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What’s the difference between Amish and Mennonites? I previously covered this question about 10 years ago in written form. I’ve now made it into a video. Given all the different Amish and Mennonite groups, I couldn’t go incredibly in-depth on this question. But I think this is a pretty solid overview. I discuss a number […]
Continue Reading Comparing Amish & Mennonites (Video)
Following up on the Haiti missionary hostage story – some good news, with three hostages being released Sunday, in addition to two released last month: PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A religious group based in Ohio announced Monday that a violent gang in Haiti has released three more hostages, while another 12 remain abducted. The statement […]
Continue Reading Five Haiti Missionary Hostages Have Now Been Released; 12 Remain Captive
Last week we saw an Amish home in the Gladwin, Michigan community shared by reader Seth, whose uncle had just sold the property. This week we have another home in the same community. This one is on 40 acres of property and has a price tag of $575,000, no doubt reflecting both the substantial acreage […]
Continue Reading Inside A $575,000 Amish Home (26 Photos)
I’ve learned that there is a special exhibition at the High Library at Elizabethtown College, featuring the Amish photos of Dennis Hughes. You may have seen some of his many excellent photos in books such as Amish Enterprise and The Riddle of Amish Culture. The exhibition runs through the end of this week (through December […]
Continue Reading Dennis Hughes Amish Photo Exhibition at Elizabethtown College
Every now and again the Amish make news for a genetic study that may hold solutions to health problems that plague the general population. This latest one just reported today concerns heart health. The story from Inverse: The Amish of Lancaster County are an example of a “founder population,” an isolated population of people who […]
Continue Reading Report: Amish Gene Mutation Linked To Lower Heart Disease
This was a question that kept popping up, so I did a video on it. While it might seem pretty straightforward, it does open up a couple of interesting related topics – Amish adoption, and outsiders joining the Amish. I give examples from those categories in answering this question. Runtime: 2:34.
Continue Reading Non-White Amish? (Video)
The seventh podcast in Donald Kraybill’s series “What I Learned From The Amish” looks at the concept of choice. Does having more choices make people happier? Or is that just an illusion? Drive or fly? How about some cinnamon roll-flavored coffee creamer at the gas station? Premium insurance package on my new laptop or just […]
Continue Reading The Amish & Choices (Podcast)
Really nice photos in this Amish home listing. This one is located in Gladwin County, Michigan, and actually just sold. Reader Seth Elmore who sends this in notes that this community is similar to Kenton, Ohio, which would make it one of the more conservative. This happened to be his uncle’s home (Seth has Amish […]
Continue Reading Inside A Plain & Pleasant Michigan Amish Home (29 Photos)
A month ago came the sad news of the deaths of an Amish mother and father in a Virginia car-buggy accident, leaving behind eight children without parents, and hospitalized with their own injuries. Since that accident, the organizer of one of the fundraisers for the children has given several updates. First, on October 22, Elmer […]
Continue Reading Orphaned Amish Children Update: Funeral & Recovery Photos, Reaching 200K Goal
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you – in commemoration of the day I did a video on Amish Thanksgiving customs. Thanksgiving is a non-religious holiday but one that the Amish celebrate. How do they observe the day? Does it differ from non-Amish Thanksgiving? I hope you enjoy the video, and especially the day spent with […]
Continue Reading How do the Amish celebrate Thanksgiving? (Video)
This might be the most “shop”-looking Amish shop home I’ve seen in quite some time. The location is Mahnomen County in Minnesota, way up in the northern end of the state. According to Wikipedia, this is the only county in the state lying entirely within an Indian reservation (White Earth Indian Reservation). There is a […]
Continue Reading An Amish Shop-Home-Farmette For Sale (12 Photos)
This has been described alternately as a Pennsylvania Dutch couple or an Amish couple. The statue is well-known and has been around for at least 70 years, previously part of the now-defunct “Roadside America” exhibit. Via wfmz.com: HEIDELBERG TWP., Pa. — Less than a year after it left the confines of its longtime home in […]
Continue Reading Arsonist Burns Iconic Amish Couple Statue
A “hit-skip” accident, which is what it is called in this article, is what I’ve always known as a “hit-and-run”. Maybe that is a regional expression. In any case, three weeks ago an Amish buggy in north-central Ohio was struck by a driver who failed to stop. That missing driver was located earlier this week, […]
Continue Reading Driver In Amish Buggy “Hit-Skip” Crash Found, Arrested
While this is not exactly an Amish business, Amish Maid To Order caught my eye because the name suggests it is. House cleaning is a pretty common side or main occupation for Amish women, both married and those not yet baptized. So I first thought this may be someone arranging housecleaning by Amish ladies. This […]
Continue Reading “Amish Maid To Order”?
