On our recent post “Nearly 40 Amish Youth Partygoers Arrested,” reader Al in KY commented about an unusual billboard. It can now be seen on the edge of Shipshewana, the center of the northern Indiana Amish community where the arrests occurred: Near the intersection of Hwys 5 and 20 (the main, very busy intersection as […]

Continue Reading Who Put Up This “Anti-Rumspringa” Billboard?

Do Amish people get immunized? Are they healthier than other Americans? How do Amish pay hospital bills? Do they use alternative medicine? This week, a look at the ways Amish approach health care and medicine: Do Amish visit doctors?   Yes. Amish do make use of conventional medical services including doctors, hospitals, clinics, opticians, dentists, and others. […]

Continue Reading 9 Questions on The Amish & Health

Last summer we saw news of a Pennsylvania township which wanted Amish buggy owners to adhere to an uncommon array of requirements. These were diapers for horses (to prevent manure on roads and related health concerns), rubber horseshoes (to protect road surfaces), and even numbering on all four sides of the buggy, so that violators […]

Continue Reading PA Township Won’t Require Horse Diapers & Rubber Shoes After All

Why do some Amish use scooters, but not bikes? It’s a common question. I’ve never really come across a definitive answer, though have hit upon a theory or two after looking into it. Today at Lancaster Online, Steve Nolt provides an answer. It includes a couple of elements I did not expect. First, some brief […]

Continue Reading Why Do Some Amish Ride Scooters (But Not Bicycles)?

Reader Lee Annette recently visited Kalona, Iowa – both the town and the surrounding Amish community. Some of you might recall that Don Burke gave us a thorough look at this settlement in 2014, via his set of beautiful winter photos of the area. Photo by Don Burke Kalona is the oldest and largest Amish […]

Continue Reading Visiting Kalona, Iowa: The Town & Amish Community (23 Photos)

A story published this week by Type Investigations and Cosmopolitan magazine has collected the accounts of victims of sexual abuse in Amish communities. Author Sarah McClure also tallied up cases of abuse by Amish offenders over a two-decade span. McClure reached a total of 52 documented cases of abuse across seven states in her investigation. […]

Continue Reading Report Highlights 50+ Sexual Abuse Cases In Amish Communities Over Two Decades

We recently saw some wild Amish youth behavior on a small scale, when four Amish youth were charged with offenses including underage drinking and disturbing the peace. That number went up by almost tenfold this past weekend in northern Indiana. Nearly 40 Amish teens and young adults were arrested between two area parties attended by […]

Continue Reading Nearly 40 Amish Youth Partygoers Arrested

Do Amish women cut their hair? Do Amish people ever wear sneakers or athletic shoes? What are broadfall trousers? What’s the difference between a bonnet and a kapp? This week, a look at questions on the Amish and plain clothing: Why do Amish women cover their heads? The practice of head covering is derived from […]

Continue Reading 13 Questions on Amish Clothing

In tragic instances dating back to at least 2004, otherwise healthy Amish boys and girls have died suddenly while playing, with no clear explanation as to why. These cases occurred not in one community, but in multiple states including Pennsylvania, Delaware, Kentucky, and Iowa. Now, this mystery spanning 15+ years has been solved. Research looking […]

Continue Reading Mystery Of Sudden Cardiac Death In Amish Children Solved

“Being up in the mountains, seeing God’s creation and the awesomeness of it, really makes God real. The quietness, the peacefulness. Sometimes it’s stormin’ and blowin’, and it reminds us of the power God has,” Yoder explains. “In my everyday life, I feel a connection to God. I feel like I have God on my […]

Continue Reading Amish Backcountry Skiers In St. Ignatius, Montana

Wondering when the mud sales are happening this year in Lancaster County? Not sure what a mud sale is? Read on for the full schedule and more. When are the mud sales in Lancaster County? (Jump to full 2020 Mud Sale Schedule) The annual mud sales take place starting next month, with the bulk occurring […]

Continue Reading Amish Mud Sales – Lancaster County 2020 Schedule

“This kind of stuff happens all the time with them.” That’s area resident Cyndi Tipton, on an incident involving local Amish youth. The young men’s behavior led to charges including underage drinking and disturbing the peace. The four young Amish men, ages ranging from 19 to 20, also were charged with providing false information to […]

Continue Reading Four Amish Youth Plead Guilty To Underage Drinking, Disturbing The Peace

Millie Otto is an Amish woman living in the Arthur, Illinois settlement. I’ve mentioned her here before, including in the “3 Amish Columnists You Might Enjoy” post. From time to time I read her column, which is carried in several news outlets, including the Champaign, IL News-Gazette. She is one of several Amish columnists printed […]

Continue Reading 3 Things I Like About Millie Otto’s Weekly Column

From WKBN: WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) – Christmas time may be over, but one group is still in the Christmas spirit. Members of the Amish and Mennonite community hosted a Christmas dinner for those in need on Saturday. They reached out to the Salvation Army in Warren for a space to do it. The Christmas on […]

Continue Reading Amish & Mennonites Host Christmas Dinner For People In Need

Do Amish kitchens have refrigerators? How do Amish light their homes? Do Amish homes have shutters? What about upholstered furniture? Today we look at 12 questions on Amish homes. As before I’ve excerpted several below; you’ll find the link to the full list at the end. Do Amish kitchens have refrigerators? Many if not most […]

Continue Reading 12 Questions on Amish Homes

As we wrap up the 2010s, a look back at some favorite posts of the past 12 months. My thanks to all of you who took the time to read, share and comment on posts this year. Wishing you all good things in 2020 ~ Erik Church 6 Examples of Amish Ordnung Rules Colorado Amish […]

Continue Reading Favorite Posts Of 2019

We caught a glimpse of North Carolina’s Swartzentruber Amish settlement in an article back in May, when someone interviewed a man from this community as he waited at an Alabama Amtrak station. More recently I previewed the community auction which was to take place in late November. Amish began moving to the area near Ellenboro, […]

Continue Reading Visiting North Carolina’s Swartzentruber Amish Community (31 Photos)

Lenawee County, Michigan authorities hope to find a compromise with Amish over sewage and water violations in an ongoing conflict in this southern Michigan community. That’s according to a new article in the Daily Telegram. The report contains more details about how waste is handled by the Amish: The health department said it started receiving […]

Continue Reading Michigan County Seeks Compromise With Amish In Sewage Conflict

Amish from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana visited the President and Vice President in the Oval Office Friday, as reported in the Washington Times. This was apparently the first time Amish people have visited the White House in this capacity (with one possible exception, see below). The Amish as a whole are not overtly political, so this […]

Continue Reading Amish Delegation Visits White House

Do the Amish read the Bible at home? Which Testament do they emphasize? Do they use the Apocrypha? Following last week’s 11 Questions On Amish Beliefs, this week we look at 6 questions on the Amish and the Bible. I’ve excerpted two of them, and you can find the rest at the link below. Which […]

Continue Reading 6 Questions on The Amish & The Bible

Like most Americans, the Amish celebrate Christmas (in fact, some celebrate more than one Christmas). Several seasons ago, Rebecca Miller shared five ways Amish spend the Christmas season with us. Rebecca, member of an Ohio Amish church, closed her list with this: “The main focus of the season is still first of all remembering Christ […]

Continue Reading A (Calm) Christmas Shopping Weekend In Amish Country (25 Photos)

In August we learned that a Michigan county had deemed Amish homes “unfit for human habitation.” The reason? Outhouses and lack of running water, which created what were described as unsafe living conditions. Photo by Mary Speer/WTOL Eviction loomed, and jail and fines were possible. There was even a threat of the homes being bulldozed. Now […]

Continue Reading ACLU Sues To Stop Michigan County From Demolishing Amish Homes

I put together a resource a few years ago concisely answering several hundred questions on the Amish. These are organized in 41 categories, covering everything from buggies and clothing to Amish women and work. I realized I never publicized this much, as it’s sort of lived in the background of the site under the “FAQ” […]

Continue Reading 11 Questions Answered on Amish Beliefs

Melissa Thomas was one of the main speakers at this summer’s Amish Health and Wellness Conference. She described her efforts as director of the Center for Appalachia Research and Cancer Education, which helps Amish women in Ohio get mammograms. This work is also detailed in a new piece by WOSU Public Media. What jumped out […]

