Amish Life

Do “classes” exist in Amish society? How is wealth distributed? Do Amish use food stamps? A new study in the latest JAPAS addresses these questions in the Holmes County Amish community (“Amish Economic Transformations: New Forms of Income and Wealth Distribution in a Traditionally “Flat” Community“, by Amyaz Moledina, David McConnell, Stephanie Sugars, and Bailey Connor). By tapping public data including Census info and real estate records, the authors develop a picture of Amish income and…

My friend Katie Troyer was featured in a pair of bonus videos for the recent PBS film The Amish: Shunned.  You may already know Katie from her excellent photos and blog focusing on life in the Pinecraft community in Florida. On the PBS website, The Amish: Shunned creator Callie Wiser comments on the people whom she met “whose stories I did not get to tell”.  Callie…

I am working on a large Holmes County Amish post for later this week.  In the meantime a few preview photos and some recent news stories featuring Amish. Holmes & Geauga Holmes County as you probably know is the largest Amish community in Ohio, and along with Lancaster one of the two largest in America. It’s interesting but not surprising that the Geauga County community…

The photos below were taken by a reader over the weekend in the Holmes/Wayne County, OH Amish settlement, in areas populated by Swartzentruber Amish. There are also some photos from the Ashland County Swartzentruber community. I’ve added a few comments here and there.  Special thanks to our contributor. Looks like they’ve seen some snow lately. This is the first time I’ve seen a sign like…

A reader sends in the following set of photos, of an improvised vehicle in northern Indiana.  I guess we could call this an Amish go-kart. “It was quite a custom job,’ he explains.  “The steering wheel was fabricated of round steel stock powered by a Honda engine with a drive belt to the rear axle. Whoever assembled it was quite creative.  I have no idea…

I am in Florida for a few days and heading to visit the Pinecraft Amish community in Sarasota for the first time today. Palm tree foliage doesn’t seem to change much around these parts. Everything is green here and it feels like July. I like the warmth but I appreciate the change of seasons too. With that in mind today we have some autumn photos…