Back from vacation – and thank you for all the nice wishes. It was a (mostly) restful week spent at the ocean with family, with no sunburns, and a little extra sleep, so I guess I’m coming out ahead here. After a week off there’s a lot out there to comment on. This might not be the most important news in Amish America, but over…
I’ve been hearing about Cruise Night at the Markets at Shrewsbury for years now. I finally got to attend on this recent PA trip. First, a word about the venue. The Markets at Shrewsbury is one of the nicer and more extensive Pennsylvania Dutch markets I’ve visited. I’d say the vendor breakdown is majority Amish, with a number of English stands as well. Most of…
I’m calling it “Amish” in the title, though that’s not totally accurate. More of the participants were probably non-Amish, though there were quite a few Amish riders as well, and a heavily Amish crowd. Riders perform each Monday in the spring and summer, but as I understood it the August 27 event at Hill Brook Farm Arena was the highlight show of the season. I…
Today, another of the Rules of a Godly Life. I think it’s fitting this is the first listed in the devotional: Awake in the morning with your thoughts turned to God. Think, this might be your last day of life. And when you go to bed at night, pause a moment to realize that it is unknown to you whether you will awake again on…
A month back I wrote about the upcoming TLC series “Breaking Amish”. After viewing a promo and reading some coverage, I felt it sounded like an “Amish in the City” rehash, but with the obnoxious dial cranked to 11: Just when I think “Amish TV” might be cooling down, a new show pops up. I imagine at some point we’ll be seeing a full-fledged network…
It’s fun to visit a new Amish community when you have someone waiting there to greet you. Last Monday I had a chance to drop in on Mark Curtis, son of frequent commenter Don Curtis. If you recall from last year’s account, Mark joined the Amish after living much of his adult life on the other side of the fence, at the age of 50….
Holmes County, Ohio is one of my favorite Amish communities to visit, in part due to the diversity of groups. There are four main Amish tribes here; adding up the sub-groups and spin-off affiliations you get more than double that. A short list of differences you’ll find among Holmes County Amish: Silent vs. spoken prayer Peeling paint vs. pristine walls Rubber vs. metal rims Singing…
John Stoltzfus is a friend of mine and member of the Lebanon County, PA Amish community (you may recall reading his comments on this blog from time to time). Like any Old Order Amishman, John’s home is not wired, but he does have access to a computer via his job and neighbors, which isn’t commonplace but not too rare either. John also has an interesting…
I’ve finally put together some trip highlights from Lancaster County. Today begins a new trip, a week-long journey across Indiana and Ohio. Before we get into that, here’s what I liked from last week’s visit: Seven nights, four bonfires, two mountain pie feasts. Amish people like to burn stuff in the summer time. Mostly wood from what I can tell. It makes for a nice…
The big Amish news this week is the trial of 16 members of the Bergholz group, which opened in a Cleveland federal court Tuesday. The accused are charged with hate crimes for their roles in the beard and hair-cutting attacks. Some face sentences of 20 years or more if convicted. Defendants have rejected plea bargain deals offering much shorter sentences, and have argued that their…