Well, despite the inclement weather, I managed to get up to Lancaster County and to my friends ‘Daniel’ and ‘Mary’, where I’ll be staying the next few days. The last hour-and-a-half or so, from the PA line onward, was pretty hairy, as snow and ice accumulation made driving tricky. I pulled in late Tuesday night [...]
Continue reading Getting my kicks in Lancaster County, PA
One of my favorite pieces on the Amish is a Donald Kraybill examination of the four main affiliations of Holmes County, Ohio. This work does a great job of describing the cultural variety found within the Amish world. Reading it one is reminded of the difficulty of making broad generalizations about Amish society. The Amish [...]
Continue reading Swartzentruber to New Order: Donald Kraybill breaks down four Ohio Amish affiliations
‘In 1847, nine families, all Bylers, moved to Lawrence, PA, they were: Solomon, Christian, Yost, Daniel, Noah, John, Reuben, Rudy, and Eli, and were among the first Amish in that section. In year 1880 bishop Crist (Christian) Byler walked from Lawrence County to the Valley. He traveled a distance of 250 miles in 4 days [...]
Continue reading Blue doors, brown buggies: The Amish of New Wilmington, PA
Sitting on the lawn around the firepit last week with some Amish friends, talk turned to ‘White’ Jonas Stutzman, who once lived just a few miles away. Stutzman was one of the first Amish settlers in Holmes County. He was also one of the oddest. photo: behalt.com ‘White’ Jonas is portrayed in a local attraction, [...]
Continue reading The peculiar ‘White’ Jonas Stutzman
photo: Randall Persing Amish women let their hair grow from birth. If you ever catch an Amish female with her hair down, the sheer length of it can be surprising. In fact, with locks often reaching well past waist-length, the typical Amish head-covering seems to somehow bend the laws of physics. Where is their room [...]
Continue reading Amish follicle facts
photo: Randall Persing ‘You can have any color you like, as long as it’s black’. So said Henry Ford, perhaps mythically, about his quintessential Model T auto. If you’re an Amish woman, have any color you like, as long as it’s solid. Non-patterned dress is one thing that sets Amish women apart from other Plain [...]
Continue reading Any color you like…
One thing that sets the Amish apart from many Mennonite groups, and for that matter most other religious bodies: they don’t recruit. Amish typically neither condemn nor encourage attempts to join. They may seem a bit discouraging towards the idea. If the subject comes up, usually you hear something like ‘if you don’t grow up [...]
Continue reading So you want to join the Amish
The Nebraska Amish find themselves on the ultraconservative edge of Amish society. ‘Nebraska’ is something of a misnomer, however. This group is found mainly in Mifflin County, PA, in the diverse ‘Big Valley’ region. A second, smaller group is found in northeastern Ohio. The Nebraska tag comes from the origin of the group’s founding bishop, [...]
Continue reading The Nebraska Amish
