After a relatively quiet period of (at least no widely-reported) fatal Amish buggy accidents, sadly another bad one happened Tuesday afternoon. This comes out of Lafayette County, Wisconsin. In some of these accidents, the horse survives, while a rider or driver doesn’t make it, and sometimes the reverse. But in this case, both died – following one of the most common types of car-buggy wrecks…
You’re probably aware that the Amish vote much less often than non-Amish do. But a notable minority still do vote in general elections, and on local matters. So it’s not that odd to hear of Amish people voting. But I’d never seen a story quite like this before. In a new report, a school superintendent in New York is complaining about Amish participation in a…
Indiana is where you’ll find America’s third-largest Amish population, with over 67,000 Amish living across the state. These ten communities rank as the biggest in the Hoosier State, based on the most current population estimates. Note: two communities tie for the #10 spot, so eleven communities appear below. Population numbers via Young Center for Anabaptist & Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College (source link at bottom)….
A pair of videos have been making the rounds showing an Amish fisherman and a boy – who I would guess is his son – hauling away a giant fish after a successful catch. The fish is a muskellunge, better known as a “muskie” – and you can tell by the way the man is lugging it on his back that it is a hefty…
A lot of things are jumping out about this Amish home listing in Guernsey County, Ohio — starting with the fact that you might drive right past it thinking it’s a commercial building. More on that in a minute. As to the locale, this home sits in one of the most Amish-dense counties in the United States (at least when it comes to number of…
If you’ve been following Ben and Rose, you probably know Conrad Fisher has been part of their story from the beginning — producing their music, playing on their recordings, and showing up in their video clips. The Associated Press recently did a piece which centers on Conrad and Ragamuffin Hall — a former Presbyterian brick church building in the rural Pennsylvania community of McCoysville —…
This sort-of dramatic story with a happy ending comes from an Amish community in the excellently-named Otter Tail County, Minnesota. It turns out that an Amish horse collapsed while traveling on a highway – falling into water of some sort. The details come from a law enforcement roundup report at the Perham Focus: [May 11] 11:40 a.m., Horse reportedly collapsed on the roadway after suffering…
This story will make you do a double-take. At least, it did me. Last month, Amish in a community in Eaton County, Michigan invited a teenage social media preacher to deliver a sermon to their community. He ended up preaching to a group of over 100 people, from the Amish and other backgrounds. When I saw this story, I had the obvious questions. Who are…
A formerly Amish Iowa man is facing charges for the second time — including two felony counts — over an unlicensed rural health facility, which once drew many Amish customers. Authorities are now alleging that patients were injured and died, and that Eddie R. Gingerich collected hundreds of thousands of dollars running the operation. From KTVO: Eddie Gingerich, 36, was arrested on April 22 by…
Over 300 Amish and Plain community writers got together in Berlin, Ohio on March 13 and 14 for the Plain Community Writers Workshop — an event that has grown from a small home gathering five years ago into one of the more noteworthy literary happenings involving the Amish. The two-day event was held at Dayspring United Mennonite Church in Holmes County. Publishers, sponsors, and book…
Here’s an Amish home in a location you might not expect: Hamptonville, North Carolina (Yadkin County). North Carolina has just two Amish settlements in the entire state. One of them, commonly known as the Union Grove community (about 45 minutes west of Winston-Salem) has been around since 1985. I want to emphasize that this is a horse-and-buggy Amish community. But there’s one detail about this…
An Amish family in Juniata County, Pennsylvania was involved in an incident Wednesday while dismantling a trailer home. A roof collapsed, pinning a man underneath. This accident was first reported two days ago, with relatively few details. Now a fresh report informs us that the man pinned under the structure has died. From WGAL: WALKER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The Juniata County Coroner said the man…
After last week’s story of an Amish neighbor unexpectedly returning a favor, Haley Straw returns with a story in a similar vein. Only this time the favor is of the “pay-it-forward” variety – and on a much larger scale. Snuggled warm in bed, hoping to catch up on sleep, my phone rang interrupting a sweet dream. Blurry eyed, I fumbled for my phone thinking, “It…
It has been three months since the devastating February 3rd crash in Jay County, Indiana that killed four members of the local Amish community. The crash drew national attention to the question of “chameleon carriers” in the shipping industry. Since the tragedy, there have been several significant developments — including that the semi driver has been formally charged, and the van driver who survived has…
A recent piece by Marjorie Struckle in Lancaster Farming does a good job profiling something that, across the nearly 700 Amish settlements in North America, I suspect is not too uncommon — a rural community where the Amish and their non-Amish neighbors have built something genuinely mutual. The setting is Otsego County in central New York. That county is home to a full three Amish…
Sam Shetler, the Amish man who led the Mercy and Truth Retreat in Cooper County, Missouri, was indicted by a grand jury Friday — and the indictment includes an upgrade that puts life in prison on the table. This is the latest development in a case we’ve been following since Shetler’s arrest in late March. If you’re new to the story, Shetler was arrested March…
We’re back with Part 3, the final part of our conversation with Don Burke and Laura Graber on Amish horse-drawn transport in Jamesport, Missouri. In Part 1, Don and Laura covered the smallest and largest vehicles on the road — from pony carts to draft horse wagons. In Part 2, they moved to the three most common buggy types: the standard enclosed buggy, the surrey,…
Author and Amish taxi driver Haley Straw is back to share a new story – of an Amish neighbor who remembered a kindness – and made sure to pay it back, in his own way. The gravel crunched under my tires as I pulled into the pasture, the old ticket booth still sitting where it had been for two years—waiting. I had big plans for…
When a call comes into Ripley County, Indiana 911 and New Marion Volunteer Fire Department responds, the scene that follows isn’t one you’d see at most departments. Amish firefighters arrive from the surrounding countryside — on tractors. Their non-Amish crewmates climb into the fire vehicles and drive. Then everyone pulls on the same gear, follows the same protocols, and goes to work side-by-side. Different lifestyles,…
A 6-bedroom Amish home in Vevay, Indiana (Switzerland County) has been up for sale online since last month. Like nearly all Amish homes, this one is not plugged in to the public electric grid. That’s not what we’re talking about in the title – the missing piece is something else entirely. We’ll get to that. First, the property: 6.2 acres with a pole barn, a…
We often think of the Amish as living in the Midwest, and states like Pennsylvania. But Amish communities in the South are nothing new. States like Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee have seen their Amish populations grow robustly in recent decades. However, there’s one part of the South that the Amish have (for whatever reason) not settled — the “Deep South”. The Deep South is most…
This year (2026) Ascension Day – commemorating Jesus’ physical ascension into heaven – is Thursday, May 14th. The date changes each year, falling on the 40th day following Easter Sunday. Interestingly, Ascension Day is observed by Amish in some places – but not in others. Ascension Day: Observance in Different Amish Communities The Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania are among those who do observe Ascension…
The Ultimate Mud Sale Guide | Jump to full 2026 Mud Sale Schedule OR scroll down 2026 Mud Sale Guide (22 Sales) When are the mud sales in Lancaster County? The Lancaster County mud sale schedule for 2026 is now available, with the traditional first event happening soon (February 27 & 28 at Strasburg Fire Company). What is a “Mud Sale”? How did it get…