Amish Communities

With all the talk about isolation and distancing lately, I thought it would be a good time to look back at an Amish community that’s among the most isolated of all – the one at Burke’s Garden, Virginia. Some of you will remember I visited this place last Thanksgiving. I actually made two stops in […]

Continue Reading Images of Burke’s Garden, Virginia (40 Photos)

A comment by Al in KY got me thinking about how many Amish settlements I’ve actually visited. I had tallied this up before, but it was years ago. So I thought it a good idea to put together a fresh list. I believe the very first settlement I went to was Lancaster County, but that […]

Continue Reading My Amish Settlement List (58 Communities)

Presented again with minimal comment, here are 10 photos of the Pearisburg, Virginia Amish area. If you’re not familiar, here is more on what makes this community unique. I had wanted to visit this area for some time and finally had a chance yesterday. A misty, rainy day but that only added to the atmosphere […]

Continue Reading 10 Views Of The Pearisburg, VA Amish Community

It’s been quite a while since we’ve done one of these “10 views” posts, though I used to do them regularly after visiting an Amish settlement. Ethridge was a delight to visit, and I can say the sun went down too soon. We met some friendly folks just by dropping in to local Amish stores […]

Continue Reading 10 Views Of The Ethridge, Tennessee Amish Community

Reader Lee Annette recently visited Kalona, Iowa – both the town and the surrounding Amish community. Some of you might recall that Don Burke gave us a thorough look at this settlement in 2014, via his set of beautiful winter photos of the area. Photo by Don Burke Kalona is the oldest and largest Amish […]

Continue Reading Visiting Kalona, Iowa: The Town & Amish Community (23 Photos)

We caught a glimpse of North Carolina’s Swartzentruber Amish settlement in an article back in May, when someone interviewed a man from this community as he waited at an Alabama Amtrak station. More recently I previewed the community auction which was to take place in late November. Amish began moving to the area near Ellenboro, […]

Continue Reading Visiting North Carolina’s Swartzentruber Amish Community (31 Photos)

Following up 8 Snapshots From My Lancaster County Visit, here are 20 photos from my recent stay in Holmes County. The weather was on the gloomy side, and though my trip was short, I managed to pack a lot into 24 hours. That included 9 or 10 visits (some with old friends, some with new […]

Continue Reading 20 Snapshots From My Holmes County Visit (Updated)

New Amish settlements come about in different ways. Sometimes settlers from different places mesh differing backgrounds and church standards to create a new community. More often they have a distinct parent community responsible for the bulk of their initial residents. The daughter communities typically resemble the parent community – but are not necessarily carbon copies […]

Continue Reading Mother & Daughter Communities – Comparing 3 Amish Settlements (39 Photos)

I’m traveling on the way to Ohio now and haven’t had a chance to put together a post on Saturday’s visit to NC’s Swartzentruber Amish community and their first annual auction. It was a great visit and you can expect to see more on that soon. Here’s a preview shot, of an Amish auction patron […]

Continue Reading Evening Views From Burke’s Garden, Virginia (14 Photos)

The Amish community in the Sarasota-area Pinecraft neighborhood is one of the most unique Amish settlements. I went into more on why in the Florida Amish state guide page, as well as in the 40+ photo post about my 2013 visit. So if you don’t know much about this unusual community, I’d suggest checking out […]

Continue Reading Another Visit To The Amish At Pinecraft (44 Photos)