Here’s a little feel-good story that I’ve had on the back burner to share for a little while. A horse owner in Murray, Kentucky kept seeing Amish horses tied to bushes, or left standing where cars drive, in local store parking lots. Now the town’s Lowe’s has set aside a place for them. The Murray Ledger & Times reports that a woman named Rebecca Bagwell…
“By the Mark” is a gospel song which has the feel of an old hymn, but it actually dates to the 1990s. It was written by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and first released in 1996 on Welch’s debut album. Now Mike and Marty have released their own version. Brother-in-law Ben of Ben & Rose joins them on mandolin and harmony vocals. Ben last sang…
Following the recent abduction attempt in Pennsylvania, there’s been another try at kidnapping an Amish female – this time in Indiana. A heavily intoxicated man is accused of trying to force an Amish girl into his car at gunpoint outside her home in Salem, Indiana. Thankfully, her father and brothers intervened, and detained him until deputies arrived. The Washington County Sheriff’s Department says 53-year-old Jeffrey…
The man who ran Amish Acres in Nappanee, Indiana under the name “Brad Juneau” has been arrested in Louisiana – about 10 days after vendors found the attraction’s grounds deserted. ABC57 reports that Michael Loftin was taken into custody in Kenner, Louisiana, on October 29th. ABC57 had previously reported an active warrant for Loftin in Terrebonne Parish for “Issuing of a Worthless Check.” The station’s…
In May of 2025 we learned of charges against a man named John Miller Esh of Strasburg Township in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Police said Esh posed as a chiropractor and sexually assaulted women and minors in the Plain community in that role, during “treatments.” I described it at the time as a “stomach-churning” story. There are further details as to what he was alleged to…
A local resident whose home sits next to a fast-growing business in the Nappanee Amish community says officials would have forced the company off farmland years ago – “if [the business] was Amish-owned.” The business in question is called PWI, which builds custom cranes, mezzanines, and other manufacturing support products. Over the years they have experienced a lot of success and corresponding growth. Now, they…
Nora Kurtz is a member of an Old Order Amish church in Geauga County, Ohio, and Director of Operations at the Geauga Amish History Center. She previously shared some favorite dishes from her community. Today she returns with a closer look at what happens at Amish weddings. Weddings across Amish communities share a similar structure but can vary in smaller details unique to each community….
After a three-year search, a descendant has located a roughly 200-year-old Amish cemetery in Holmes County, Ohio, where her fourth-great-grandparents are buried — and it was right where a 1975 directory said it would be. As reported in the Bargain Hunter, a woman named Linda Schrock Schneider managed to find the burial ground of Holmes County pioneers Jacob and Anna Shrock in a stand of…
Federal immigration officials have placed a hold on the New Jersey man accused of trying to kidnap an Amish woman in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania earlier this month. And the Department of Homeland Security says he is in the country illegally. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed a detainer on Junior Davila-Moran, 26, of Hamilton Township, New Jersey on October 19, according to WGAL. Davila-Moran is suspected…
Amish buggies in Barnesville, Ohio can no longer use the village’s historic B&O Railroad tunnel as a shortcut into town. Signs now prohibit horses there, following complaints about manure, as well as safety concerns. This is a community of over 400 Amish people in Belmont County in eastern Ohio, a couple counties southeast of the Holmes County settlement. The tunnel is now part of Barnesville’s…