. The map also shows the location of the Amish schools and a few stores relevant to the Amish community.

I wanted a copy of the directory because I’d heard a rumor that for the first time the maps of church districts would also include the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail. To me that seemed significant: if the directory included the Pumpkinvine, it would indicate that the Pumpkinvine had become an important for the Amish community. And a map showing where the Pumpkinvine was in relation to homes would help anyone who wanted to purchase property know where that property was in relationship to the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail.

How times have changed. I can’t help recalling the beginnings of our efforts to convert the abandoned Penn Central railroad into a multi-use trail in the early 1990s when people told me that the Amish community would be solidly against a bike trail due to concerns about privacy and vandalism. In other words, they wouldn’t want a bike trail anywhere near where they lived.

This map sends the opposite message: it helps people know where to buy property, if they want to be close to the trail.

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