Continue Reading Mobile Breast Cancer Screening Clinic Serves Amish Women

One of the more memorable experiences of my Holmes County visit was an early-morning stop at Indian Trail Harness Shop. Rich Stevick and I were out for a day of visiting. This was our first stop of the day, and a random one (sometimes those are the best). We noticed the place traveling up from […]

Continue Reading Saw Blade Art by Edna Troyer

Following up 8 Snapshots From My Lancaster County Visit, here are 20 photos from my recent stay in Holmes County. The weather was on the gloomy side, and though my trip was short, I managed to pack a lot into 24 hours. That included 9 or 10 visits (some with old friends, some with new […]

Continue Reading 20 Snapshots From My Holmes County Visit (Updated)

In what’s become a winter tradition, another Amish Guy Buggy Skiing video has emerged. This latest one comes from Long Prairie, Minnesota, where we see an Amish fellow skiing by the roadside, pulled by an open carriage. I checked and this is actually our second skiing video of this calendar year. Maybe the incidence of […]

Continue Reading Amish Guy Buggy Skiing, End-Of-Year Edition (Video)

Car drivers complain about the lack of visibility of Amish buggies, particularly those of the plainest (Swartzentruber) churches. This group of Amish is highly resistant to change. But do Swartzentruber Amish never bend when it comes to making changes to their buggies? We’ve now seen more than one example showing that, in fact, they do. […]

Continue Reading One Swartzentruber Community’s (Unique?) Buggy Visibility Improvement

Two readers wrote to make sure I didn’t miss this article. Dr. James DeLine has had a remarkable career as the “country doctor” of a small Wisconsin village – spending a good portion of his time treating Amish. The article is a long look at his work and career. I was drawn to this story […]

Continue Reading Dr. James DeLine On 30 Years Treating Amish In Wisconsin

New Amish settlements come about in different ways. Sometimes settlers from different places mesh differing backgrounds and church standards to create a new community. More often they have a distinct parent community responsible for the bulk of their initial residents. The daughter communities typically resemble the parent community – but are not necessarily carbon copies […]

Continue Reading Mother & Daughter Communities – Comparing 3 Amish Settlements (39 Photos)

I’m back now from my multi-week Amish journey, spanning five states. This trip took in everything from palm trees and short sleeves in Florida to a layer of snow on the ground yesterday morning in Pennsylvania. After logging around 3000 road miles, I am ready to kick my feet up for a bit! I planned […]

Continue Reading 8 Snapshots From My Lancaster County Visit

Yesterday in Holmes County, my friend Myron shared the following poem with Rich Stevick and me. Later in the day we shared it with a few more Amish friends, who seemed to like it. I hope you do too. Happy Thanksgiving. I Am Thankful – Poem Of Thanksgiving I am thankful: For the wife Who […]

Continue Reading “I Am Thankful”

I’m traveling on the way to Ohio now and haven’t had a chance to put together a post on Saturday’s visit to NC’s Swartzentruber Amish community and their first annual auction. It was a great visit and you can expect to see more on that soon. Here’s a preview shot, of an Amish auction patron […]

Continue Reading Evening Views From Burke’s Garden, Virginia (14 Photos)

Pete Bannan from the Daily Local News recently visited the scene of an Amish wedding in Chester County, Pennsylvania. This is the county which neighbors Lancaster County to the east, and where a sizeable portion of that community’s members live. Image: Pete Bannan – MediaNews Group While it doesn’t look like he got a lot […]

Continue Reading Pennsylvania Amish Wedding Photos

Amish Acres, in the Nappanee, Indiana community, is one of the best-known Amish tourist destinations, so this news surprised me. The owners are heading for retirement after 50+ years running the business. Amish Acres will shut down this year on New Year’s Eve. There are currently no set plans for it to be taken over. […]

Continue Reading Amish Acres Is Closing

A funeral director serving the Amish in Lancaster County says that Amish rarely donate organs. But the law still requires that the bodies of the deceased be held “until an organ procurement organization reviews the case and releases the body.” This hold-up frequently causes distress to Amish families who wish to proceed with traditional viewing […]

Continue Reading The Amish & Organ Donation

The Amish community in the Sarasota-area Pinecraft neighborhood is one of the most unique Amish settlements. I went into more on why in the Florida Amish state guide page, as well as in the 40+ photo post about my 2013 visit. So if you don’t know much about this unusual community, I’d suggest checking out […]

Continue Reading Another Visit To The Amish At Pinecraft (44 Photos)

This story caught my attention first for how the paper framed it with their headline: “Horses lead the way to a less peaceful coexistence in Amish country.” Is that meant to be a cute title? It sounds like it is strictly blaming the Amish for the conflicts, at the least. The article addresses two issues, […]

Continue Reading Washington Post: Horses “Lead The Way” To Less Peace In Amish Country

So I’ll be visiting various Amish communities over the next several weeks, starting tomorrow in Florida. Expect to see some posts from these places in the coming days. I’ve been to all of these at least once, except for the NC community. Linked posts from the last time I was in each settlement below. If […]

Continue Reading My Amish Travel Schedule (Nov-Dec 2019)

Some Amish people make a supplemental income – and sometimes a full living – through what might be termed “alternative animal breeding”. These are not your everyday cows, pigs, and chickens we’re talking about. The authors of Nature and the Environment in Amish Life explore this topic in chapter 6 of their book (“Tinkering with […]

Continue Reading 4 Types Of Alternative Animal Businesses Run By Amish

Pioneer Equipment is a longstanding Amish manufacturer which makes horse-drawn equipment, wagons and other vehicles, and related implements. The company got its start in the mid-1970s when Wayne Wengerd and his father Henry tested out a plow prototype on a back field of their land, a response to the growing lack of horse-drawn equipment available […]

Continue Reading A Closer Look At Amish-Owned Pioneer Equipment (Wayne County, Ohio)

Leaders of a sizeable Amish community in Ohio have accepted a new safety enhancement on their buggies. These are not the Swartzentruber Amish living in Ashland County (though that group has been open to buggy safety changes as well). A second group of Amish living near the city of Ashland are one of the more […]

Continue Reading Amish Group Known For Unusual Safety Triangles Expected To Add New Safety Enhancement

“You’re supposed to defend yourself if you’ve been aggressed upon.” That’s what Ora Hochstetler, now 82, says in his own defense, a half-century after his excommunication from the Amish church. He likens it to a famous battle from Scripture: “Kind of like David and Goliath. I don’t believe in just going out and boom, kill […]

Continue Reading Ex-Amish Army Veteran Recalls His Excommunication A Half-Century Ago

Amish father Jonas Stoltzfus recently filed a lawsuit challenging a new New York state law requiring students to be fully immunized against contagious disease. Stoltzfus says he was informed that his three children will be blocked from attending their Cranberry Marsh School, a traditional Amish school in this Seneca County settlement of six church districts. […]

Continue Reading NY Judge: No Religious Vaccination Exemption For Amish

Going back again through some photos from earlier this year, I realized I still had a lot of shots from my visits to Charlotte County, Virginia. I’ve already written about this community several times – in posts on an “off-the-map” Amish dry goods store, on Amish phone shacks, and on Esh’s Variety Stand, a little […]

Continue Reading 10 Views Of The Charlotte County, Virginia Amish Community

Reader Marge asked on our recent Amish funeral customs post, “Why do Amish not publish obits in local newspapers?” I responded that they do in fact appear in local papers. You can quite often find them online. Here is an example: an Amish man named Roman E. Harshberger, 70, of the Nappanee, Indiana community, passed […]

Continue Reading An Amish Obituary

We once had a monthly Amish auction update thanks to the hard work of one helpful reader, but there are too many of them for me to keep up with on my own. However, from time to time I like to promote upcoming auction events, especially ones you readers keep me posted on. Bob has […]

Continue Reading 13th Annual Beeville Amish Auction (Bee County, Texas)

The Amish community at Ellenboro, North Carolina is having an auction next month – the first annual sale for the five-year-old Swartzentruber settlement. What’s neat here is that the auction company has taken extensive photos of the things up for sale, posting over 100 photos online (viewable here). The Amish are not “frozen in time”, […]

Continue Reading 10 Interesting Household Items From A North Carolina Swartzentruber Amish Auction

“I did not tell them I was leaving…I left them a note, and left.” Miriam Lambright says that “looking outside, I was like – there’s more there.” Leaving her community meant “freedom.” Miriam left the Amish seven years ago, at age 22. Her story is briefly told in a new video from Milwaukee station WTMJ. […]