This barn-raising story has some history attached. In Amish history, the name Joseph Johns is noteworthy, as he was the founder of present-day Johnstown, Pennsylvania. An Amish crew has rebuilt a barn which burned down on Johns’ former farm, and which had been built by his grandson Joseph Johns III. You might be wondering both […]
Continue Reading Amish Replace Historic Barn That Burnt Down (14 Photos)
In this video I put a collection of Don Burke’s fine photos taken in and around Shipshewana, Indiana, to music. These “Amish Life” series videos are fun to do as they are a bit different than my usual ones – being primarily about the images and finding a nice tune. I hope you like the […]
Continue Reading Amish Life: Shipshewana (Video)
Podcast #6 in Donald Kraybill’s series “What I Learned From The Amish” covers the idea of “smallness”. Via the show notes: “Professor Kraybill explains why the Amish think bigness ruins things and shows how small-scale life, including small schools, preserve the dignity of individuals.” In the podcast he explains that “smallness” is seen across Amish […]
Continue Reading The Amish & “Smallness” (Podcast)
Though this home has a Pennsylvania address, I would hazard to guess it is actually part of the community in Ashtabula County, Ohio, lying in the vicinity of Conneaut and Pierpont. The address happens to be a mere stone’s throw from the Ohio border. Here’s the Zillow description from which I got the title of […]
Continue Reading “Hot water is wood fire”: Plain 5-Bedroom Amish Home For Sale (10 Photos)
A few updates to last week’s news of an Amishman in the Ethridge, Tennessee community being caught with 25 pounds of marijuana. I also made a video on the story (below) which includes a number of the following points: The Amishman in question, Chris Appleby, was a convert to the group. According to this WKRN […]
Continue Reading Tennessee Amish Drug Case Update (& Video)
This is another one of those Amish “novelty” videos that pops up from time to time, like those showing Amish buggy skiing or time-lapse barn-raising. This one is a bit different in that it had a pretty good chance of ending badly. Someone was apparently driving through Lancaster County late at night when a buggy […]
Continue Reading Amish Buggy “Drifting” – Don’t try this at home (Video)
Elam Stoltzfus shares Part 1 of a four-part series on Amish Parochial schools in Pennsylvania. Elam grew up Amish, and we’ve previously seen his work here in his 4-part “Rediscovering the Ausbund” series on the Amish hymn book. This will be published in full at the Plain Values magazine Substack (linked below). In this part, […]
Continue Reading Elam Stoltzfus on the History of PA Amish Parochial Schools: Part 1
It’s usually the other way around, of course. This happened in the New York North Country in the area of De Kalb (this is the large St. Lawrence County Swartzentruber Amish settlement). It appears a woman driving an SUV struck an Amish buggy, lost control, and flipped over on the side of the road, according […]
Continue Reading Rare Happening: Car Strikes Buggy, Car Driver Injured….Buggy Driver Unhurt
Here’s episode number 5 of Donald Kraybill’s “What I Learned From The Amish” podcast. This week he focuses on “Amish hackers” – Amish who “work around certain church regulations without breaking them”. These workarounds represent a form of progress but still respect church rules. Their hacking “boost[s] efficiency, production, and convenience in certain areas of […]
Continue Reading Amish Hackers (Podcast)
This is a bizarre story out of the Ethridge, Tennessee Amish settlement. A 33-year-old Amishman has been arrested for possession of 25 pounds of marijuana. Lawrence County police also seized firearms and an undetermined amount of cash. The report from News 4 Nashville: LAWERENCE COUNTY, TN (WSMV) – Lawrence County police officers located 25 pounds […]
Continue Reading Tennessee Amishman Arrested In Possession of 25 Pounds of Marijuana, Guns, Cash
This is a neat video showing volunteers putting together pre-built homes right in the heart of Holmes County, Ohio – Charm, to be precise – but destined for families struck by disaster hours away, in West Virginia and Dayton, Ohio. Amish have traveled to the sites of disasters to help clean up and reconstruct for […]
Continue Reading Amish Disaster Relief…At A Distance
So yes, I couldn’t resist calling this week’s home an “English Amish” home. Not because it has some English (ie, non-Amish) origins, but because it’s located in the tiny Amish community at English, Indiana (Crawford County). Though I’ve never made the trip to visit, this settlement has been on my radar, so to speak, for […]
Continue Reading 27 Photos of an English Amish Home (…English, Indiana)
Don Shenk is an award-winning photographer and Lancaster County resident (not to be confused with frequently-seen-here photo contributor Don Burke). Don has been photographing Amish scenes for decades, and has kindly shared some Amish-theme photos which I’d like to pass on to you. He also adds some comments to several of these below (along with […]
Continue Reading Amish Images by Don Shenk (10 Photos & Video)
Following last week’s insightful Q-and-A with Donald Kraybill, we’ve got a winner of What the Amish Teach Us: Plain Living in a Busy World, his new book just released today. This book is unlike others Don has written – a series of 22 essays sharing things that he has learned from his friendships with Amish […]
Continue Reading What the Amish Teach Us Book Winner & Release Today (Plus Podcast #4 on Forgiveness)
Sometimes I refer obliquely to certain Amish communities having a bad reputation for the behavior of their youth or as regards consumption of alcohol. Keeping in mind that Amish communities can be quite different, of course. In many communities, poor behavior from youth is not common or little-tolerated. And different communities have different approaches to […]
Continue Reading Yet Another Amish Teen DUI In This Pennsylvania Community
Do Amish women have freedom in their marriages? Are they dominated by their husbands? What does “head of household” mean? In this new video I take a look at this question, and give an example from my time selling books to the Amish. Runtime: 3:05.
