Amish Business

Amish Business Map (Buchanan County, Iowa)

Another Amish business map to share – this one from the sizeable settlement in Buchanan County, Iowa (Hazleton). The area promotes the local “Amish Boulevard” – a stretch of county road running through the heart of the community (it’s W13 on the map below). On this map you’ll find nearly 50 Amish businesses. You can see the area’s grid roads are really dotted with shops…

Ben Riehl On His Father David

In a post last week, I mentioned visiting Manhattan with my friend Ben Riehl in search of the dealers where his father David once sold antique Amish quilts. I also shared a bit from his related 2018 talk at Elizabethtown College. Ben has kindly passed along a written version of that talk which I’ve posted below. If you missed the original post, David Riehl was…

At A “White-Topper” Auction (28 Photos)

At A “White-Topper” Auction (28 Photos)

Reader Jerry, an avid Amish auction-goer, is back on the Amish auction trail. He recently attended a sale held by Nebraska Amish — aka “white-topper” Amish, which is what some call them on account of their buggies with white tops. This auction happened Saturday at a Zook farm on Back Mountain Road in Milroy, Pennsylvania (Big Valley area). This was to support the hospital benefit…

David Riehl, Amish Quilt Dealer (1987)

David Riehl is a person I’d heard a lot about – both reading his story, and directly from his family. David was a key figure in the development of the Amish quilt industry. His is one of the more unusual tales of an Amish person crafting a successful enterprise – by taking his goods right into the heart of the nation’s largest metropolis. Beginning in…

26 Amish Businesses (Clare County, Michigan)

26 Amish Businesses (Clare County, Michigan)

This isn’t a map, but it is a nice directory giving addresses of 26 Amish businesses in Clare County, Michigan. There are three Amish communities with a presence in Clare County. I believe the businesses here are from the more progressive of the two larger ones. That settlement has families both in Clare County, and neighboring Isabella County. It is seven church districts in size….

Amish Business Map – Livingston County, New York

Amish Business Map – Livingston County, New York

I’m seeing more and more examples of Amish business maps, both online and off. To give a few examples, there are the multiple maps in Ethridge, Tennessee, the map we saw last week from the small Whitefield, Maine community, and this online map of the Conewango Valley, New York settlement, with over 180 Amish businesses listed. I see the maps as good marketing by people…

6 Lehman’s Products Used By The Amish

6 Lehman’s Products Used By The Amish

As we learned in last year’s post on 5 interesting facts about Lehman’s, the customer makeup of this simple products retailer is more English than Amish (by a factor of 4 to 1). And the product line reflects this to some extent. The company has a wide array of products fitting the “old-fashioned/off-grid” concept. But a decent chunk of them would not be typical for…

Pot Holders, Crib Quilts, Pickled Okra & More: A Week’s Worth Of Amish Home Businesses

Pot Holders, Crib Quilts, Pickled Okra & More: A Week’s Worth Of Amish Home Businesses

Back in February I shared with you 57 Amish businesses you can visit in Ethridge, Tennessee. This was based on a visitor’s map given out at a local business. Reader Al in KY has gone one better, and passed along a much fuller guide to Amish businesses in the community for your enjoyment. Says Al: “I counted up the number of Amish homesteads listed on…

Amish Women Sew A Mask In 5 Minutes – With Foot-Powered Antique Machines (New Wilmington, PA)

Amish Women Sew A Mask In 5 Minutes – With Foot-Powered Antique Machines (New Wilmington, PA)

One more Amish mask post (last one?). This one was a little under-the-radar, but caught my attention for several reasons (via the Beaver County Times). One, this is probably the plainest Amish group I’ve seen involved in mask making. This is New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. Amish here are not as strict as say Swartzentruber Amish, but this is one of the most traditional Amish communities. These…

Lehman’s Sees Online Sales Surge

Lehman’s Sees Online Sales Surge

With much of the country’s bricks-and-mortar economy shut down, e-commerce has been thriving. Ohio-based Lehman’s – specializing in off-the-grid and old-fashioned items – is one business that has seen its sales spike. The Wooster Daily Record looks at Lehman’s experience over the past couple months. Some products have been in especially high demand. So what are people buying? The first item mentioned doesn’t surprise me…