Continue Reading Wisconsin Woman Leaves Amish Community, Starts Successful Bakery

Someone is swiping Amish buggy warning signs in Delta County, Michigan. After the latest round of thefts, the total of stolen signs is now four. And this is not just the sign the thief is taking – whoever is doing it, is actually uprooting the post as well – from three feet of concrete. Buggy […]

Continue Reading Someone Is Stealing Amish Buggy Signs (Delta County, Michigan)

An 11-year-old Amish boy was shot and killed Wednesday afternoon by his sibling in the Adams County, Indiana community. Details are vague at this time, but sources are describing it as “accidental“, and I’d assume that to be the case. Images by wpta21.com This is just one of numerous shootings involving Amish children and youth […]

Continue Reading Amish Boy Shot & Killed By Sibling – At Least The 12th Accidental Amish Child Shooting Since 2010

We’ve got a winner today of the book Our Amish Values: Who We Are and What We Believe by Lester Beachy. Before we jump to that, I wanted to share one section from the book. If you didn’t catch the original post, it’s a concise book, with great photos of Amish life, in which Beachy […]

Continue Reading Our Amish Values Winner (Plus Section Z on “Zeal”)

Amish residents near Berlin, Ohio have been complaining about the odors emanating from a local rendering plant for some time. They’ve now been given an outlet to do so formally – and have taken advantage of it. An “odor hotline” has received around 450 complaint calls since being set up in July. The complaints are […]

Continue Reading Amish Plea For Help In Face Of Rendering Plant Stench (Updated)

A storm struck Monday in Webster County, Missouri, destroying three structures and damaging the home of one Amish family in the community. This would be the Seymour settlement, which is the state’s largest. Predictably, local Amish came together to get the family back on their feet. From ozarksfirst.com: In the barn, according to the homeowner, […]

Continue Reading 100+ Amish Rebuild After Storm Destroys Homestead (Video)

It’s Friday, so how about something light. So, here are a couple of guys who took an Amish buggy and strapped a jet engine onto the back of it. Why not. The two men behind the rocket buggy live somewhere in Amish country and are apparently racing enthusiasts. One of the two bought a jet […]

Continue Reading Jet-Powered “Thunder Buggy” Reaches 60 MPH

What do Amish believe on evolution? Do they wear jewelry? Why do they practice footwashing? When I was last in Holmes County, I picked up a neat little book by Lester Beachy, called Our Amish Values: Who We Are and What We Believe. Beachy has been a tour guide in the Holmes County Amish community, […]

Continue Reading 5 Amish Beliefs From Lester Beachy’s Our Amish Values

Lancaster Online recently published a series of articles on the Amish and social media use. Eight years ago this topic got attention when it was publicized in another Lancaster Online report that Amish youth were using Facebook. We also saw Facebook covered in books like Growing Up Amish: The Rumspringa Years. Yet time passes and […]

Continue Reading Amish & Social Media: Youth Now On Instagram; Women Using It For Business

“I feel like one thing they learned, is they ‎could stay culturally Amish, and doctrinally be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” That is an LDS church member speaking about 3 Ohio Amish convert families – in a new video titled “Amish Latter-day Saints: Blending Two Worlds into One”. This […]

Continue Reading “Amish & Mormon”: 8 Things That Caught My Eye In The Latest Video

Heading to the Amish community in Holmes County, and want to have a memorable meal? How about one served by an Amish family? I picked up this business card last time I was in the community: I haven’t tried this so can’t personally vouch, but it seems like a nice option if you’d like some […]

Continue Reading Eat A Meal In An Amish Home (Holmes County, Ohio)

It’s been a little over 2 weeks since the crash that claimed the lives of siblings Caleb, Fannie Mae, and Elizabeth Miller. Last week, Ronald Ramsey, who was driving the vehicle that struck the children’s buggy in Eaton County, Michigan, spoke to media. I can’t help but feel great sympathy for this man. He explains […]

Continue Reading Driver In Michigan Buggy Crash Speaks

Half of them are in Indiana. Two apiece in Pennsylvania and Ohio. And one in Illinois. The list of the top 10 largest Amish settlements doesn’t change much from year-to-year. These places generally have similar steady growth, and relatively few people leaving. Photo by Don Burke Still, I like to do a fresh post from […]

Continue Reading The 10 Biggest Amish Communities (2019)

I was going through some photos today from my June visit to Lancaster County. There are some nice odds and ends here I’d like to share with you. I don’t really have a theme for these, other than “photos I liked”. So without further ado… 1. Beware of Nuts – This warning sign hangs by […]

Continue Reading 10 Favorite Photos From My Last Visit To Lancaster County

This is an odd story. A certain endangered orchid happens to grow in only one spot in vast Canada. That spot happens to be in a little area outside the community of Vita, Manitoba – where a new Amish settlement came to be last year. One of the settlement’s farmers is now in hot water for […]

Continue Reading Should A Rare Orchid Stop An Amish Farmer From Working His Land?

I’m pointing this accident out as an example of a buggy road danger which I think is under-covered. Speed and lighting get a lot of attention, but hills are another big threat to Amish buggies. An Amishman is recovering with a broken neck in northern New York following an accident involving a hill. By the […]

Continue Reading Amishman Suffers Broken Neck After Car Crests Hill, Hits Buggy

Two volunteer firefighters have been charged with arson in the burning of an Amish furniture shop in Pennsylvania. The community in question is Smicksburg (Indiana County), one of the larger settlements in the state. Byler’s Custom Built Aspen Log Furniture burned down in a fire back in January. This was one of four Amish business […]

Continue Reading Two Volunteer Firefighters Arrested For Burning Down Amish Furniture Shop

Reader Jim Halverson, who gave us a look at the Amish of Lagrange County, Indiana last summer, recently attended Yoder’s Consignment Auction in the same community. Jim spotted differences in the styles of clothing of those in attendance – particularly noticeable in the women’s dress. Clearly the Amish at the event were not all from […]

Continue Reading Amish Women’s Clothing – What Differences Do You Notice? (16 Photos)

What are Amish customs regarding funerals – specifically the viewing, service, and burial? It’s a somber topic, but in the latest Amish Cook column, Dorcas Raber, mother of regular columnist Gloria Yoder, steps in to describe Amish funeral traditions. I’ve been to an Amish funeral, and also a viewing in a separate instance, though have […]

Continue Reading Amish Funeral Traditions: The Viewing, Service & Burial

How would you feel about taking your life in your hands just to pick up some boxes of cereal? This one-minute video, shot from the cockpit of an Amish buggy, really brings home the experience of those Amish people who must regularly travel on busy highways – just to get basic errands done. Much of […]

Continue Reading Ride Along To The Grocery Store With An Amish Farmer (Video)

Back in February, we looked at four major financial schemes which Amish had fallen victim to since 2008. A principal figure in one of those schemes has now been ordered to pay restitution. One thing to mention up front: articles on this are describing Earl D. Miller as “Amish” (of course, that’s a catchier and […]

Continue Reading Earl D. Miller Ordered To Repay $5.2 Million, Mostly To Amish Investors

Both Amish and English members of the Vermontville, Michigan community have come together to support the family who lost three children in a buggy accident Wednesday. Below we’ve got comments from Amish and English locals. There’s also information if you’d like to send a card or donate money to support this family. The good news […]

Continue Reading Community Supports Grieving Amish Family; 6-Year-Old Survivor In Stable Condition [Updated]

It was just three months ago that three young Amish siblings were killed in a buggy crash in southern Michigan. Tragically, the story has repeated itself, in another part of the state. This time, it seems alcohol was not involved. The driver struck the children’s buggy as they returned home from school. From Lansing State […]

Continue Reading 3 More Amish Children Killed In Michigan Buggy Crash

You might have noticed that Amish settlements tend to cluster together on the map. Especially in high-Amish-population states, many communities lie within a short drive or even buggying distance. In fact, most individual Amish settlements are going to be within a half-hour to an hour’s car drive from at least one other settlement. Even when […]

Continue Reading 5 Remote Amish Settlements

This is what an Amish buggy equipped with a stereo system looks like. These are big speakers and can surely put out some noise: It’s unclear if they were turned on when sheriff’s deputies pulled this buggy over in the Geauga County Amish community. The occupants of the carriage promptly ran off. From wspa.com: Just […]

Continue Reading Amish Youth Abandon Stereo-Equipped Buggy After Being Pulled Over

A month ago we looked at the first Amish settlement in Canada – that of Milverton, Ontario. In the post I referenced a quote from Fred Lichti, a Mennonite pastor who lives in nearby Elmira. Fred had this to say in a talk on the community: These Amish in the Milverton area have continued to […]

Continue Reading The Milverton, Ontario Amish School Auction

Amish began moving to Manistee County, Michigan in the summer of 2018. A year later, there are nine families in this county which borders Lake Michigan, with more expected. In a nice article at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, three of those families share some insights on Amish life, and how they’ve adapted in the new […]

Continue Reading Thoughts From 3 Amish Families In A New Michigan Community

I missed this odd story when it appeared in late August. Someone is stealing hemp plants from two Amish farmers in Chester County (part of the greater Lancaster County settlement). I wasn’t even aware Amish were growing hemp, which is used to make a wide array of products including clothing, rope, insulation, plastics, and biofuel. […]

Continue Reading Is Hemp The New Amish Cash Crop?

