Jim Halverson recently attended an auction in Gladwin County, Michigan. As you can see from the photos, it was a well-attended event, likely in the hundreds of people. It happened this past Friday, May 29. Auctions are a fixture of Amish community life. They may be estate sales, farm sales, benefit events, or simply a regular community consignment auction. Whatever the occasion, they tend to…
The van heater hummed while the sky was still black outside, and I was deep asleep when— Rap tap tap, rap tap tap, rap tap tap. “Hey, Haley, are you awake?” David B’s baritone voice jolted me upright. I blinked at the clock. 6:00 a.m. Seriously? I thought. Don’t these Amish let their drivers sleep? Apparently not. I slipped out of bed quietly so I…
An Amish-owned grocery store in Newaygo County, Michigan burned to the ground overnight — destroyed in a fire that broke out around midnight Thursday. This is From WOOD TV8: GARFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — An Amish-owned grocery store west of Newaygo burned to the ground overnight. The fire broke out around midnight Thursday at Brookside Discount Grocery on 72nd Street near Croswell Avenue in Garfield…
This sort-of dramatic story with a happy ending comes from an Amish community in the excellently-named Otter Tail County, Minnesota. It turns out that an Amish horse collapsed while traveling on a highway – falling into water of some sort. The details come from a law enforcement roundup report at the Perham Focus: [May 11] 11:40 a.m., Horse reportedly collapsed on the roadway after suffering…
An Amish family in Juniata County, Pennsylvania was involved in an incident Wednesday while dismantling a trailer home. A roof collapsed, pinning a man underneath. This accident was first reported two days ago, with relatively few details. Now a fresh report informs us that the man pinned under the structure has died. From WGAL: WALKER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The Juniata County Coroner said the man…
After last week’s story of an Amish neighbor unexpectedly returning a favor, Haley Straw returns with a story in a similar vein. Only this time the favor is of the “pay-it-forward” variety – and on a much larger scale. Snuggled warm in bed, hoping to catch up on sleep, my phone rang interrupting a sweet dream. Blurry eyed, I fumbled for my phone thinking, “It…
It has been three months since the devastating February 3rd crash in Jay County, Indiana that killed four members of the local Amish community. The crash drew national attention to the question of “chameleon carriers” in the shipping industry. Since the tragedy, there have been several significant developments — including that the semi driver has been formally charged, and the van driver who survived has…
A three-year-old Amish boy was seriously injured yesterday afternoon after being run over by a horse-drawn planter on a farm in Centre County, Pennsylvania, as reported by WTAJ. Pennsylvania State Police say the accident happened Monday on Brush Valley Road in Rebersburg. The Daily Voice notes that emergency crews treated the child at the scene before he was airlifted to Geisinger Hospital in Danville, where…
We’re back with Part 3, the final part of our conversation with Don Burke and Laura Graber on Amish horse-drawn transport in Jamesport, Missouri. In Part 1, Don and Laura covered the smallest and largest vehicles on the road — from pony carts to draft horse wagons. In Part 2, they moved to the three most common buggy types: the standard enclosed buggy, the surrey,…
Author and Amish taxi driver Haley Straw is back to share a new story – of an Amish neighbor who remembered a kindness – and made sure to pay it back, in his own way. The gravel crunched under my tires as I pulled into the pasture, the old ticket booth still sitting where it had been for two years—waiting. I had big plans for…