Earlier this month, Don Burke gave us the story of how he first visited the Amish in Ohio, along with photos from that trip. We left off as he and his wife Pam were about to continue on — for a first visit to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. So let’s rejoin them now for the next portion of the journey… Don: As we ended the previous…
If you’ve read this site for some time, you’ll know Don Burke has been a long-time contributor here, sharing his visits and top-notch photos from Amish communities around the country. For a few examples, see Don’s trips to Ethridge, Tennessee, inside a Missouri Amish home, or at an “Amish-ish” wedding. Today Don tells us the story of how he happened to first visit the Amish,…
Don Burke is back with a collection of wonderful photos from a visit to an off-the-main-drag Amish community. This one is located in Oregon County in southern Missouri. Don shares the story of his visit below. You can find more of Don’s photos here. Being a freelance photographer, when I recently discovered I had two-and-a-half spring days free, I quickly made plans for a visit in…
A recent article (Lancaster Online) on the Lancaster Amish and development pressure brought some interesting facts about the county’s Amish population to the forefront. Most of these are from that article, with some additions and explanation by me. 5 Facts About Lancaster County’s Amish Population 1. The largest community – Lancaster County is home to an estimated 33,143 Amish, according to estimates from the Young Center….
Yesterday I visited the small Amish community in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. It was a crisp early spring day. The people in this community, a Union Grove, NC daughter settlement, certainly chose a beautiful area to settle in. It’s a area of rolling hills, with lovely valleys and spans of thickly-wooded land. The settlement itself lies near the town of Chatham. The countryside has a lot…
How about a little tour through Holmes County, Ohio? I realized I still have a lot of photos from last year’s visit. Since I’ll be going to some new communities starting next week, I thought it would be a good time to share them with you. These were taken over a couple days in early December. You’ll notice the changing weather conditions, from bright and…
Like my visit to Enon Valley, PA in December, I only had a brief time at the Amish community at Halifax County, VA. I was returning home from my multi-state Amish trip after 2000+ miles traveled. And as you’ll see from these photos, it was the end of the day. Still, it was worth the journey, mainly for one family I met while there. The Amish of Halifax…
You might recall this image from the 5 Mystery Photos post: I explained in the follow-up that this unusual buggy was from the settlement at Enon Valley, Pennsylvania. I had been wanting to visit this settlement for some time and had a chance to do so in early December, but due to time constraints, weather and darkness it wasn’t quite what I had hoped it…
“My way of thinking is keeping it in the centre is the right path. One extreme is as bad as the other.” That’s Amishman Chris Hershberger, in a new CBC story on the Amish in Manitoba. This summer reader Urs Christen shared a look at the first Amish community in the province. Manitoba had just become the fourth Canadian province with an Amish population, joining…
We’ve looked at the 12 Southern, 5 Western, and 4 Northeastern states with Amish populations. Finally, today we review the 11 Midwestern states with Amish communities. The Midwest as a region has a higher percentage of its states with Amish populations (11 of 12) than any other. In some sense it is both the “US heartland” and “Amish heartland”. Three of the four most Amish-populous…