Do you remember the “Amish Seventh-Day Adventists“? Andy and Naomi Weaver, former members of a Swartzentruber Amish church, were featured in a post here two years ago. They had been interviewed for an article and Seventh-day Adventist television program, telling the story of how they left the Amish for the Adventist faith. Not long ago […]

Continue Reading Amish Seventh-Day Adventists? A Look At The West Salem Mission

Sometimes you just know a place is “Amish” at first sight. That was the case as we drove by and spotted Pineview Bulk Food & Deli, just a couple of miles outside the quaint town of Farmville, Virginia. I had a couple of addresses of Amish places in the community, but found my phone signal […]

Continue Reading A Visit To Pineview Bulk Food & Deli – Farmville, VA (30 Photos)

How do Amish pay medical bills, if they don’t have health insurance? We get a look at how some Amish handle this in a new piece on Cincinnatti Public Radio. Amish famously do not use commercial health insurance, opting to rely on their own churches and extended communities when the need is great. And while […]

Continue Reading How Does An Amish Medical Aid Plan Work?

I found this article in the Washington Times Herald to offer a positive example of Amish and authorities working to solve a common problem – road damage cause by horses and buggies. This is a breath of fresh air compared to the way similar conflicts seem to be addressed in some places. The Amish in […]

Continue Reading Daviess County & Local Amish Work Together On Road Damage

I didn’t plan on this becoming a series, but we’ve had a nice run of articles lately with Amish people sharing their lives and beliefs (see posts on Indiana Amishman John Gingerich and Illinois Amishman Reuben Mast). I’ve enjoyed them, and hopefully you have too. It would be good to get a female Amish perspective […]

Continue Reading 5 Insights From Swartzentruber Amishman Sam Shetler

On its own, that’s a dramatic statement. There is some context, of course. First of all, who said it? This was Chet Lapp, a 37-year-old Amishman from Lancaster County. Lapp also happens to be a real estate agent in the community. From the WITF story by Rachel McDevitt: Chet Lapp, an Amish realtor, argues more of […]

Continue Reading Lancaster County Amish Realtor: “We have to move”

An Amishman was sentenced Thursday in Dauphin County, PA for sexually abusing four girls when he was a teenager. From Penn Live: The 11 ½- to 23-month prison term President Judge Richard A. Lewis imposed on King was set in an agreement King reached when he pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including aggravated indecent assault, […]

Continue Reading Sexual Abuse Awareness Program Leads To Arrest, Conviction Of Amishman

Residents have spoken out in one Lancaster County township – over a proposed change which would permit stabling of two horses on a half-acre lot. Voices were strong against the idea. From Lancaster Online: East Hempfield Township residents panned a proposal to let Plain sect households stable two horses on residential lots as small as […]

Continue Reading Residents Object To Amish-Friendly Horse Acreage Change; Vote Postponed, Lawsuit Possible

Dubious Amish content lists continue to pop up online. They must really be generating traffic for these sites! I debated whether to even post about this one, but I couldn’t resist. Following 20 Unique Ways Amish Raise Their Children and 15 “Insane” Rules For Amish Children, we come to “25 Little Secrets No One Knows […]

Continue Reading 25 “Secrets No One Knows” About The Amish

Plain teamwork was on display again in June, and again in the Geauga County Amish settlement. We last saw the Amish of this community picking up and moving a barn in March. In the video below, around 90 Amish lift and move a building described as a shed by video author Bill Jancsurak. Jancsurak commented […]

Continue Reading 90 Amish Move Another Building (Video)

Ever heard of Lehman’s? If you’ve been to the Holmes County Amish settlement, chances are you may have heard the place mentioned or seen it advertised. I have visited two or three times in the past. The store, technically located in the Amish area of Wayne County, has a direct connection with the Amish, dating back […]

Continue Reading 5 Interesting Facts About Lehman’s (Kidron, Ohio)

Amish in Lenawee County, Michigan were told they had until last Friday to leave their homes – due to “unsafe living conditions.” This comes after a years-long conflict between the county’s Amish and local authorities. Here’s a summary of the story til now, from WTOL: The first group arrived four years ago after branching off […]

Continue Reading Michigan County Deems Amish Homes “Unfit For Human Habitation”

Have you ever watched Amish “reality” TV? This type of programming made its first big splash in 2004 with “Amish in the City”. The series followed five Rumspringa-age Amish youth paired with a similar number of non-Amish young people living in a home in Los Angeles. “Amish in the City” was just a precursor of […]

Continue Reading The Ugly Reality Behind Amish “Reality” TV

Reuben and Wilma Mast belong to a New Order Amish church in Ava, Illinois. They live with their 10 children on a farm in this settlement of three church districts. Isaac Smith of The Southern Illinoisan visited the Mast farm on several occasions this spring and summer. His article shares extensive comments from Reuben on Amish life […]

Continue Reading 5 Insights From Illinois Amishman Reuben Mast

“The main thing I miss is my family. That’s the only thing I’d like to go back for.” John Shrock was one of several people featured in our recent 3 stories of leaving the Amish post. The now 25-year-old man grew up in a Wisconsin Amish community before leaving at age 17. Now he’s helping […]

Continue Reading Amish Exile John Shrock Helps Teen Who Left Same Community

From the Salamanca Press: Amish school children in Cattaraugus County will probably have to find another way to school this fall if they currently are transported by school bus along with public school students. New York’s new vaccination regulations eliminating religious exemptions — such as those claimed by the Amish — go into effect this […]

Continue Reading New York Vaccination Law Could Keep Amish Schoolchildren Off Buses

So after I visited Charlotte County, Virginia in April, I wrote about a local Amish variety stand. In that post I mentioned the following, about a different place: As I finished up my purchase, the girl directed me to a dry goods store not too far away. After she gave me directions explaining that it was […]

Continue Reading A Visit To An “Off The Map” Amish Dry Goods Store

Articles on Amish auctions are fairly common this time of year. I found this one on the Clearview School Quilt & Consignment Auction (Green County, WI) more interesting than most. Here are 3 things from this auction that jumped out at me: 1. Food Out Of An Amish School Window – Food is not the […]

Continue Reading 3 Things You Might Be Surprised To See At An Amish Auction

Unlike yesterday’s lead story, this is not of the feel-good variety. The Jamestown Post-Journal reports on an incident which happened Sunday in Warren County, PA: WARREN, Pa. — Information is being sought after a youth riding in an Amish buggy was struck in the face by a BB fired from an SUV in Warren County. […]

Continue Reading Amish Girl Shot In Face By BB Gun Fired From Vehicle

How about a feel-good story? Delta, Pennsylvania lies in extreme southern York County. Amish live in two places in the county – five or six church districts lying across the Susquehanna river (technically part of the Lancaster County settlement), and a separate stand-alone community. It turns out local Amish have been glad for the generosity […]

Continue Reading Pizzeria Owner Repays Amish Who Helped After 2013 Fire

In February we had a look at the first Amish settlement in North America, located at Northkill in Pennsylvania’s Berks County (founded approximately 1740). I recently came across an interesting Ontario historical blog with a photo of a plaque marking the location of the first Amish settlement in Canada, which came about some 80+ years […]

Continue Reading The First Amish Settlement in Canada

Lycoming County, PA’s Washington Township wants local Amish buggies and their horses to change – in a pretty big way. From Pennlive.com: ELIMSPORT – “Blatant discrimination” is what an attorney for Old Order Amish says about proposed ordinances in a rural Lycoming County township that would require horses on public roads to wear a device […]

