History
In 1966 various Mennonites such as Hohenwald Amish, Titus Hoover group, Mammoth Springs, Orthodox Mennonites, Muddy Pond, Old Order Mennonite and Amish groups came from St. Joe, Arkansas and Snyder County, Pennsylvania to Belize searching 'isolation'. After entering the country in 1967 they found a piece of land that they called Pilgrimage Valley.The hiring of tractors for plowing by some Mennonites and the close proximity of San Ignacio and Santa Elena towns prompted a lot of the Mennonites to leave for Upper Barton Creek and Lobelville, Tennessee. In 1968 John Shirk and Titus Martin joined up with Heinrich Friesen from Spanish Lookout to search for new land. After a year the three men purchased an 850 acre lot which they named Upper Barton Creek. By 2010 there were no organized Mennonites left in Pilgrimage Valley.
Sources
The Hoover Mennonites in Belize: A History of Expansion in the Shadow of Separation.