Halifax County on the NC/VA border in southern Virginia is home to a tiny Amish community. On my recent Amish trip I paid a brief visit. Halifax County is one of just 4 Amish communities in Virginia. If you missed it I shared some photos of one of the others here: Charlotte County, Virginia Amish. The Halifax County community was founded in 2005, and is…
Pennsylvania Dutch markets thrive throughout the greater Philadelphia region If you live anywhere in the Philadelphia-Baltimore-Washington DC corridor, you might have Amish nearer than you think–at least for a few days each week. Amish market stands are found scattered across the Eastern corridor, bringing Plain life into the cities and suburbs of America’s largest metropolitan areas. Market stands provide a pretty decent living for Amish….
I picked up a copy of the 2011 Lancaster County Business Directory on my recent visit to Pennsylvania. If you want to find a business in Lancaster County, this is the guide to have. The 448-page 2011 edition has a circulation of 60,000 and can be found at area businesses. Amish shops, especially retail stores, often have copies of the guide near the entrance, free…
When the going gets tough, sometimes low-tech saves high-tech. The video below was shot last week during heavy snows near Ottawa, Pennsylvania. I doubt either of these guys imagined they’d be doing this when they woke up that morning. Hope they ate their Wheaties, but looks like the horses certainly did: Did you catch the field mouse running for his life in the middle…
I’m no pro when it comes to photos. In fact, I’m a big believer in the volume school of photography. Maybe you know it? It’s only become possible thanks to digital cameras. Volume school photographers know that the more photos you take, the higher the chances a few will come out alright. So I try to snap a bunch. Of course, it helps if you…
You’ve probably heard about the accident in a Kentucky Amish community last Thursday. Flash flooding in a normally passable creek caused a crossing buggy to overturn. Four children, ranging in age from 5 months to 11 years, were swept away and drowned. The Amish community, in Graves County in western Kentucky, has suffered a difficult loss. One hopes the parents take some bittersweet comfort at…
I thought I’d share a bit more on one of the most obvious visual markers of Amish – the buggy. As you probably know, buggy styles can vary across the hundreds of Amish settlements in North America. Below are the five main styles I encountered on a recent trip. Four of them are not commonly seen, driven by only a minority of Amish in certain…
Since I’ve been back in the US I’ve finally had a chance to watch the National Geographic Amish specials (on ex-Amish, and Amish courtship and marriage) in full. You may recall a couple of posts on these last fall: Leaving the Amish and Amish dating. I didn’t comment too much at the time, having only seen the short excerpts available online. Leaving other issues aside, I found…
Say the words “Pennsylvania Amish”, and Lancaster County inevitably comes to mind. But Pennsylvania is a state covered with Amish settlements, with over 50 as of 2010 (see Young Center 2010). The Amish community in Juniata County is one of the Keystone State’s many lesser-known settlements. I had a chance to visit Juniata County last week while returning to Lancaster County from Big Valley. Juniata…
Did you know that Amish have light switches in their homes? Neither did I. Well, I should say some Amish do have switches that don’t turn anything on. For instance, when they buy a home that was previously English-owned, then tear out the electricity, as they’d be expected to do. The wall switches remain. Not those. I mean a light switch that actually brings light…