Continue Reading PA Township Seeks Horse Diapers, Rubber Horseshoes, & 4-Side-Numbering For Amish Buggies

The Young Center has just published their annual Amish population numbers. As of 2019, an estimated 342,100 Amish live in four different countries. That includes Amish in: 31 US States 4 Canadian Provinces One settlement each in Bolivia and Argentina There don’t seem to be any big surprises after looking over the figures. Unlike most […]

Continue Reading From Idaho to Argentina: The Amish Population in 2019

Members of a Missouri Mennonite community have forgiven the teenaged driver who struck a buggy July 11th, resulting in the death of a 7-year-old boy. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Meanwhile, some men in the Mennonite community have met with the boy to forgive him for killing 7-year-old Mervin Shirk. “They wanted him to know […]

Continue Reading Mennonites Forgive Driver Who Killed 7-Year-Old Boy

It seems the most contentious issue with Amish moving into Lancaster County towns and subdivisions has to do with housing horses. Amish have been seeking allowances to keep horses on smaller-than-normally-permitted properties. Who among the Amish wants to live in a suburban or “in-town” home? These may be young families, or older retired couples, who […]

Continue Reading Lancaster County Resident Objects To Amish Keeping 2 Horses On Half-Acre Lots

What is an Amish directory? Why do Amish publish them? What kind of info do they contain? In the early days of this website, I did a post on the subject, with a look at my 2002 northern Indiana directory. Don Burke is here to explain further what these guides are, and why you’ll find […]

Continue Reading All About Amish Directories

The Amish in Texas County, Missouri are few in number. Nonetheless, they’ve found themselves frequent victims on the roads lately. A woman and her two children are in serious condition after their buggy was hit Friday night by a pickup truck. This was the third buggy accident in two years for this sparsely-populated southern Missouri […]

Continue Reading “Disrespect For Amish” – Underreported Cause Of Buggy Accidents?

Each year the Amish at St. Ignatius, Montana hold an auction to support their local school. This year’s edition just took place. From the Ronan, MT Valley Journal report: ST. IGNATIUS – Rain clouds opened up for a few minutes during the Amish community’s annual auction, held on Saturday, making a pile of watermelons glisten […]

Continue Reading The St. Ignatius, Montana Amish Auction

Do Amish people believe that when you take their photos, you also take their souls? I’ve heard this idea from time to time over the years. It has always seemed to me like an urban legend or romantic exaggeration – with perhaps just a loose basis in what Amish actually believe. The latest case comes […]

Continue Reading Do Amish Believe Taking A Photo Captures Their Souls?

Are the Amish “backward”? Do they miss modern things we take for granted? What’s the correct way to pronounce “Amish”? Chuck Lofton of news station WTHR recently rode along with John Gingerich, an Amishman who operates a tour buggy in Shipshewana in northern Indiana. John shared several interesting insights as they rode around town. He […]

Continue Reading 5 Insights From Indiana Amishman John Gingerich

The Health & Well-Being In Amish Society Conference took place a little over a month ago. I’ve finally gotten around to putting together some photos and highlights from the event to share with you today. The event took place on the beautiful Elizabethtown College campus. Here is Leffler Chapel, where the main speakers delivered their […]

Continue Reading Highlights From The 2019 Amish Health & Well-Being Conference

On the heels of the “20 Unique Ways Amish Raise Their Kids” article, another click-magnet piece popped up on my news feed this morning. This one is called “15 Insane Rules All Amish Kids Must Follow.” I take “Insane” in this context to mean crazy, odd, or absurd (that is, according to the article writer/editor). […]

Continue Reading 15 “Insane” Rules All Amish Children Must Follow..?

Are the Amish starting to pay more attention to a state they have – til now – mostly ignored? A new community in West Virginia appears to be the latest example of a fresh trend of migration to the state. West Virginia lies wedged between Ohio and Pennsylvania, the two biggest Amish-population states. But for […]

Continue Reading Is West Virginia Amish Settlement Picking Up?

The four Swartzentruber Amish plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit against the state of Minnesota over gray water disposal ended up losing their case in a ruling delivered in April. If you missed it, here’s a summary of the case/events, and our original post on the matter. Brian Lipford, the attorney for the Amishmen, has since […]

Continue Reading Karen Johnson-Weiner on The Minnesota Swartzentruber Amish Gray Water Case

What can you find in an Amish variety store? I’ve got over five dozen photos to share with you today from one of my favorites, so this should give you a pretty good idea 🙂 I recently returned, twice, to King’s Kountry Store in Halifax County, Virginia. I mentioned this place in my post earlier […]

Continue Reading A Visit to King’s Kountry Store in Halifax County, VA (68 Photos)

Where can you stay on an Amish farm? We often get this question, and happily around this time last year were able to point to amishfarmstay.com. The site lists Lancaster County Amish-owned properties where you can pay to stay overnight. As of last summer the site featured 6 Amish hosts; this year the listings have doubled […]

Continue Reading 12 Amish Farms Where You Can Stay Overnight (Lancaster County – 2019)

What’s it like to attend Amish church as an outsider? In previous posts, we followed Don and Pam Burke as they made their first trips to the Amish in Ohio and in Pennsylvania. In this third post in the series, Don and Pam take us along to a Lancaster County Amish church service*. If you’ve […]

Continue Reading A First Visit To The Amish: Attending Amish Church (9 Photos)

As mentioned in yesterday’s post on Amish hand-deconstructing a historic building, there is an Amish community at Guthrie, Kentucky, right near the Tennessee border. Guthrie is one of the more atypical Amish settlements, as it is an “electric New Order” community. The Amish here permit electricity in the home, and also fully use tractors, even […]

Continue Reading Is This The Oldest Amish Bakery?

It appears that the Lancaster County area will see a second controversial development come to fruition. Following the newly-approved satellite casino in Morgantown (technically in Berks County, on the edge of Lancaster’s Amish region), the Oregon Village housing development has been approved on a 3-2 vote by the Manheim Township Board of Commissioners. The development […]

Continue Reading Controversial Lancaster County “Oregon Village” Project Approved On 3-2 Vote

Who to call when you need your building “hand-demolished”? To the general public, “Amish” often equates to handcrafted – meaning hand-milked cows, handmade quilts, hand-built furniture, and the like (whether that perception is always accurate is another question). And in that spirit, one Tennessee city found that an Amish hands-on approach was exactly what they needed […]

Continue Reading Amish “Hand-Demolish” Historic Tennessee Building

We don’t often hear much on the Amish in Colorado, though there are a handful of Amish in the state, spread across four communities. But a recent snippet in the Conejos County Citizen brings word of the La Jara Amish settlement’s unusual plan…to build a meeting hall for community events: CONEJOS COUNTY — The La Jara […]

Continue Reading Colorado Amish Community To Build Meeting Hall

Lancaster Online reports on an increasingly popular option for housing among Amish in Lancaster County: But as their numbers grow, more Amish want to live in a village, town or suburban development and have a small stable for a horse, just as the non-Amish have garages for cars. “It’s become a trend among the Amish […]

Continue Reading Lancaster Amish Moving Into Towns & Subdivisions

Earlier this month, Don Burke gave us the story of how he first visited the Amish in Ohio, along with photos from that trip. We left off as he and his wife Pam were about to continue on — for a first visit to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. So let’s rejoin them now for the next […]

Continue Reading A First Visit to Amish Pennsylvania (23 Photos)

While at the Amish Health & Well-Being Conference, I had a chance to catch up with my friend Mark Curtis. Mark joined the Amish at age 50 and has been a member of the church at Belle Center, Ohio for over 15 years. Some of you might remember Mark’s father Don, who for years commented […]

Continue Reading Amish “Music Mystery Supper” (Guess These 14 Food Riddles) [Updated With Winner]

An Amishman was arrested for DUI in Kentucky after sideswiping a car with his buggy last week. The 34-year-old man was traveling with his wife and seven children, ages 9 months to 12 years old. He faces 10 felony counts as a result. The man first attempted to claim that one of his children was […]

Continue Reading Amishman Arrested For Driving Buggy While Intoxicated

Looks like gambling will be coming to the doorstep of Lancaster County’s Amish region after all. Despite protests from residents, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board voted yesterday, unanimously, to approve a new casino project: Pennsylvania regulators on Wednesday approved Penn National Gaming’s proposed satellite casino in Berks County to attract gamblers from Philadelphia’s growing western […]

