Pilgrimage Valley is a small

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 ...

settlement 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 5 km east of

San Ignacio San Ignacio (the Spanish language name of St. Ignatius (disambiguation), St. Ignatius) is a common toponym in parts of the world where that language is or was spoken: Argentina * San Ignacio, Argentina, Misiones Province * San Ignacio Miní, a ...

. It was founded in 1965 by 10 German speaking Mennonite families to escape increasing secularism. Some came from other Mennonite Colonies in Belize, others from North America (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Arkansas and Ontario), namely the Stoll, Martin, Wanner and Mill families, who were very large, one father e.g. had 22 children. Roessingh writes: ".. the interesting thing about these Mennonites is the fact that they had a ‘different kind of background’. Beside that they were Old Order ennoniteand not Old Colony ennonite there was also the influence of the Amish which makes this group special." Preachers were Victor and Harold Stoll. Constant theft of livestock became an existential threat to the settlement and many left, going either back to North America, to

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 ...

or elsewhere. Roessingh writes: "... this settlement never came to the point where it was possible to create a stable existence." In 1980 the settlement seemed abandoned, but later it was recovered. In 2000 (Census) it had only 21 inhabitants and in 2011 it had less than 100 inhabitants.Carel Roessingh: ''Mennonite communities in Belize''. 2011 The inhabitants belong to the same Mennonite group as Upper Barton Creek and

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

References

American diaspora in North America Amish in North America Canadian diaspora in North America German diaspora in North America Mennonitism in Belize Old Order Mennonites Pennsylvania Dutch culture Populated places established in 1966 Populated places in Cayo District {{Belize-geo-stub