I thought I’d share a bit more on one of the most obvious visual markers of Amish – the buggy. Â As you probably know, buggy styles can vary across the hundreds of Amish settlements in North America. Below are the five main styles I encountered on a recent trip. Four of them are not commonly seen, driven by only a minority of Amish in certain…
Tomorrow (Monday) I ship off on a weeklong trip to East Coast Amish communities. Â I’ll be visiting these settlements: Halifax County, VA Charlotte County, VA Lancaster County, PA Big Valley, PA Cecil County, MD Dover, DE And maybe one or two others. Big Valley I have visited, and Lancaster I know well. Â The others are all new. Curious if anyone is familiar with these communities….
The Amish settlement at Mechanicsville is one of only three Maryland Amish communities in existence. The oldest Maryland Amish settlement, at Oakland (Garrett County), was settled in 1850. Today it is a single church district in size. The Mechanicsville Amish community in southern Maryland was founded nearly a century later (1940) than the Oakland community. But today it is much larger, consisting of 8 districts,…
The latest issue of Family Life includes an article by David Luthy entitled Amish Settlements Across America: 2008. It’s a comprehensive listing of Amish settlements along with some commentary and analysis. Last time Luthy did one of these was in 2003. Interesting facts: Some settlements are very old, yet due to various factors, are very small today. Hicksville in Ohio was founded in 1914, yet comprises just one…
Changes in the tobacco industry–lower prices, declining demand, and a heightened stigma towards the trade–have had many small farmers reeling. Many people don’t realize that some Amish grow and use tobacco (especially those in Lancaster County and related settlements). In this Washington Post article, southern Maryland Amish farmers, along with some non-Amish counterparts, have refused a state-sponsored buyout and shifted to producing a higher-demand leaf…