Continue Reading PA Board Approves Casino On Edge of Lancaster Amish Country

The Amish are well-known for not attending higher institutions of learning. That noted, the business I want to share with you today might be the closest thing in America to an “on-campus” Amish operation. But first, a brief recap – I’ve just returned home after the better part of a week on an Amish trip. […]

Continue Reading A Visit To Campus Ridge Farm Market – Elizabethtown, PA (9 Photos)

An intoxicated driver rear-ended an Amish carriage Friday, taking three young lives: A fatal Friday collision involving an allegedly drunk truck driver and a horse-drawn buggy killed three children, said Michigan State Police. The Algansee Township crash, in which the pickup truck driver drove into the back of an Amish buggy, threw seven passengers — five […]

Continue Reading 3 Amish Children Killed By Drunk Driver In Michigan

If you’ve read this site for some time, you’ll know Don Burke has been a long-time contributor here, sharing his visits and top-notch photos from Amish communities around the country. For a few examples, see Don’s trips to Ethridge, Tennessee, inside a Missouri Amish home, or at an “Amish-ish” wedding. Today Don tells us the […]

Continue Reading A First Visit To Amish Ohio (24 Photos)

We have a winner today of Marcus Yoder’s new book, Cathedrals, Castles, and Caves: The Origins of the Anabaptist Faith. If you missed it, you can find the Q-and-A with Marcus here. Excerpt from Cathedrals, Castles, and Caves But before we get to the winner, an excerpt from the book. The following is the full Chapter 24, […]

Continue Reading Cathedrals, Castles & Caves: Winner & Excerpt (“Preacher On The Run”)

From the Portland Press Herald: AUGUSTA — Operators of horse-drawn buggies in Maine will be required to outfit their carriages with reflectors and lights due to a new law in the state. The proposal is designed to improve safety on the roads in Amish communities in the state, and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed it […]

Continue Reading Maine Governor Signs Law Requiring Buggy Lights & Reflective Tape

Pinecraft is Florida’s cozy Plain district – a Sarasota-area neighborhood where Amish and Mennonites go to keep their Vitamin D levels up in the chilly months. The community has existed since 1927, and is unique among Amish settlements in several ways. In addition to the seasonal visitors, who can number in the thousands, there is […]

Continue Reading Amish On Vacation (Pinecraft Photo Essay)

We’ve seen three stories in the media in just the past several days, of people who were born and raised Amish – but ended up leaving the church under widely differing circumstances. First a note: when we speak about “leaving the Amish”, this can mean more than one thing (at least the way it is […]

Continue Reading Leaving The Amish: 3 Stories

This is my friend Daniel Weaver. Daniel belongs to a New Order Amish church: You might remember him from the Guardian article “Our faith will be lost if we adopt technology” (which is where this photo comes from). Daniel just opened a market in his community of Morris (Otsego County) in upstate New York. The Daily […]

Continue Reading My Friend Daniel Weaver Has Opened A New Market (Morris, NY)

Cathedrals, Castles, and Caves: The Origins of the Anabaptist Faith is the new book by Marcus A. Yoder. Marcus serves as Executive Director of the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center and the Ohio Amish Library. Marcus and I touched base last December when I dropped by the Center (this is where I took the photos of […]

Continue Reading Marcus A. Yoder on Cathedrals, Castles, and Caves: The Origins of the Anabaptist Faith (Book Giveaway)

The first business I stopped at while in Charlotte County, Virginia last month was Esh’s Variety Stand. What is a “variety stand”? Well as you might guess, something like the more common variety store, but in stand form. I came across this neat little place shortly after arriving in the community, not far from where I […]

Continue Reading A Visit To An Amish Variety Stand (11 Photos)

Don Burke is back with a collection of wonderful photos from a visit to an off-the-main-drag Amish community. This one is located in Oregon County in southern Missouri. Don shares the story of his visit below. You can find more of Don’s photos here. Being a freelance photographer, when I recently discovered I had two-and-a-half spring […]

Continue Reading A Visit to the Amish of Alton, MO (16 Photos)

“We take horses as collateral all the time.” That’s Middlefield Bank vice president Al Thompson Jr. explaining how his institution works with Amish customers. Apparently, that practice goes against what lenders are taught (“never take anything for collateral that eats”). But for the Amish, the exception is worth it. “If they offer you the horse, you […]

Continue Reading 5 Facts On The Amish & Banks

Is Amish life “earth-friendly”? How do Amish view and treat animals? How does the Bible influence Amish perspectives of nature? Do Amish people eat an “all-natural” diet? Nature & The Environment in Amish Life is the new book by David McConnell and Marilyn Loveless. The authors investigate these and many other topics in great depth. One […]

Continue Reading David McConnell & Marilyn Loveless on Nature and The Environment in Amish Life (Q&A + Book Giveaway)

A tragic story from last Wednesday in central New York. Brothers Rudy and Feldy Miller drowned in a pond in their community after the floating dock they were on capsized: Feldy Miller, 12, and Rudy Miller, 21, who both lived at of 3603 Barr Road, Stockbridge, were pronounced dead the scene, Hood said. The accident occurred shortly […]

Continue Reading Amish Brothers, Ages 12 and 21, Drown in NY Pond

Did you know that Amish, Mennonites and related churches have a hotline that connects them 24 hours a day, 6.5 days a week? Atlas Obscura looks at the story of the Amish and Mennonite Conference Line, which was founded in 2006 by a man named Gary (last name omitted in the article). This is a […]

Continue Reading A Closer Look at the Amish & Mennonite Conference Line

Chris Gingerich, 47, is a member of North Carolina’s sole Swartzentruber Amish community. A writer for AL.com met Chris and his wife Iva, along with 2 of their 13 children, at the Amtrak station in Birmingham, Alabama. Writer Greg Garrison managed to have a nice conversation with Chris, which he shares in an article for […]

Continue Reading Swartzentruber Amishman Interviewed at Alabama Amtrak Station

My friend Rich Stevick is one of the organizers of a special event in Holmes County this weekend, held at an Amish youth center. Rich invites anyone who’s interested to come tomorrow (Friday, May 3rd). Here’s Rich: For any of you who might be visiting Holmes County, Ohio, this weekend, you will find an authentic […]

Continue Reading You’re Invited To A Swiss Singing & Amish Youth Center Event (Charm, OH)

A recent article (Lancaster Online) on the Lancaster Amish and development pressure brought some interesting facts about the county’s Amish population to the forefront. Most of these are from that article, with some additions and explanation by me. 5 Facts About Lancaster County’s Amish Population 1. The largest community – Lancaster County is home to an […]

Continue Reading 5 Facts On The Lancaster County Amish Population

Local NC station Fox8 recently did a “foodie report” on the Amish-owned Shiloh General Store, a popular destination in the Tar Heel State. The video below includes some nice comments from brother and sister Mark and Delilah Graber, who work at the store with their parents and five other siblings. They talk about baking sourdough […]

Continue Reading The Amish-Run Shiloh General Store – Hamptonville, NC (Video)

The Young Center at Elizabethtown College (Elizabethtown, PA) will host the conference “Health & Well-Being in Amish Society”, taking place June 6th-8th. I asked Young Center Senior Scholar Steven Nolt if he would share more on this event, for those who might be interested in attending. You’ll find his answers to my questions below. I […]

Continue Reading Steven Nolt on the 2019 Amish Health & Well-Being Conference

Gaming conglomerate Penn National plans to build a casino in Morgantown, on the edge of Lancaster County’s Amish region. This has spurred protests from local residents and religious leaders in the area. Edward Kurtz’s family used to own the land intended for the casino: A decision, Edward Kurtz, 86, whose Mennonite grandparents once owned and […]

Continue Reading Casino Planned For Edge Of Lancaster Amish Country

With Easter close at hand, Amish Cook columnist Gloria Yoder recalls Easter traditions, and reflects on the meaning of Christ in her life: When I was a young girl, our Amish youth group would go Easter caroling early in the morning. Long before the first crack of dawn, a team of workhorses was hitched to […]

Continue Reading Amish Cook Gloria Yoder: Easter Traditions & Reflections

Is there such a thing as an “Amish Latter-day Saint”? The video below tells the emotional tales of three Amish families who joined the LDS church. This recently-released film recalls a similar story on “Amish Seventh-Day Adventists“. This formulation – Amish + another denomination – is always attention-getting. Especially if you consider “Amish” to be […]

