"Do Not Enter," it warned. "Unfit For Human Habitation."

And below that: "Order to Vacate."

An accompanying letter warned that the county could seize their home if they failed to comply with county codes for sewage disposal and household wastewater. Similar notices were posted on more than a dozen Amish homes in this rural county just north of the Ohio border, sending waves of fear through the growing Amish community.

"I was scared. I was afraid they would come get us," the community's bishop told Bridge Magazine.

The bishop, 68, asked not to be named, as did others who spoke to Bridge. Their request not to be named (or photographed) is a convention of their faith that instructs members not to call attention to themselves.