Remember Funny Business? Today Tom has some more signs from a variety of New York Amish shops, showcasing the Amish funny bone as well as some wise sayings from smart and important people. Which do you find wisest or wittiest?
It’s become a near-weekly thing to hear from our Empire State correspondent Tom about some Amish corner of New York. This week he checks in with photos of an Amish relief auction in New York’s Conewango Valley, the most heavily-settled Amish area in the state. This auction took place in Cherry Creek, NY. Below, the livestock barn. Amish quilts are a big seller. Amish furniture…
The St. Joseph News-Press is running a nice story on a changing-of-the-guard at a Jamesport, Missouri Amish furniture business. Owner Jake Graber has passed on his company to son John following health problems: Jake Graber survived an aneurysm a couple of years ago and strives now to lead what he regards as a “healthier, more Godly life.” Forgive him, though, occasional moments of exasperation. Some…
I got a kick out of this story, about a Colorado resident who hired a Lancaster Amish crew to travel 1,700 miles to build a fence. No doubt Colorado being the destination had something to do with their willingness to go. A less picturesque part of America may not have enticed the crew. As a largely Midwest and Eastern people with a soft spot for…
Last October we had a look at some unusual occupations in Michigan Amish communities. I was recently going through an Ohio Amish directory while doing book research and came across more uncommon Amish jobs. Amish church directories vary. Some have the head of household’s occupation listed; others don’t. Sometimes the listing is just a generic description of the job (“Mason” or “Roofer” or “Bakery”). At times…
Among the Amish, rugmaking is a thriving cottage industry that goes hand-in-hand with quilting and cloth handiwork. Amish craftspeople often create rugs from scraps left over from quilting or making clothes. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes and styles as you can see below. Here’s an example from an Amish quilt shop at New Wilmington, Pennsylvania: These rugs are from the Amish community…
In addition to the quilts we saw last week, Hostetler’s in Conewango Valley in New York sells faceless handmade dolls. Here’s a fancier version of the Amish doll which Tom notes must be destined for English buyers. The faceless doll is another item iconic of the Amish. Truth be told I haven’t seen too many of them in the Amish homes I’ve been in. It’s…
Riding down Highway 30 east of Lancaster City I was struck as I usually am by the preponderance of Amish tourist destinations. Amish tourism has a long history dating back to the 1930s and 1940s in Lancaster County, with the Ohio and Indiana industries kicking into gear a couple of decades later. Today it would be hard to imagine these places without the plethora of…
A Lancaster friend has a bunch of growing boys, which means he’ll need barn space for more horses. The last week or so he’s had a local carpentry crew at his place putting an addition onto the barn (this is not to be confused with the “pole barn”, which is a different building where visitors from Poland sleep while in town). The work crew is…
Need a ride? Message board inside an Amish bent-n-dent store in Ohio. By the look of that torn-up ad on the left, old fashioned advertising still works. Besides the many Amish taxis, you could also find an ad for child care by an Amish woman. Message boards are still a fixture in some places, for instance country stores. Do you still have anything to do…