Continue Reading Amish Latter-Day Saints? (Video)

The first clue that I’d arrived in the Amish area of Charlotte County, Virginia was a sign warning of buggy traffic for the next 15+ miles. The second indication was this little building on the side of the road: There were phone shacks (or shanties) just like this one found throughout this community of two […]

Continue Reading A Closer Look at Amish Phone Shacks (11 Photos)

Yesterday I visited the small Amish community in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. It was a crisp early spring day. The people in this community, a Union Grove, NC daughter settlement, certainly chose a beautiful area to settle in. It’s a area of rolling hills, with lovely valleys and spans of thickly-wooded land. The settlement itself lies […]

Continue Reading The Amish of Pittsylvania County, VA (26 Photos)

How many eggs do Amish eat? How much do they can? How often do Amish order pizza or other food to the home? I’m currently reading the new book Nature & The Environment in Amish Life. Authors David McConnell and Marilyn Loveless include a survey revealing interesting points about the Amish diet. They compared the four […]

Continue Reading 5 Surprising Facts About The Amish & Food

An Amish boy in Highland County, Ohio was diagnosed with Hepatitis A on March 21. Due to the close-knit nature of Amish communities, and their overall lower vaccination rates, this posed a particular threat. But swift action by health department officials, and cooperation by the Amish community seems to have stopped a potential outbreak. From […]

Continue Reading Nearly 300 Amish Vaccinated Against Hepatitis A Outbreak

How about a little tour through Holmes County, Ohio? I realized I still have a lot of photos from last year’s visit. Since I’ll be going to some new communities starting next week, I thought it would be a good time to share them with you. These were taken over a couple days in early […]

Continue Reading Views From Around The Holmes County Amish Community (28 Photos)

I came across some remarkable historical photos on the PBS American Experience site. I believe these were connected with the release of the documentary film “The Amish” in 2012, but I missed them the first time around. There are a total of 13 shots in the gallery which you can view in full, and in […]

Continue Reading 6 Fascinating Historical Amish Photos

I have lately been seeing a lot of list posts on one or another aspect of Amish life. These typically have catchy titles and are designed to get you to click on them. Hard to resist a list! (I’ve been known to create a few myself 😉 ) One caught my eye this week – […]

Continue Reading 20 “Unique” Ways Amish Raise Their Children..?

Have a look at this buggy wreck photo…can you believe the driver escaped “shaken, but not injured”? The accident happened on Prince Edward Island, first settled by Amish in 2016. From the Canadian Press: A horse-drawn buggy was destroyed Wednesday morning after colliding with a truck on a rural road in the New Perth area, near […]

Continue Reading PEI Amish Buggy Annihilated; Driver Amazingly Uninjured

How to move a barn from point A to B with little more than bodies and hands? A gathering of Amish people recently showed how in the Geauga County community. The report is that “over 250 Amish men and others were there to to help move a pole barn from one side of a farm […]

Continue Reading 250 Amish Move A Barn (Video)

From time to time runaway Amish buggies make news, though it’s not something you come across often. However the past several days saw two such incidents reported. Luckily, no one was hurt in either case. But runaway horses have caused severe accidents in the past. The second incident in particular seems like it could have […]

Continue Reading Two Runaway Buggies In The Past 3 Days

What if you couldn’t buy medicine, ship packages, or even give blood – all because you lacked acceptable identification? Amish and Mennonites in Virginia who have been dealing with issues like this will have an alternative moving forward. The state has approved photo-free cards for those who object to conventional IDs. This will resolve issues […]

Continue Reading Virginia To Offer Amish & Mennonites Non-Photo IDs

You may have come across the term “Amish Mennonites” before. It popped up on the site here recently, in our post on the first Amish settlement in America. Both Jim Potter and Al in KY wondered, what does the term mean? You might see it in some accounts referring to a modernizing group which emerged […]

Continue Reading Who are the “Amish Mennonites”?

So another memorable stop from my recent Holmes County trip was at a farm I had first visited a decade earlier. This is a Swartzentruber Amish farm, technically located in Wayne County. They have a creaky signpost by the road displaying whatever it is they have for sale. At the time, the only items on […]

Continue Reading A Visit To A Swartzentruber Amish Rug Seller (12 Photos)

Today’s Q-and-A and book giveaway are a bit different from most previous editions, for two reasons. First, the author is Amish mom Delilah Byler. Delilah kindly answered some questions about her book and family for us today. Second, the book is called Where Are Aldo’s Treasures?, and it is a children’s book. Delilah created this […]

Continue Reading Q-and-A with Amish Mom & Author Delilah Byler (Book Giveaway)

Did you know that Amish are heavily involved in building recreational vehicles? We’ve touched on this topic in the past, in posts like Why are Amish building RVs? and 3 Concerns for Amish Working in the RV Industry. The funny thing is that these are really some luxurious vehicles that don’t seem at all to fit […]

Continue Reading Amish Making RVs (Video)

The 2019 edition of the Strasburg Mud Sale took place this past Saturday. This was the first mud sale of the season. The fire company’s Facebook page has 100+ photos from the day’s events. There are some great shots (taken by Bob Devonshire). I picked 10 of my favorites, and added a few comments on […]

Continue Reading 10 Favorite Photos From The 2019 Strasburg Mud Sale

The year 2015 brought news of an investment scam targeting Amish in multiple states. Amish-born Earl D. Miller promised investors double-digit returns, and many Amish people gave Miller their money. Miller eventually gathered over $50 million. Some of this was used to pay back earlier investors promised returns, in typical Ponzi fashion, before the scheme imploded. […]

Continue Reading Amish & Mennonites Victims of 4 Major Financial Schemes Since 2008

Where was the first Amish community in North America? Lancaster County is the oldest Amish settlement still around today. But it’s not the first place Amish settled on this side of the Atlantic. That distinction belongs to the Northkill settlement that existed in neighboring Berks County. It was organized by 1740, predating the Lancaster settlement […]

Continue Reading The First Amish Settlement in North America

78-year-old Carl Cisney is an Amish taxi driving veteran. He’s been providing rides for Amish for over 4 decades – since the time in 1975 he was asked by an Amish neighbor for a ride to a weld shop. Carl has formed deep friendships through his taxi services, even getting invited as the only English […]

Continue Reading Carl Cisney on 4 Decades of Amish Taxi Driving

It’s always interesting to see international media coverage of the Amish. Attention can come from places you wouldn’t expect. On that note, Taste of Pinecraft author Sherry Gore appeared on a recent episode of the Ukrainian travel program Орёл и Решка (Orel i Reshka). This is a Russian-language program viewed by millions throughout Russian-speaking countries. […]

Continue Reading Pinecraft Amish Community on Ukrainian Travel Show Орёл и Решка (Video)

Like my visit to Enon Valley, PA in December, I only had a brief time at the Amish community at Halifax County, VA. I was returning home from my multi-state Amish trip after 2000+ miles traveled. And as you’ll see from these photos, it was the end of the day. Still, it was worth the journey, mainly for […]

Continue Reading A Visit to The Amish of Halifax County, VA (18 Photos)

If you’re hungry in Holmes County, you could do a lot worse than Boyd & Wurthmann. This restaurant, located in “downtown” Berlin, is a local institution, serving up sandwiches and hearty meals for 70+ years. I visited in December, again with my friend Rich Stevick. It’s a circa-1940s restaurant and it kind of has that atmosphere […]

Continue Reading A Visit to Boyd & Wurthmann Restaurant – Berlin, Ohio (8 Photos)

Amish are well-known for living by guidelines and rules governing technology, dress, and other aspects of daily life. But Amish churches are not all the same. Some are more traditional, and others more progressive. Some do things one way, and others do things another way. So how do Amish know the dos and don’ts specific […]

Continue Reading 6 Examples of Amish Ordnung Rules

Have you ever heard about the Amish in Mexico? It’s quite a remarkable story. No, there are no Mexican Amish communities (at least not anymore). But thanks to their outreach to a group of spiritual kin, the Amish have had a regular presence in Mexico for the last two decades. Old Colony Mennonites are an […]

