Month: June 2009

New Wilmington Amish auction

Photo man and in-the-field auction expert Rick Harrison shares his latest batch of pictures from the New Wilmington Amish auction, which took place June 6th.  This was the 20th annual benefit auction and turnout was sizable.  Rick estimated over 125 buggies on the lot. Auctions are popular among Amish.  Lancaster County holds a medical benefit auction each year to support the work of Holmes Morton…

Northern Indiana Amish Economy

The ‘RV Amish’ of Northern Indiana could be considered among the ‘fastest’ of all Amish.  There are a few reasons why. With a majority of household heads traditionally working in non-Amish RV factories, Amish in Elkhart/Lagrange Counties and around the town of Nappanee have been more exposed to the ‘world’ than in settlements with most Amish working the fields or holed up in Amish-owned shops….

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Amish in Japan? Well, almost.

Pastry samples at a Flavor retail store Donald Kraybill shares some photos and comments from a recent lecture trip to Japan.  Professor Kraybill recently spent a week at universities in Tokyo and Gifu and at the Shibunkaku Art Museum in Kyoto, speaking on the Amish. The Amish are quite well-known in Japan, with perhaps more books on the Amish having been translated into Japanese than…

Colorado Amish settlement

This AP story about Amish in Colorado (no longer online) describes the experience of Amish families who’ve headed west for lower-priced land.  The few hundred who have settled in Colorado are still a tiny portion of the total Amish population.  Amish have settled new areas for a variety of reasons, including land prices.  With Colorado averaging $1400 per acre versus $6000 in Pennsylvania, the westward…

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Settlements that Failed: Amish on the Border

Texas seems an odd spot to find Amish.  Besides the current community in Bee County, there have been at least four other attempts to settle the Lone Star State.  In his meticulously researched The Amish in America: Settlements that Failed, 1840-1960, David Luthy describes a short-lived settlement that came about in the state’s southernmost county. Amish fields today brim with corn, alfalfa and hay.  One…