Barton Creek

Barton Creek is the name of a tiny river and the area through which it flows in Belize's Cayo District. This river is a tributary of the Belize River. There are two Mennonite villages in this area: Lower and Upper Barton Creek. Both are relatively conservative Mennonite villages in Belize. Barton Creek Cave is also nearby.

Upper Barton Creek is a one-of-a-kind settlement of reformers from various Anabaptist backgrounds who desired to establish a Mennonite community free of modernistic trends and living a simple Christian life in nonconformity to the world. Plautdietsch-speaking "Russian" Mennonites founded it in 1969. Upper Barton Creek Mennonites, in accordance with their Ordnung, do not own any motorized equipment, including automobiles, and do not utilize electricity. They farm with horses, and both men and women dress simply, comparable to Old Order Mennonites and Amish, with males sporting beards. Upper Barton Creek Mennonites are part of the Noah Hoover group, which originated in central Pennsylvania. It has a population of 380 people in 2010.

Lower Barton Creek is a small town in Belize created in 1970 by Shipyard Mennonites. It is home to Belize's most conservative German-speaking "Russian Mennonites." It resembles conservative Mennonite villages in Bolivia. It had a population of roughly 150 in 1980, 200 in 1985, and only about 100 in 1989, when many residents moved to Mennonite colonies in Paraguay, Bolivia, and other places. In 2010, its population was 193.

Length: 64 km (40 mi)