Who are the Pennsylvania Dutch?

When the original German settlers came to Pennsylvania in the mid-1700s, the mostly English-speaking settlers already there naturally asked them their nationality of origin. The Germans replied in their native tongue: "Wir sind Deutsch," which of course means, "We are German." 'Deutsch' was either misunderstood as 'Dutch' or became corrupted over time and that's how the Pennsylvania Germans became know for centuries as the Pennsylvania 'Dutch.'

Including various deeply religious groups fleeing prosecution in Europe, such as the Amish, Mennonites, and Moravians, these early settlers brought with them their distinctive folk art crafts and building construction and decoration techniques which indelibly imprinted themselves on the culture and heritage of the counties of southeastern Pennsylvania to this day.