Continue Reading Do Amish men control their wives? (Video)
Eight children were left without parents after the family buggy was rear-ended Sunday in central Virginia. From the AP: FARMVILLE — A Farmville man died Monday, a day after his wife was killed and their eight children were injured when their Amish horse-drawn buggy was rear-ended in Cumberland County, according to state police. The buggy […]
Continue Reading Eight Children Left Orphaned After VA Buggy Crash
Donald Kraybill‘s new book What the Amish Teach Us: Plain Living in a Busy World will be out next Tuesday. What the Amish Teach Us features 22 essays on a wide array of important life topics, each drawing lessons from the Amish example. Topics include “Limits: Less Choice, More Joy”, “Parenting: Raising Sturdy Children”, “Hacking: […]
Continue Reading Donald Kraybill on What The Amish Teach Us: Q&A and Book Giveaway (plus: Podcast #3)
This latest Amish home for sale has a very simple listing. The community is New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, and the listing description at Zillow is just two lines long: Amish farm with 2 greenhouses and 1312 SF barn, 3 hydrants. No plumbing, electric, or sewer! The New Wilmington community is on the plainer side of things, […]
Continue Reading A New Wilmington, PA Amish Home For Sale (12 Photos)
Donald Kraybill’s new podcast is called “What I Learned from the Amish”. Following up last week’s podcast on community, we have the next in the series, on technology. A snippet from this episode: “For starters, let’s just cancel the big fat myth that the Amish reject modern technology. It’s just not true! What is true, […]
Continue Reading “What I Learned from the Amish with Donald Kraybill”: Technology
I saw and was sent a story on the Amish, COVID, and specifically herd immunity, and I wanted to share a few thoughts on it. It is an interesting report which I learned a few things from – but I’ve also got a few issues with it. Do Amish communities have herd immunity? So we […]
Continue Reading Amish & COVID: “Of course we got herd immunity”?
I’m happy to share that the new issue of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC) is out. Here’s journal co-editor Joe Donnermeyer on what you’ll find inside the latest edition of this freely available online publication. The third issue of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities was released this past week. On the cover […]
Continue Reading Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC) Issue #3
In a culture that emphasizes marriage, how do single Amish people fit into the community? I take a brief look at that topic in this new video. Runtime: 3:15.
Continue Reading Unmarried & Amish? (Video)
Unlike the Swartzentruber home last week, this week’s home was clearly built by the occupant, or someone from their community. The style is a plain and simple one. A one-story design with an attic, which looks intended to one day serve as a shop (some Amish build shop homes – a simple structure which they […]
Continue Reading Inside A Kentucky Amish “Shop Home” (17 Photos)
The accident here does not at all appear to be the motor vehicle driver’s fault, to make that clear right off the bat. The buggy had four children in it, ages 13, 10, 8, and 6, one of whom was driving (presumably the 13-year-old) when the accident happened on Monday afternoon. The buggy passed through […]
Continue Reading Four Amish Children To Hospital After Buggy Runs Stop Sign
No, this isn’t an actual dinner at an Amish wedding – but the name of a fundraising event held at a Geauga County Amish woman’s home. The event is to raise funds for an anti-domestic violence group. The dinner, hosted by Mary Miller, will include baked chicken, stuffing, seven layer salad, pies, and more. The […]
Continue Reading Geauga County “Amish Wedding Dinner” Event Open To Public
“This is not a sales pitch for the Amish team, but an invite to tap some of their communal wisdom.” I’m happy to share that Donald Kraybill has a new book coming out soon, called What The Amish Teach Us: Plain Living in a Busy World. It’s a bit different in its approach than his […]
Continue Reading “What I Learned from the Amish with Donald Kraybill”: Community
It was 15 years ago – October 2, 2006 – that the school shooting at the West Nickel Mines School took place. I made a video looking back at that day, but especially focusing on what came afterwards – the forgiveness shown by the Amish. The forgiveness story went around the world, covered in media […]
Continue Reading Nickel Mines & Amish Forgiveness. 15 Years Later (Video)
What makes this home particularly interesting is that it is another, originally English-built, home that a Swartzentruber family converted to their needs. This is actually the second home from this community at Whitefield, Maine (previously we had a look at the home I nicknamed “blue barn”). You can tell instantly that it’s not built in […]
Continue Reading Inside A Converted Maine Swartzentruber Amish Home (14 Photos)
In this new video I look at Amish beliefs on marriage, divorce, separation, and marrying again. Do Amish permit divorce? What about remarriage? Are there unhappy marriages and what happens? Runtime 4:22.
