Amish Dairy Recalls Cheese In 5 States – And D.C. – Over Listeria Contamination

Amish Dairy Recalls Cheese In 5 States – And D.C. – Over Listeria Contamination

ByErik Wesner

An Amish-owned dairy in Maryland is recalling all of its cheese products over possible listeria contamination, with distribution having reached five states and Washington, D.C. To date, nine people in multiple states have been identified as infected with this listeria outbreak strain. That includes one person who died in Maryland in 2023. Clover Hill Dairy, based in Mechanicsville, Maryland, first issued a voluntary recall of…

New from Mike & Marty: “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”

New from Mike & Marty: “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”

ByErik Wesner
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“Will The Circle Be Unbroken” was originally written in 1907 by Ada R. Habershon, with music by Charles H. Gabriel. Versions of it were later more famously recorded by The Carter Family, Johnny Cash, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – with variations in lyrics and music. Now Mike and Marty contribute their own effort to the unbroken circle line. Their version of the song…

JPAC Volume 6, Issue 2 Released: Holmes County Demographics, Remarriage Among The Amish, And More

JPAC Volume 6, Issue 2 Released: Holmes County Demographics, Remarriage Among The Amish, And More

ByJoe Donnermeyer

The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC) is dedicated to publishing a variety of articles about the Amish, Mennonites, Hutterites and other plain Anabaptist groups. The recently released Volume 6, Issue 2 is no exception. Holmes County Amish Demographics The lead article is a demographic profile of the Greater Holmes County Amish settlement. Located in northeast Ohio, it is the second largest Amish community. Previously,…

Virginia Department Of Health Says “Stay Away” From Amish Auction – Due To Measles Outbreak

Virginia Department Of Health Says “Stay Away” From Amish Auction – Due To Measles Outbreak

ByErik Wesner
2 Comments

The Virginia Department of Health doesn’t often have opinions about Amish auctions. This week it made an exception. In a health advisory issued Thursday, the department pointed to the Amish Parochial School Consignment Auction in Dillwyn, set for this Friday and Saturday, as an event people should skip if they’re not vaccinated against measles. That’s because Buckingham County is in the middle of a measles…

11-Year-Old Amish Boy Seriously Injured After Buggy Pulls Into Path Of Oncoming SUV

11-Year-Old Amish Boy Seriously Injured After Buggy Pulls Into Path Of Oncoming SUV

ByErik Wesner
7 Comments

It’s believed that an 11-year-old Amish boy pulled out into oncoming traffic, resulting in a serious accident in Gladwin County, Michigan on Wednesday morning. According to police the boy’s view was obscured. Here’s more from ABC 12: The crash happened just after 10 a.m. on McCulloch Rd., about a quarter-mile north of Lang Road in Beaverton Township. According to the Gladwin County Sheriff’s Office, an…

12 More Photos From the Central Michigan Amish Retirement Auction

12 More Photos From the Central Michigan Amish Retirement Auction

ByErik Wesner
2 Comments

Today we’ve got more photos from Jim Halverson’s visit to a retirement auction in Gladwin County, Michigan. It’s a “retirement” auction because the family holding it are apparently getting out of the dairy business. As they write in the sale bill, “We are retiring and will offer the following at Public Auction.” It happens commonly enough. In many cases, a willing son and his family,…

Wisconsin Is America’s #4 Amish State — Here Are Its 10 Largest Communities

Wisconsin Is America’s #4 Amish State — Here Are Its 10 Largest Communities

ByErik Wesner
1 Comment

Wisconsin is home to America’s fourth-largest Amish population, with over 27,000 Amish living across the state. These ten communities rank as the biggest in Wisconsin, based on the most current Amish population estimates. While Wisconsin does not have many very large Amish communities, the state makes up for it in number –  having the second-most individual Amish settlements of any state. Population numbers via Young…

Hundreds of Amish Turn Out for Road, Home, and Farm Safety Day (Nappanee)

Hundreds of Amish Turn Out for Road, Home, and Farm Safety Day (Nappanee)

ByErik Wesner

Amish life presents certain hazards that typical non-Amish life does not. Those can include dangers when traveling by buggy, working on the farm, or even dangers from non-electric fuels in the home. Adding a lot of children to the mix, as is the norm for Amish families, adds another layer to the topic. Of course, Amish parents teach their children the do’s and don’ts for…

