For various reasons, I haven’t visited many Amish settlements lately. I managed just one trip in 2014 (though to a nice place). But my recent visit to a new–for me–community (Somerset County, PA) reminded me how much I enjoy visiting new Amish places. A little while ago I even put together a short list of settlements I’d like to visit. When I recently asked for your ideas, Al in KY suggested the same…
Are you surprised that the Amish-backed Bank of Bird-in-Hand has (so far) been a success? According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, the bank has amassed more than $60 million in loans in its first year of business. In 2013, Bank of Bird-in-Hand was reported to be the first new US bank since 2010, when the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law was enacted. Now in 2015, it’s…
What do Hutterites speak? The Anabaptist cousins of the Amish communicate in a German dialect, but it differs from what you hear from the Amish. Manitoba Hutterite Linda Maendel explains her native tongue in today’s post. — Hutterisch – the Mother Tongue of the Hutterites Hutterisch, as Hutterites fondly call their language, is the Carinthian German dialect spoken by all Hutterites in Canada and the United States and some…
“Give me gas for my Ford, keep me truckin’ for the Lord!” That’s not a line you expect to hear in a song sung by Amish people. But that’s what I heard while visiting Amish last week in Lancaster County. I was being entertained by a friend’s children, who put on an impromptu concert one evening, helped along by their father. They had learned the line…
I paid a visit to Somerset County, Pennsylvania on my “way home” from last week’s stay in Lancaster County. I have “way home” in quotes here because it required a 3-hour detour west down the PA Turnpike in a snowstorm. But I was determined to get there. This had been a place I’d wanted to visit for a long time. Luckily road conditions weren’t slick,…
Just what is a skid house? And why would you want to move one? Karen Johnson-Weiner explains below, complete with photos of a skid house being loaded and moved in a Swartzentruber Amish community in upstate New York. — A “skid house” is the equivalent of a mobile home for more conservative Amish. It is built—on wooden skids—so that it can be taken apart and moved….
Last week’s look inside an Amish home drew quite a few comments, here on the website and on our Facebook page. Some of you felt the home was beautiful. One commenter “love[d] the simplicity.” Others felt the home looked “a little fancy for Amish”. It made me realize we all have different ideas of what an Amish home “should” look like. But the Amish, as tends to be…
I’m in Lancaster County this week, catching up on all the pie I’ve missed eating, and doing other important thing like that…but I will be popping in here periodically. And we have some posts lined up for you. Look for another “Five Points” list post on Wednesday (topic hint: this week’s list was inspired by the response to one of last week’s posts). And on…
In today’s post, Janneken Smucker gives us a glimpse of the homes and quilts of “Church Amish” in Lancaster County, over 70 years ago. — Recently my research interests have expanded from Amish quilts to New Deal era photography. Luckily, there is a small group of photographs in which these two topics perfectly mesh: photographs Irving Rusinow took of Amish and Mennonites in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, during the…
We often talk about the largest Amish communities – meaning the geographic locations where Amish live. The Lancaster County settlement is one example of an Amish community. Amish affiliations are something different. As noted in an earlier post on affiliations, the term “describe[s] groupings of Amish churches of similar practice, identity, and lifestyle.” To take the example above, the “Lancaster” affiliation includes the Lancaster County Amish–but also includes…