Continue Reading Over 200 Amish Have Taught in Mexico Since 2000

I don’t how much of an anomaly this might be, but it seems there have been an awful lot of fires striking Amish businesses lately. In the past few weeks, there have been at least four significant Amish business fires: January 14 – Spring Mills, PA (Centre County): Diamond Custom Kitchens burns down (the Amish […]

Continue Reading Four Amish Business Fires Since Mid-January; One Ruled Arson

What do Amish wear to church? In addition to their many women’s head coverings, the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center also has several items of church clothing on display. The Woman’s Cape & Apron First of all, a woman’s cape and apron: The cape and apron are commonly worn on Sunday across communities (we had a […]

Continue Reading Amish Church Clothing (8 Photos)

I’ve got some nice photos shared by readers over the past months, which I’ve been wanting to pass along to you. We’ve also got one piece of writing. Here we go! 1. Amish Timepiece Shop – First of all, long-time readers might recall a 2012 post on Mahlon Shetler’s Clock & Watch Shop in Dayton, NY. […]

Continue Reading Reader Photos – Amish Clock Shop, William Penn Land Doc, & More

A 17-year-old Amish girl was rescued Thursday from atop her buggy during a flood in Wayne County, Ohio. From the Massillon Independent: Brewster Fire Department personnel rescued the 17-year-old girl who had been driving the horse-drawn buggy, which had been swept into the high water along the rural roadway. According to Lt. Roger Carpenter of […]

Continue Reading Amish Teen Girl Rescued From Buggy During Flood

The vehicles Amos Zook restores, specifically, are Ford Broncos from the “first-gen” era, built from 1966-1977. Zook lives in Lancaster County, where he runs Zook’s Bronco Barn, doing work for clients as far away as Florida, on projects that can exceed six figures. What makes this story unusual is that Zook is Amish. That’s not […]

Continue Reading Zook’s Bronco Barn: An Amish Auto Restoration Shop

Why don’t they just build buggy lanes wherever Amish live? People often ask just this, especially when there is a bad buggy accident in the news. Realistically, it’s an idea constrained both by budgets and practicality. But in some limited cases, areas with larger Amish populations have done just that. And some Amish-heavy areas will […]

Continue Reading Buggy Lanes In Action (11 Photos)

One of my favorite stops in Holmes County last month happened while out with my friend Rich Stevick, author of Growing Up Amish: The Rumspringa Years. Rich has lived in Holmes County for several years now. If you know Rich’s warm demeanor you will know how he could be right at home in a place […]

Continue Reading A Visit to Charm Sweet Shoppe & Pizzeria (11 Photos)

Today a grab bag of eight Amish news stories from the past days and weeks. Let’s dive right in. 1. Amish Basketball Fans (Topeka, Indiana) – Do Amish follow sports? Some do, particularly youth in some places. Last month I was working on my laptop in a local gas station in Lancaster County, when several Amish […]

Continue Reading Amish News Roundup: Basketball Fans, Deer Poaching & Another Fire

Ever noticed how Amish women in different places wear different head coverings? A good example is the heart-shaped Lancaster women’s covering, versus the straight-sided, pleated coverings worn by Amish women in the Midwest. Like other items of Amish clothing, there are quite a few different styles of women’s coverings, and some with rather subtle differences. […]

Continue Reading Comparing Amish Women’s Head Coverings (19 Photos)

A look today at an Amish candle business I visited in Holmes County last month. Sunset View Candles & Such is a little shop sitting a stone’s throw from the Amish owner’s front door, typical of shops like this. There was a buggy parked outside when I pulled up, and one customer in the shop […]

Continue Reading A Visit To An Amish Candle Shop (10 Photos)

In a nice story of sacrifice, some Amish and Mennonites recently spent holiday vacation time helping victims of an April 2018 tornado. About 200 homes and businesses were damaged last spring by a 115-mph-wind tornado in the area of Meridian, Mississippi. The volunteers are working through the Mennonite Disaster Service organization (MDS). You can see […]

Continue Reading Amish & Mennonites Help Mississippi Tornado Victims

You might recall this image from the 5 Mystery Photos post: I explained in the follow-up that this unusual buggy was from the settlement at Enon Valley, Pennsylvania. I had been wanting to visit this settlement for some time and had a chance to do so in early December, but due to time constraints, weather […]

Continue Reading The Amish of Enon Valley, PA (14 Photos)

This story landed over Christmas, so might have gone overlooked. The AP reports good news for horse-and-buggy drivers and their neighbors in northeast Ohio: MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio (AP) — Work to widen roads and make other safety improvements is planned in an area of Ohio’s Amish country plagued by crashes resulting in injuries, according to federal […]

Continue Reading Geauga County To Get $14 Million in Road Safety Improvements

So another year wraps up. I hope yours was a blessed one. As the year winds down, the tradition here is to look back at favorite posts of the previous 12 months. I hope you enjoy these if you missed them the first time around. Wishing you and yours a fantastic 2019, and thanks to […]

Continue Reading Favorite Posts of 2018

When I stay at John and Rachel’s* home in Lancaster County, one of my morning tasks is to go on a milk run. This doesn’t mean running down to the store but rather to the closest source possible. And in this part of the world, that means another Amish farm. Here’s the jar I used […]

Continue Reading Morning Milk

We’re officially into winter. And this is the time of year that families are cracking into those canned items they worked hard to prepare when the weather was warmer and fresh fruit and veggies were plentiful. On my recent Amish trip I had the good fortune to bring back a Christmas basket of canned goods […]

Continue Reading 6 Common Amish Canned Goods

This morning I spotted this poem on the wall at my Amish friends’ home here in Lancaster County. I asked if I could share it with you. I thought it might be nice food for thought on a Sunday. It’s called “When Tomorrow Starts Without Me.” She hand-copied it from another source. I took a […]

Continue Reading “When Tomorrow Starts Without Me”

An Amish family has made news by forgiving a hit-and-run driver in Wisconsin. It’s far from the first example of this by the Amish – and we’ve often seen it in much more serious cases (see below). The financial burden is clearly in the family’s thoughts. But it’s also remarkable how warm their sentiments are […]

Continue Reading Wisconsin Amish Family Forgives Hit-And-Run Driver

This is a photo which we saw on a previous post. Notice anything unusual about this otherwise-standard Maytag wringer washer, common in Amish homes? I wonder if anyone caught it when we shared it before. If you’re still scratching your head, Don Burke explains what’s going on here below. Today Don gives us one last […]

Continue Reading 10 Unexpected Things I Saw In An Amish Home (20 Photos)

Which states are home to the most Amish? Here are the top 15 states ordered by how many Amish people live in each. Numbers are based on the 2018 figures from the Young Center. I’ve grouped the states into 3 tiers below. You’ll also find a brief description of each state’s Amish population. The three figures in […]

Continue Reading The Top 15 States By Amish Population (2018)

Gloria Yoder is an Amish mother from Illinois who writes the Amish Cook column (previously penned by Lovina Eicher). Gloria was recently asked by a reader “What five things do you enjoy the most about the Amish way of life?”, and in this week’s column, she answers. Gloria starts with a couple of important disclaimers: […]

Continue Reading 5 Things I Like About Being Amish, According To Amish Cook Gloria Yoder

Donald Kraybill is the author of over a dozen books on the Amish, and currently serves as Senior Fellow Emeritus at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. I asked Don if he’d answer some questions for us today on the Amish and his newest book, called Simply Amish: An Essential […]

Continue Reading Donald Kraybill on Simply Amish (Q-and-A & Giveaway)

“I don’t remember ever having joy growing up.” Emma Gingerich, who grew up in a Swartzentruber Amish community, recently appeared on the Megyn Kelly Today show to discuss her background and departure from Amish life. In this interview Emma describes her dissatisfaction with everyday routine and the rules of life as a girl and young […]

Continue Reading Emma Gingerich On Leaving The Swartzentruber Amish (Video)

Aside from eating in an Amish home, people often want to know where they can find accommodation on actual Amish farms. A TribLive article points us to the website amishfarmstay.com, which lists six such properties – all run by Amish families. I’ve tried to answer this question over the years but never had a resource which gathered […]

Continue Reading 6 Amish Farms Where You Can Stay As A Guest (Lancaster County)

What should people who want to join the Amish or Mennonites or other Plain Anabaptist church believe? What about their behavior? What kind of commitments should they be ready to make? Nicci Price – who herself is a convert to an Old German Baptist Brethren church – writes in Mennonite World Review about getting regular […]

Continue Reading 17 Questions For Anabaptist Seekers