16-Year-Old Amish Girl Killed When Semi Rear-Ends Buggy On Indiana State Road

16-Year-Old Amish Girl Killed When Semi Rear-Ends Buggy On Indiana State Road

ByErik Wesner
3 Comments

A 16-year-old Amish girl named Laura Schwartz was killed when a semi-truck rear-ended the horse-drawn buggy she was riding in. The crash happened early Saturday – the morning of June 6 – in Adams County, Indiana. It’s been a bad stretch on the roads for the Amish — and this is at least the second Amish teen to lose their life in a buggy wreck…

Michigan Driver Strikes Amish Buggy, Ejecting Four — Including Pregnant Woman; Drug Use Suspected

Michigan Driver Strikes Amish Buggy, Ejecting Four — Including Pregnant Woman; Drug Use Suspected

ByErik Wesner
2 Comments

Michigan has returned to the news with another buggy crash — and again, one involving a (potentially) impaired person behind the wheel. A driver rear-ended an Amish buggy Friday evening in St. Joseph County, ejecting all four people inside and leaving a pregnant woman in critical condition. Drug use is suspected. Here’s more from WTVB: According to the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were…

This Rare Deep South Amish Community Now Has 4 Homes For Sale — Is It Disbanding? (20 Photos)

This Rare Deep South Amish Community Now Has 4 Homes For Sale — Is It Disbanding? (20 Photos)

ByErik Wesner
1 Comment

Back in April we featured an Amish homestead for sale in the Randolph community of Pontotoc County, Mississippi – one of only two Amish settlements in the entire Deep South. Not too long after that post went up, a reader named William left a comment: “There are 3 Amish homes for sale in that area. We’re looking to potentially relocate to the area and are…

Echoes From Amish Country: Voices Of Hope

Echoes From Amish Country: Voices Of Hope

ByHaley Straw
4 Comments

The church parking lot in Holmes County was already filling when Lizzie and I pulled in. Women in plain dresses, women in jeans, and women in dress slacks moved steadily toward the doors carrying coffee cups, purses, notebooks, and homemade snacks. Some greeted each other like old friends. Others looked nervous, like they were still trying to decide whether they belonged there at all. Inside,…

Woman With 0.14 BAC Hits Amish Buggy Carrying Five, Including Baby — Then Flees Wrong Way On Highway

Woman With 0.14 BAC Hits Amish Buggy Carrying Five, Including Baby — Then Flees Wrong Way On Highway

ByErik Wesner
1 Comment

An intoxicated 25-year-old woman struck an Amish buggy in Kosciusko County, Indiana several days ago, leaving behind multiple injured victims, and ultimately a trail of ugliness. And I say this is one of the uglier such stories, for several reasons. Those include what happened to the Amish victims involved – but especially for this person’s alleged behavior after the wreck happened. A Series of Bad…

A Return To Virginia’s Oldest Amish Community — And The Woman Who Left Something Beautiful Behind (15 Photos)

A Return To Virginia’s Oldest Amish Community — And The Woman Who Left Something Beautiful Behind (15 Photos)

ByErik Wesner
3 Comments

Reader Shawn has been visiting the Amish community at Pearisburg, Virginia for over a decade now. The first visit of Shawn’s we saw here was back in 2014, followed by a return in 2016 to check on the newly opened Walker Valley Market. I’ve made a couple of visits myself – one on a rainy February day in 2020, and another in December 2020 when…

Amish Teen Killed on Fishing Trip After Car Rear-Ends Open Buggy in Kentucky

Amish Teen Killed on Fishing Trip After Car Rear-Ends Open Buggy in Kentucky

ByErik Wesner
7 Comments

Another tragic buggy crash has claimed the life of a young member of an Amish community in northern Kentucky, and left two others injured. The crash happened this past Saturday in Carroll County, Kentucky, as local Amish youth were on a fishing trip. According to reporting by the Madison Courier: The teens were traveling along with other teens from an Old Order Amish community in…

Amish Fishermen Caught & Kept a Giant 40-Pound Muskie and Some Are Not Happy About It

Amish Fishermen Caught & Kept a Giant 40-Pound Muskie and Some Are Not Happy About It

ByErik Wesner
9 Comments

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…

For The First Time In A Century, The Amish Now Live In This Southern State

For The First Time In A Century, The Amish Now Live In This Southern State

ByErik Wesner
12 Comments

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…

2026 Amish Mud Sale Schedule (Lancaster County & More)

2026 Amish Mud Sale Schedule (Lancaster County & More)

ByErik Wesner
13 Comments

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…