Continue Reading Can Amish divorce? Remarry?
How would you like to manage the shopping, food prep, and cleanup to feed 1,000+ people? Lovina Eicher is facing this task as she prepares for the upcoming wedding of her daugher Loretta, as she writes in her latest column. She will, of course, have some help: Yesterday my three head cooks came, and we […]
Continue Reading Lovina’s Amish Kitchen: Wedding Prep For 1,000
Joe Donnermeyer of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities guest posts today with a look at multi-settlement Amish counties across America. In March I did a list of 10 Amish “supercounties” – which I defined as having at least five settlements (full or partial) within their borders. Joe expands on that list with this guest […]
Continue Reading Multi-Settlement Amish Counties
The addresss for this latest home is Curryville, but the community is better known as the Bowling Green settlement (Pike County, MO). We’ve got a three-church-district community that is the Show Me State’s oldest, having been first settled back in 1947 by Swiss Amish from Indiana. I first began hearing about this settlement around a […]
Continue Reading Inside A Missouri Amish Home For Sale (16 Photos)
This is a neat story on how a local non-Amish resident of Medina County, Ohio has taken matters into his own hands to try to help Amish neighbors be safer on the roads. There have been multiple recent car-buggy accidents in the area, and Jim Coleman decided to try to do something about it, reports […]
Continue Reading Non-Amish Man Puts Up 100 “Please Slow Down” Signs For Amish Neighbors
I just finished a video on the Amish and music. I cover three main topics: Amish singing – when and where do they sing, songbooks, and more; musical instruments – do Amish play them and which ones; and popular music – do Amish enjoy popular music, what types, etc. I’ve included at least a half-dozen […]
Continue Reading The Amish & Music: Instruments, Singing, Popular Music? (Video)
We’re back with part 2 of a two-part Q & A with Don Burke on his Amish photography. If you missed part 1 you can catch up here. In this part Don shares how he chooses which communities to visit, what he’s learned from taking Amish photos, and more. Amish America: Have you ever gotten […]
Continue Reading Picturing The Amish – Q&A with Photographer Don Burke (Part 2)
What is an “Amish taxi”? Do Amish ever own or drive cars? How do the most conservative Amish travel? Why do Amish use the horse-and-buggy? What about Uber? Although we associate them with simpler modes of travel, many Amish depend heavily on car transport. I made a video recently looking at the role that motor […]
Continue Reading 6 Surprising Facts on the Amish & Cars
Just a small addendum to the post on the tragic loss of a three-year-old in upstate New York. In that one I made the frequently-made point that different Amish do things differently, and also that some ways of being Amish are more dangerous on the whole than others. Following that post, Jim Halverson has sent […]
Continue Reading Amish Buggy Safety Seats
Tragedy hit on Sunday in an upstate New York community. A young Amish boy lost his life after falling from a buggy. There are not a lot of details, but this is most of the report at news10.com: New York State Police confirmed that on September 12, troopers responded to a report of an accident […]
Continue Reading Amish Three-Year-Old Dies After Buggy Fall
Reader Rebecca Rury recently took a visit to the only Texas Amish community, at Beeville in Bee County. She stopped in at the community’s best-known Amish business – Borntrager’s Combination Shop – but writes that she “didn’t get to chat with Mr. Borntrager as he was busy shoeing a horse.” Mr. Borntrager is the owner […]
Continue Reading Stopping in at the Bee County, Texas Amish Community
Photographer Don Burke has been taking pictures of the Amish for many years, and we have featured his photos here on the site on many occasions since 2014. Don has kindly answered some questions about his photos, interest in the Amish, what the Amish think, and more. This is part one of a two-part interview. […]
Continue Reading Picturing The Amish – Q&A with Photographer Don Burke (Part 1)
I like drawing attention to these Amish business maps, and it seems more and more communities are creating them. Other recent examples we’ve seen include maps for communities in Buchanan County, Iowa, Livingston County, New York, and Crittenden County, Kentucky. It makes sense as a good way to attract visitors and of course supports the […]
Continue Reading A New Map Highlights 17 Businesses in Kentucky’s Largest Amish Community
A reader shared this week’s Amish home, currently advertised for sale at Zillow among other places. It technically has an Etna Green address, which would make it the south side of the Nappanee, Indiana settlement. The home has been mostly cleaned out, giving it a very sparse and bare appearance, but furniture has stayed behind […]
Continue Reading Inside A Nappanee Amish Home (26 Photos)
So I made my post on 5 common features in Amish homes (which you may have read already) into a video. This has the advantage over the post of having a lot more images illustrating the points. So if you’ve read the post already, you might still enjoy this video. In this one, I focused […]
Continue Reading 5 Common Things in Amish Homes (Video)
Homeschooling is uncommon among the Amish. Why? Karen Johnson-Weiner suggests in her book Train Up A Child that it conflicts with the concept of community, so important to the Amish. But, some do homeschool. I know at least one Amish family who has. They happen to be members of a New Order Amish church. Amish […]
Continue Reading A Day In The Life of a Homeschooling Amish Mom
What is an “Ohio Nebraska” Amish home? It’s a home of a Nebraska Amish family located in Ohio. And who are the Nebraska Amish? This is a small group of traditionally quite conservative Amish, who originated in Pennsylvania. Am I making this sound more confusing than it actually is? Well, their name comes from the […]
Continue Reading An “Ohio Nebraska” Amish Home For Sale (15 Photos)
It’s probably not a huge revelation that Amish people, like non-Amish, enjoy fast food and eating at restaurants. I take a look at the topic in this new video. Below are a couple of the images I share in the video. First, this sign showing buggy parking at a McDonald’s in Sugarcreek: I took that […]
Continue Reading Do the Amish eat fast food?
