Missouri Amish

“It turns out that beach houses and Amish timber frames are a match made in heaven” explains the narrator in today’s video. Below, a neat clip showing an Amish crew rebuilding in Texas, post-Hurricane Ike. In the video, Missouri Amish builder Danny Schwartz demonstrates timber frame construction (the kind used on Amish barns, with wooden [...]

Continue reading Amish beach houses

I left a couple of photos out of last week’s Bowling Green, Missouri Amish collection.  Here are shots of an Amish beekeeper’s facilities, and the happy end-product (courtesy of Beth Russo, thank you Beth).  First, the hives: These hives are located on the Hilty farm, known as Hilty’s Bee Yard.  In addition to regular pure [...]

Continue reading An Amish beekeeper

Beth Russo has kindly shared 10 photos of the Amish settlement at Bowling Green, Missouri (Pike County).  Beth recently made a trip during which she visited an Amish woodworking shop and a beekeeper.  You can find more of her photos on her Facebook page. Bowling Green is the oldest Amish settlement in Missouri, founded in [...]

Continue reading Bowling Green, Missouri Amish

Since I’ve been back in the US I’ve finally had a chance to watch the National Geographic Amish specials (on ex-Amish, and Amish courtship and marriage) in full. You may recall a couple of posts on these last fall: Leaving the Amish and Amish dating.  I didn’t comment too much at the time, having only seen the [...]

Continue reading National Geographic Amish specials–another look

The familiar yellow buggy warning sign shouts “Amish ahead!”  But there is no standardized design. So the signs you see can vary. Below, a few of the various Amish buggy warning signs you’ll find across America. From Dauphin County, near Elizabethville, Pennsylvania.  Dauphin County is home to a sizeable Lancaster Amish daughter settlement. Taken near [...]

Continue reading Buggy signs across America

Happy Groundhog Day! (UPDATED BELOW) Something tells me that with the weather lately, old Punxsutawney Phil might just see his shadow, dooming us to 6 weeks more winter.  Punxsutawney, of course, is the central Pennsylvania town known for holding the most prominent Groundhog Day celebration, complete with a tuxedoed band of residents known as the [...]

Continue reading Groundhog Day Brain Dump: Punxsutawney Amish, “Grundsow Lodges”, and the Miracle Heater in court?

Why do people leave the Amish? Charles Hurst and David McConnell identify two main reasons in An Amish Paradox, their study of the Amish in Holmes County, Ohio.  According to the authors, these are “the desire for fewer lifestyle restrictions”, and “the desire for a more intense religious experience.” Ex-Amish have created a number of [...]

Continue reading The ex-Amish community

Did you know that Missouri has North America’s 7th-largest Amish population, with roughly 9,500 Amish (Young Center, 2010)? Missouri is a state, like New York or Wisconsin, that has attracted much Amish settlement in recent years.  The “Show Me” State has added roughly 2 dozen new settlements over the past two decades, averaging more than one [...]

Continue reading Amish in Missouri

Three points I wanted to discuss on the Missouri Amish abuse case.  I confess my previous post on the issue was a bit hastily and not too terribly well written.  I also wish I were more of an expert on the Amish approach to two kingdoms doctrine as it would likely come in handy in [...]

Continue reading Follow-up on the Missouri Amish abuse case

This is a disheartening story (no longer online) which I’ve meant to address, about child abuse in one Amish community. Four bishops in a Missouri Amish community have been charged with failing to report sexual abuse inflicted by an adult member of the community upon two children.  Clearly there is no moral question that abuse [...]

Continue reading Missouri Amish Abuse Story