Amish Communities in Virginia

As of 2023, Amish are found in roughly a dozen locations throughout Virginia, with many communities being founded in just the past several years. Check out our Virginia Amish state guide for a complete look at Amish throughout the state. Or see articles on Amish communities in Virginia below.

Halifax County, Virginia Amish

Halifax County on the NC/VA border in southern Virginia is home to a tiny Amish community.  On my recent Amish trip I paid a brief visit. Halifax County is one of just 4 Amish communities in Virginia.  If you missed it I shared some photos of one of the others here: Charlotte County, Virginia Amish. The Halifax County community was founded in 2005, and is…

Five Amish Buggy Styles

Five Amish Buggy Styles

I thought I’d share a bit more on one of the most obvious visual markers of Amish – the buggy.  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…

Charlotte County, Virginia Amish

A few quick photos from the Amish settlement in Charlotte County, Virginia.  This is a small community of just one church district.  Amish here drive Lancaster County grey buggies. Have been having a great visit (am currently in Lancaster County, and visiting PA Dutch markets around Philadelphia today), though internet is pretty scarce!   A Virginia Amish buggy sign. No word if “Rudolph” is a popular name for…

Four-state Amish tour

Tomorrow (Monday) I ship off on a weeklong trip to East Coast Amish communities.  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.  The others are all new. Curious if anyone is familiar with these communities….

Southern Amish

Southern Amish

photo:  Scroonch From Lancaster, Pennsylvania, through Ohio and Indiana and on out to other long-established settlements in Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas, we tend to associate the Amish with the nation’s middle latitudes.  Since their earliest years in America, the Amish have gravitated to the cooler climes of these corn and dairy regions.  However, the Amish have also had a long history of attempting to settle…

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A ‘puppy mill’ returns in sheep’s clothing?

The Virginia Amish dog breeder whose kennel burnt down in March may just get another crack at his trade, the Roanoke Times reports. Promising a new facility ‘with amenities that exceed U.S. Department of Agriculture requirements for breeding operations’, the unlucky Amishman’s case for a ‘conditional use permit’ was passed on to the final-decision stage Monday by the Bland County planning comission. This despite activists,…

Leaving, once again

Following up a recent AA post on Amish families leaving the church, Kevin Williams at the Amish Cook is blogging an article on a down-south Lancaster-transplant Amish clan that ends up ‘going Pentecostal’. Some good points made by Kevin and the commenters…I would only add this:  on the article-writer describing the Amish ‘believing the use of modern technology to be a sin’…that really ain’t so….

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Puppy tragedy in Virginia

A sad story out of Virginia:  an Amish-owned puppy breeding facility has burned down, with dozens of adults and pups dying in the early-morning blaze. The owner has claimed that his facility was well-run, humane, and that dogs were shown proper care, though the setup apparently violated a local zoning ordinance. AP photo Some feel that the facilities could have been better run, however.  In…