So in addition to the 2021 statewide Amish population numbers which came out two weeks ago, we now have the updated list of individual Amish settlements for 2021. There are around 600 of them. You’ll find it at the Elizabethtown College Young Center Amish Studies website here. This guide provides the following information for each […]
Continue Reading 2021 Amish Settlement List (600+ Communities)
Yesterday in LaGrange County, Indiana, a large group of Amish came together to help a neighbor in need. From WNDU 16 News: A group of about 100 Amish were out helping a friend move a huge pole barn. 16 News Now is told the person who owned the barn recently died, and the man who […]
Continue Reading 100 Amish Help Injured Neighbor To Move Barn – By Hand
A danger of depending on appliances and lighting powered by fuels such as propane and natural gas, as many Amish do, is the risk or fire and explosions. An Amish boy has lost his life due to what appears to be propane igniting and causing an explosion and fire in a home in Kentucky. Here’s […]
Continue Reading Amish Boy Loses Life In Likely Propane Explosion Fire
In this new video I look at a simple question: can Amish people marry non-Amish people? I also discuss a couple of related situations, which fall under the same or similar umbrella. Those two situations are cases when someone joins the Amish, and cases when someone in a married couple leaves the Amish. I hope […]
Continue Reading Can Amish Marry English? (Video)
With the announcement in July of a guilty plea in the Linda Stoltzfoos murder case, it was expected that Justo Smoker would spend the rest of his life behind bars. Smoker admitted to kidnapping, killing, and burying the 18-year-old Amish girl. He received a sentence of 35.5 to 71 years for charges of third-degree murder, […]
Continue Reading Justo Smoker Gets Additional 17+ Years; First Parole Hearing Will Be At Age 87
There was a nice article recently in the Epoch Times, a feature on the monthly publication Plain Values, which has become popular with both Amish and non-Amish alike. The publisher of the magazine is Marlin Miller, who grew up Amish. There are three main “pillars” the magazine focuses on – children with special needs, adoption, […]
Continue Reading About Plain Values – The Magazine
I don’t know if it was just coincidence, but two stories on the Amish and e-bikes came out last week on the same day – one on Amish in Ohio, and the other on Iowa (that can’t be coincidence, I’m thinking). If you’re not familiar, e-bikes are bicycles fitted with an electric motor which provide […]
Continue Reading The Amish & E-bikes
Last week we saw the release of the 2021 Amish population figures at the Young Center website, showing an estimated Amish population of 361,635 Amish in 608 settlements. Joe Donnermeyer has dug deep into the settlement data – particularly a separate set of data which he discusses below – and today presents us with a […]
Continue Reading The 14 “Two-State” Amish Settlements
In this video I talk about Amish friendships and the idea of “separation from the world”. What’s the Biblical basis of this idea and what does it translate into in practice? Do Amish people have non-Amish friendships? Can you attend Amish church service as a non-Amish person? I also share a couple of photos from […]
Continue Reading Amish Friendships & Separation From The World (Video)
A non-Amish farmer in Morrow County, Ohio lost his barn in a fire in July. Soon after, a local Amish friend offered help (via Morrow County Sentinel): One of the first to come after the fire was their Amish friend, David Raber. The Robinsons have sold hay to the Amish and transported them many times for […]
Continue Reading Amish Raise Barn For English Neighbors After Fire
The new Amish population estimates are out for 2021 via the Young Center at Elizabethtown College. We’ll have some posts related to this coming up, including from Joe Donnermeyer of Ohio State University. In the meantime you can find the tables and map here. Some quick facts from the latest figures: The estimated total Amish […]
Continue Reading The Amish Population in 2021
Amish in Rosebud County, Montana have been ordered to evacuate the area in the face of the Richard Spring fire. The fire in the southeast of the state is about 150,000 acres in size. From the Bozeman Daily Chronicle: The Richard Spring fire was discovered on Sunday, according to Inciweb, a wildfire information service. As of […]
Continue Reading Amish Community Ordered To Evacuate In Face Of Montana Wildfire
