We had a look at the Lancaster County Mud Sales yesterday. Today, Terry Berger shares a few photos from one that happened just a week-and-a-half ago, at Gordonville. Terry adds, “One of the best parts of going is being with so many people that l look like and getting lost in the crowd so to speak.” End of the day buggy jam up on Route…
Will Amish ever face military conscription again? We can’t know the answer to that question, but Amish and other conservative Anabaptists are preparing for such a worst-case scenario. Amish beliefs about non-resistance include not doing violence against others, extending into prohibitions on serving in law enforcement, political office, and even bringing lawsuits. Amish have faced the military draft many times in the past, with a…
Today’s question springs from a new study on a genetic mutation which causes a form of mental retardation among some Amish people. Like other genetic research involving the Amish, this study will probably help them health-wise. It’s really the language used to describe it which may not be quite so helpful. The meaning of “inbreeding” In the article describing the work, researcher José Luis Rosa of the University…
Taken in Wayne County, Ohio. Many Amish hire “taxis”; some, when available, ride buses or trains. There is, of course, a third transport option for Amish: they feed you, you drive them. I have been participating in this for some time now. But I only recently learned the (un)official name of this Amish-English program: “Meals for Wheels”. This photo reminds me of waiting on a…
Since 1974, David Luthy has periodically released a directory of Amish communities appearing in Family Life, with updates appearing every 5 to 10 years (the last was in 2008). Writing in last July’s issue of Family Life, Luthy observes “with 62 counties in its 49,109 square miles, New York has in the past ten years become a popular state for Amish landseekers. Such, however, was…
Daylight saving time (DST) kicked in yesterday, so if you haven’t tweaked your clocks yet, here’s a reminder. I mean, of course, your non-computerized timekeepers, those grandfathers and cuckoos and analog wristwatches, since these days the ones in our phones and laptops do our remembering for us. Also your alarm clock, though if you had to be at work today, it may be a little…
From a recent report in the Cleveland Plain Dealer: The fractured Amish community of Bergholz is distraught over news that bishop Samuel Mullet and seven of his hate crime co-defendants have been assigned to prisons scattered across the country — some as far as 1,000 miles away. Samuel Mullet originally had been designated to serve his 15-year sentence in Loretto, Pa. — the same low-security federal correctional…
Here’s a photo of the light over the kitchen table in an Amish home (taken in Mark Curtis’ Ohio home): Some Amish homes have propane fixtures built-in. You’ll find them in nearly every room of the house, just as you’d find electric fixtures in an English home. In other houses you may see hooks in the ceiling from which portable lights can be hung. There…
You might recall our recent look at the kid box, a special compartment on the backs of some open-top Swiss Amish buggies. These allow children to ride protected from the weather. Torey has sent in some further photos of much larger (adult-sized) carriage compartments, taken in the two large Swiss Amish communities in Indiana. The first photo is from the Allen County settlement: The second…
There have been quite a few interesting submissions on the question request post. Today’s topic comes from an old batch but we hope to get to some of your newer questions soon. A reader asks: Do they have books or normal furniture? Given the generality of that question I simply asked John to comment on the types of books and furniture seen in Amish homes….