I always tell people that if you are new in an Amish community, and want to meet the locals, the best thing to do is to visit their businesses. Larger communities like Lancaster County and Holmes County have significantly more Amish businesses. But they’re not as densely located or convenient to visit as in Ethridge, Tennessee‘s community of 11 church districts. It seems every other…
Amish Acres was portioned off and sold at auction yesterday in separate parcels after the owners tried and failed to find a buyer for the entire property. One set of buyers purchased the “entertainment center” containing the famous Round Barn Theatre, restaurant, and other buildings. Another tract containing the hotel was sold to a different buyer. So it looks like there is a chance that…
Yesterday while traveling on I-81 through Tennessee I stopped in at Yoder’s Country Market (Bulls Gap, TN). This is in the eastern end of the state, the part which juts out between Virginia and North Carolina. This is one of the nicest PA Dutch-style stores I’ve come across. I call it “Amishy” because it has a very Amish feel, selling the types of things you’d…
Signs for Mattie’s Place are one of the first things cluing you in as you approach Burke’s Garden, Virginia. For about eight years now, this picturesque valley has been the site of one of the more uniquely-located Amish settlements in North America. Photo by zeesstoff/flickr “Mattie” is Mattie Schlabach. She runs one of the handful of retail businesses in the valley, a popular general store…
One of the more memorable experiences of my Holmes County visit was an early-morning stop at Indian Trail Harness Shop. Rich Stevick and I were out for a day of visiting. This was our first stop of the day, and a random one (sometimes those are the best). We noticed the place traveling up from Walnut Creek to an Amish acquaintance of Rich’s in Wayne…
Amish Acres, in the Nappanee, Indiana community, is one of the best-known Amish tourist destinations, so this news surprised me. The owners are heading for retirement after 50+ years running the business. Amish Acres will shut down this year on New Year’s Eve. There are currently no set plans for it to be taken over. Image: WNDU The attraction features an historic farm which can…
Pioneer Equipment is a longstanding Amish manufacturer which makes horse-drawn equipment, wagons and other vehicles, and related implements. The company got its start in the mid-1970s when Wayne Wengerd and his father Henry tested out a plow prototype on a back field of their land, a response to the growing lack of horse-drawn equipment available to Plain farmers. Amish people had for years used the…
We once had a monthly Amish auction update thanks to the hard work of one helpful reader, but there are too many of them for me to keep up with on my own. However, from time to time I like to promote upcoming auction events, especially ones you readers keep me posted on. Bob has kindly passed along the following notice of an upcoming auction…
A month ago we looked at the first Amish settlement in Canada – that of Milverton, Ontario. In the post I referenced a quote from Fred Lichti, a Mennonite pastor who lives in nearby Elmira. Fred had this to say in a talk on the community: These Amish in the Milverton area have continued to worship in homes on Sunday mornings. They had little growth…
Sometimes you just know a place is “Amish” at first sight. That was the case as we drove by and spotted Pineview Bulk Food & Deli, just a couple of miles outside the quaint town of Farmville, Virginia. I had a couple of addresses of Amish places in the community, but found my phone signal was so weak that I couldn’t get Google Maps to…