From the “Off-the-Amish-Beaten-Path Files” (not really a thing, but maybe it should be a thing): Reader Denise sends in a nice little account of an Amish store in a corner of Iowa. The community is Chariton, in Lucas County. I know little about it beyond what Denise shares, and what clues I can gather here […]
Continue Reading Off The Beaten Path: A Friendly Amish Store in Iowa
I did a video looking at ten unusual Amish communities. Across 600 different communities and dozens of affiliations, you can notice quite a number of differences in the ways Amish people live and manifest their faith. So what makes these communities unusual or atypical? It could be something about how they worship, or get around, […]
Continue Reading 10 Unusual Amish Communities (Video)
A Lancaster County Amish farmer faces hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and potential jail time for repeated violations of food safety laws. Miller’s Organic Farm, owned by an Amos Miller in Bird-in-Hand, has been described as “tangling with federal authorities for several years over its food handling practices” in this report by Fox43: […]
Continue Reading Lancaster Amish Organic Farmer Must Pay $250,000, Faces Possible Jail Time For Food Violations
Lovina Eicher shares some happy news in her latest Lovina’s Amish Kitchen column: After church services the bishop announced the wedding dates of two girls in our church. Mary and Danny chose September 24 for their wedding date, and daughter Loretta and Dustin chose October 1st for their wedding. Congratulations to both couples! “Announcing” a […]
Continue Reading The Amish Wedding Announcement
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of an unusual (at least at the time) Amish settlement in Indiana. In December of 1991, two Amish families departed Lancaster County for their new home 700 miles away in the Hoosier State. New settlements were less common then than they are today, and Lancaster Amish […]
Continue Reading The Amish of Parke County, Indiana (24 Photos)
I did a video looking at the question of Amish family sizes. How do they compare across communities? They can vary by a good bit – differing by several children on average (I give some examples from Indiana settlements). What can influence that? I also look at the question of what Amish think about birth […]
Continue Reading Amish Family Size: How large is the Amish family? What do Amish think about birth control? (Video)
Justo Smoker today pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, kidnapping and other charges, admitting to killing Linda Stoltzfoos in June of last year. He will serve a sentence of 35½-to-71 years in prison as part of a plea deal. Smoker is 35 years old. He will avoid the death penalty. He also faces further charges over […]
Continue Reading Justo Smoker Pleads Guilty To Killing Linda Stoltzfoos; Will Serve Up To 88 Years. Plea deal made “to bring Linda home”
It’s being reported that Justo Smoker is expected to plead guilty tomorrow (Friday) in the Lancaster County Courthouse. Smoker has been charged with homicide, kidnapping and false imprisonment regarding the disappearance and death of Linda Stoltzfoos. However, one – wrinkle? – in this report is the fact that it’s not being made known to which […]
Continue Reading Guilty Plea Expected Friday In Linda Stoltzfoos Case
We’ve got a selection of photos from a Swartzentruber Amish settlement in Missouri today. This is Shannon County; this is in the vicinity of Summersville and Hartshorn. The photo collection is by Don Burke, who has passed through this community several times over the years. The community was started in 2006 according to the State […]
Continue Reading A Virtual Visit To A Small & Plain Amish Community (35 Photos)
Amish in Farmersville, New York have threatened to move if a wind farm is built in their area. They are involved in a conflict between Alle-Catt Wind Energy (owned by energy giant Invenergy) and local residents organized as the Coalition of Concerned Citizens fighting the proposed 117-turbine farm. So it’s not just a case involving […]
Continue Reading Recent Supreme Court Decision Could Help Stop Wind Farm Threatening Amish Community
This is a feel-good story from an off-the-beaten-path Amish corner of Ohio. Amish had remodeled a barn into a two-story home in a small settlement in Harrison County, Ohio (this is about a 40-minute drive southeast of the Holmes County community). The newly-remodeled home burned down July 2. True to form, a week later, Amish […]
Continue Reading Amishman “Feels Loved” Following Fire & Support From English, Emergency Crews
