78-year-old Carl Cisney is an Amish taxi driving veteran. He’s been providing rides for Amish for over 4 decades – since the time in 1975 he was asked by an Amish neighbor for a ride to a weld shop. Carl has formed deep friendships through his taxi services, even getting invited as the only English guest (along with his wife) to Amish weddings. The work…
It’s always interesting to see international media coverage of the Amish. Attention can come from places you wouldn’t expect. On that note, Taste of Pinecraft author Sherry Gore appeared on a recent episode of the Ukrainian travel program Орёл и Решка (Orel i Reshka). This is a Russian-language program viewed by millions throughout Russian-speaking countries. The gist of the program is that the two celebrity…
“Pud” Sam Stoltzfus is a retired Amish farmer and gazebo builder known throughout the Lancaster County community for his outspoken nature. He has been a frequent writer of letters to the local Lancaster paper, an impromptu spokesman for the Amish in some sense. If you get a chance to meet him, you probably won’t forget it. Pud Sam is a historian, grandfather to 51, and…
A 17-year-old Amish girl was rescued Thursday from atop her buggy during a flood in Wayne County, Ohio. From the Massillon Independent: Brewster Fire Department personnel rescued the 17-year-old girl who had been driving the horse-drawn buggy, which had been swept into the high water along the rural roadway. According to Lt. Roger Carpenter of the Brewster Fire Department, the teen was sitting atop the…
Why don’t they just build buggy lanes wherever Amish live? People often ask just this, especially when there is a bad buggy accident in the news. Realistically, it’s an idea constrained both by budgets and practicality. But in some limited cases, areas with larger Amish populations have done just that. And some Amish-heavy areas will be adding buggy lanes in the next several years. So…
Today a grab bag of eight Amish news stories from the past days and weeks. Let’s dive right in. 1. Amish Basketball Fans (Topeka, Indiana) – Do Amish follow sports? Some do, particularly youth in some places. Last month I was working on my laptop in a local gas station in Lancaster County, when several Amish teens came in to charge a battery…and as you can…
So another year wraps up. I hope yours was a blessed one. As the year winds down, the tradition here is to look back at favorite posts of the previous 12 months. I hope you enjoy these if you missed them the first time around. Wishing you and yours a fantastic 2019, and thanks to everyone who visited, commented, and shared what we do here…
A kerosene lamp explosion caused a fire which burned down the home of two families in the Path Valley settlement (Pennsylvania). Here’s how it happened and the fire team’s response, via the Chambersburg Public Opinion: One of the people in the house was handling a kerosene lamp when it exploded, Hall said. Flames spread. It took a while for someone to reach a neighbor’s house…
Last week I shared 5 unexplained photos from my latest Amish trip, each with a story behind it. Today we have the answer key. You had some good guesses. Going through all the comments, you gave the correct answer, or were close, on nearly everything. Nice job! Here are the photos and questions again, and the explanations: 1. There’s something unusual about the bicycle this…
I’m on my way to NC today after a week on the road, having visited four Amish settlements – plus one – let’s call it for now “future Amish settlement” – with a stop at a Virginia community still to go. Usually when I am traveling and staying with Amish friends, I post a bit less here – not because there are not things to…