Springfield is a

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

village in

Cayo District Cayo District is a district located in the west part of Belize. It is the most extensive, second-most populous and third-most densely populated of the six districts of Belize. The district's capital is the town of San Ignacio. Geography Being ...

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

, some 15 km south of the capital

Belmopan Belmopan () is the capital city of Belize. Its population in 2010 was 16,451. In addition to being the smallest capital city in the continental Americas by population, Belmopan is the third-largest settlement in Belize, behind Belize City and S ...

History

Springfield was founded around 1996 as a daughter colony of the

Upper Barton Creek Upper Barton Creek is a mixed Mennonite settlement and expats in Cayo District in Belize in the area of the Barton Creek. The Mennonites in Upper Barton Creek are ethnic Mennonites of the Noah Hoover group. Upper Barton Creek use to be a unique ...

settlement of very conservative Mennonites, who mainly live in the United States. These Mennonites, that belong to the Noah Hoover branch of

Old Order Mennonite Old Order Mennonites (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania German: ) form a branch of the Mennonite tradition. Old Order Movement, Old Order are those Mennonite groups of Swiss people, Swiss German and south Germans, German heritage who pract ...

s, are in many outward aspects similar to Old Order Amish, but clearly distinct from them. Norris Hall, a photojournalist who in 2011 made a photo documentary about the people of Springfield, erroneously refers to them as "Amish".

Sights

In Springfield there is a fruit tree nursery and a horse powered saw mill.YouTube: Horse powered saw mill, Belize
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Demographics

The village population of 270 residents is composed of 40 families of Plautdietsch and

Pennsylvania German The Pennsylvania Dutch (Pennsylvania Dutch: ), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They emigrated primarily from German-spea ...

speaking Mennonites. They have large families, in average 6.8 persons per household.

References

Populated places in Cayo District Mennonitism in Belize Old Order Mennonites {{Belize-geo-stub