Michigan’s Branch County is found on the southern end of the state, on the Indiana border. The two counties to its south are Lagrange County and Steuben County, Indiana, both with an Amish presence, particularly heavy in Lagrange. Head west from Branch County and you’ll reach the Amish of St. Joseph County, Michigan’s largest settlement. [...]
Continue reading The Amish of Branch County, Michigan
Michigan currently occupies sixth place when it comes to the size of their Amish population. The state is home to nearly 12,000 Amish in 3 dozen communities (see Young Center 2011 Amish statistics). Over one-tenth of the Michigan Amish population is found in St. Joseph County, in a settlement located near the town of Centreville. [...]
Continue reading The Amish of St. Joseph County, Michigan (Centreville)
This summer I picked up a copy of the 2010 Michigan Amish Directory, which lists most of the Amish settlements in the state. Amish directories vary; some can be little more than an address listing, while others include historical background, maps, and more. The Michigan guide, like a few other directories, contains a chart listing [...]
Continue reading Unusual Amish occupations
Branch County, Michigan is home to 5 Amish settlements. I visited two of them a couple of days ago. Some photos: On a little red potato treasure hunt. My favorite kind of sky. Tetherball! Can you say sunny. Healthy stuff. While farming is still important to many Amish, others have started small enterprises. Michigan Amish [...]
Continue reading Amish farms of Branch County, Michigan
As Ira discussed yesterday, Amish work a lot. Selling books in Amish communities, I’d often come across Amish in the middle of some task. If you show up at an Amish home and want to talk to the residents, odds are you are going to be interrupting some chore or job. I quickly learned which [...]
Continue reading The Amish farrier
What a neat video today. Auctioneers have always fascinated me–their cadence of speech, command of a crowd, how they inject otherwise mundane transactions with excitement and immediacy. And Amish auctioneers doubly so. You’ll find no professional actors, musicians, or entertainers among Amish. But I’ve often thought that auctioneers are the closest to “show business” the [...]
Continue reading Amish auctioneers: the performers of Plain society
You might remember a photo a couple weeks back, of an Amish kitchen that some people found a bit on the fancy side? Today we have a shot of another room in the same Michigan home: This place looks like it has some nice spots for taking a nap. Just as long as those clocks [...]
Continue reading Inside an Amish Home: Michigan Amish Relaxation Room
I think you’ll notice quite a contrast between this photo and last week’s Swiss Amish home photos. This was taken in a Michigan Amish home by Karen Johnson-Weiner: Comparing these photos you can really see the diverse material standards of different Amish groups. I’ve zoomed in on a couple parts to make things more visible: [...]
Continue reading Inside an Amish Home: An Amish Kitchen
After regretting (on the original buggy sign post) that we had no Allen County, Indiana sign, reader Torey has kindly shared this photo, taken near the town of Grabill. You may be aware that Amish in Allen County are considered “Swiss Amish”. Swiss Amish differ in a few ways from most other Amish (most Amish [...]
Continue reading Buggy signs, part 2
I’m happy to introduce a new feature on Amish America: the Amish State Guide. The Amish State Guide will be a comprehensive resource on Amish communities in all 28 states where they are currently found (plus Ontario, Canada). We previewed this a few weeks ago with an entry for Michigan Amish. The State Guide features information [...]
Continue reading Introducing the new Amish State Guide