I’m highlighting this report to make the point that motor vehicle drivers are not always at fault in car-buggy accidents. In this accident, the buggy driver failed to yield. A reminder that Amish are humans and also do not drive perfectly. Fortunately, the eight-year-old passenger who was thrown from the buggy has only non-life-threatening injuries. […]
Continue Reading Amish Driver Fails To Yield, Causing Collision With Truck; 8-Year-Old Thrown From Buggy
Last month we got a report and photos of the West Kootenai Amish auction (Rexford, MT). This latest report is from another Montana settlement well-known for its auction – the one at St. Ignatius. This single-church-district settlement is the Treasure State’s second oldest, having come into existence back in 1997. We’ve seen stories on this […]
Continue Reading St. Ignatius, Montana Amish Hold Auction After One-Year Break
Linda Byler is rare in the world of Amish fiction writing. She is an actual member of an Old Order Amish church in an industry dominated by non-Amish writers. That’s one reason I found this recent profile of Linda so interesting. It begins charmingly with Linda not being totally sure how many books she’s actually […]
Continue Reading Old Order Amish Author Linda Byler On Writing 39 Novels
Fourteen Amish families settled in a corner of Kansas (Hartford in Lyon County) in the summer of 2020. That community just held a benefit to raise funds for a new school (article in the Emporia Gazette). Amishman Eddie Yoder explained that the event had two purposes: “to raise money for a much-needed school building and […]
Continue Reading Kansas Amish Hold Benefit For New School – And To Meet The English
Fireworks. A swamp. “Dead Man’s Hollow”. An Amish horse stuck up to its neck. It sounds like the elements of a TV drama or Halloween story. But these all came into play in the village of Union City in Michigan this past weekend. So I didn’t expect to post another Amish fireworks accident story so […]
Continue Reading Fire Crews Rescue Amish Horse – Startled By Fireworks – From Swamp
![Bikes or Scooters? [Video]](https://cdn-0.amishamerica.com/images/amish-woman-scooter-560x426.jpg)
Here’s my video look at a question that often comes up: Why do some Amish use bicycles, while others only ride scooters? In some communities you’ll mainly, or only, see the classic kick scooter. Lancaster County is the first that comes to mind. But this is also the case in places like Geauga County, Ohio, […]
Continue Reading Bikes or Scooters? [Video]
In this guest post by Joe Donnermeyer, he shares an interesting discovery he recently made in Manhattan. Have you ever come across something like this? In celebration of completing our regimen of Covid-19 shots and wanting to travel once again, my wife (Diane) and I decided to spend a week in a place where we […]
Continue Reading The Mid-town Manhattan “Amish Market”
This is being reported by Ashland County Pictures, a news-oriented Facebook page focusing on Ashland County, Ohio: On 7-04-2021 around 10:07pm the Ashland Post of the Ohio Highway Patrol, Ashland County Sheriff’s Office along with the Polk Fire Department & EMS responded to a two Amish Buggy Crash on County Road 175 just North of […]
Continue Reading Fireworks Cause 2-Buggy Collision
This AP story recounts the efforts that went into finding Linda Stoltzfoos, and reveals a detail that I wasn’t aware of, on how she was eventually found. First, it captures well just how much the community came out for this girl: Tim Hoerner, president of the Hand-in-Hand Fire Company in Bird-in-Hand, which was also involved […]
Continue Reading Behind The Search For Linda Stoltzfoos
Lizzy Hershberger lives in the same community as the Fillmore County, Minnesota Amish group who won an appeal case at the Supreme Court last week. She is concerned over wastewater leaking into the ground in her area. Hershberger said that she was “devastated that this is the outcome.” This caught my attention as I believe […]
Continue Reading Amish-Raised Neighbor Reacts To Supreme Court Decision: “Devastated”
Two years ago, three Amish children lost their lives on a road in southern Michigan, having been rear-ended by a drunk driver while traveling by buggy. The driver has now been sentenced. From WMMT: COLDWATER, MI (WNWN/WTVB) – A Fremont, Indiana man was ordered to serve between 42 months and 15 years in the Michigan […]
Continue Reading Drunk Driver Who Killed 4 Amish Children Will Serve 3.5 to 15 Years
Gloria Yoder writes an introspective Amish Cook column this week, on why she is Amish. As she often does, Gloria first notes that there are many different types of Amish people and that she can only speak for her community (Gloria belongs to a New Order Amish church). She then explains: Of the thousands of […]
Continue Reading Gloria Yoder: Why Am I Amish?
