Florida town of Pinecraft remains popular destination for winter-weary Amish

SARASOTA, Fla. - It's snowbird season here in Florida, and the Pinecraft neighborhood in Sarasota County has been welcoming unique snowbirds for nearly a century. 

Every winter, members of the Amish and Mennonite community offer visitors a glimpse into their distinctive culture. 

Pinecraft historian and Mennonite JB Miller says most visitors come for the food, but stay for the people watching. 

"Most of the people you would see with distinctive garb would be old-order Amish or very conservative Mennonites," he explained.

Most Mennonites live in Pinecraft year-round and can't be distinguished by what they wear. 

"People don't come to see the Mennonites," Miller laughed. "They don't come to see people like me."

The Amish population swells in the winter from those traveling down from northern communities. Their history in this area can be traced back to 1931. 

"They were farmers from the north who wanted to do something in the wintertime," Miller said. They came to Venice and planted watermelon and a few other crops. However, the land wasn't suitable, so they moved farther north to Sarasota. 

"It was very inexpensive land. They could build small houses. Some of the early people actually lived in tents until they had little cottages built," Miller added.

Now, nearly 100 years later, Amish come for the sunshine and great temperatures we all enjoy.