![5 Friendliest Amish Communities (& 2 Not-so-friendly) [Video]](https://cdn-0.amishamerica.com/images/friendliest-amish-communities-560x315.jpg)
I did a video giving my list of five friendliest Amish communities. I also discuss one well-known and large community that did not make the list. And, at the end I share two communities that I consider not-so-friendly, and why. If you’d like to see the written version of this video, you can find that […]
Continue Reading 5 Friendliest Amish Communities (& 2 Not-so-friendly) [Video]
Have you ever heard anyone make a claim like “the Amish are against technology”, or that they “shun” modern conveniences? There is even the idea that Amish think technology is “evil”. I recall the video for the silly Weird Al Yankovic song, with Amish feet stomping on a pile of gadgets in one scene. These […]
Continue Reading Do Amish think technology is “evil”? (Video)
“Amish Atheist” certainly feels like an oxymoron. That’s what I thought when first hearing about the turn in Kenneth Copp’s life in a story four years ago. Copp originally appeared on this site even earlier than that, when he was still with the Amish and living in the Unity, Maine community. In 2013 one of […]
Continue Reading A Short Film on Former Amish Convert – Now “Amish Atheist” – Kenneth Copp
I’ve got some photos of the community at Daviess County, Indiana to share with you today. These were taken by a friend of mine and emailed to me several years ago. For whatever reason, at the time I didn’t get around to posting them. I wanted to share them because we have surprisingly relatively little […]
Continue Reading The Amish of Daviess County, Indiana (17 Photos)
Last year, a PA State Deputy saved a 3-year-old Amish girl in a runaway buggy. Here’s another feel-good story – also involving law enforcement, Amish, and a speeding vehicle. Deputy Travis Goodwin of the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office made a traffic stop to remember Friday. From Fox8 Cleveland: “There is no such thing as a […]
Continue Reading Ohio Sheriff Pulls Over Speeder…Minutes Later, Helps Deliver Amish Baby
The post yesterday on one Amishman’s daily schedule mentioned meals – and that got me thinking a bit about the different places Amish eat their meals. So traditionally Amish life revolves around the home. We picture Amish having regular meal times as a fixed facet of daily life, and safe to say that’s still where […]
Continue Reading 6 Places Where Amish Eat Meals
There are around 600 Amish settlements across North America, with new settlements being started at a rate of about one every 10 days. You may have even seen Amish start a new community near you recently – or you might sometime soon. At the same time, many Amish settlements have failed over the years. There […]
Continue Reading The 25 Amish Communities At Least 100 Years Old
Adams County, Indiana wants to build a municipal sewer system in a certain area of the county. And it wants Amish living in that area to “get with the program” and connect to the electrically-powered system. The Amish side attempted to reach a compromise first but were denied. Here’s the gist of the problem from […]
Continue Reading Adams County: Amish Must Connect To Sewer System. Amish Respond With Lawsuit
Milo Miller is the Publisher of two publications widely-read in Amish circles – The Budget & The Diary. I had the pleasure of meeting Milo at his office for the first time on a visit to Sugarcreek, Ohio in 2019 (below photo). I asked Milo if he’d answer a few questions for us about The […]
Continue Reading Q&A with Milo Miller, Publisher of The Budget & The Diary (Book Giveaway)
We recently looked again at Amish women’s occupations in the post 5 Jobs Done By Amish Women. In that post, commenter “Along 340” shared a personal list of 12 further examples of Amish women’s occupations which I felt deserved a post of its own. Photo: Kelsey Hochstetler/Keim Lumber By the way, some of you may […]
Continue Reading 12 More Jobs Done By Amish Women
Grounded Upon God’s Word: The Life and Labors of Jakob Ammann is a new book by co-authors Andrew V. Ste. Marie and Mike Atnip. Ammann was the early leader of the Amish, for whom the group is named. For many years, little was known about Ammann, though in recent decades fresh research has revealed more […]
Continue Reading Who Was Jakob Ammann? Q-and-A & Book Giveaway
Up to 90% of Lancaster County Plain families have had at least one family member infected with COVID-19, according to a local health center administrator. From Lancaster Online: Late last spring a COVID-19 wave tore through the Plain community when they resumed church services, infecting an untold number of Amish and Mennonites in Lancaster County. […]
Continue Reading Have The Amish Reached Herd Immunity?
Will it be possible to attend a Lancaster County mud sale in 2021? Every year in early January I post a listing of the coming year’s mud sales. I have not done so yet this year due to the uncertainty (in 2020, many were cancelled due to COVID). Looking at the current schedule, things do […]
Continue Reading Lancaster County Mud Sales 2021 (The Sales Still Happening & Cancellations)
Molly asks a good question on the recent Lancaster farm stay post: Eric, would you tell us the differences between Lancaster county & Holmes county? We have visited Holmes county, but would like to know the differences. As the two largest and most-visited Amish communities, people often wonder which one of Holmes County and Lancaster […]
Continue Reading Which Community Should You Visit? 7 Differences Between Lancaster County & Holmes County
There is an interesting discussion on the Ag Talk forum about Amish pies. The original post is basically a complaint that pies made by the Amish in the poster’s area of central New York are not very good. An excerpt: I’ve tried 3 different Amish sources 2 on farms and one at a Amish store. Yesterday […]
Continue Reading Beware of Amish-Made Pies?
A comment by Al in KY got me thinking about how many Amish settlements I’ve actually visited. I had tallied this up before, but it was years ago. So I thought it a good idea to put together a fresh list. I believe the very first settlement I went to was Lancaster County, but that […]
Continue Reading My Amish Settlement List (58 Communities)
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..?
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
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)
