Today we have the latest installment in our regular 10 views feature. I took these photos last summer while in the Nappanee, Indiana Amish community. The town of Nappanee is at the center of a large Amish community of around 5,000 people, which stretches over 4 northern Indiana counties: Kosciusko, Elkhart, Marshall, and St. Joseph. Founded in the early 1840s, this community is one of…
We have another nice batch of photos today from Tom in NY, though I hesitated to post them at first. Not because they are controversial, but because the weather depicted in them is so different from what I have been enjoying the past few days–a perfect 70-75 degrees and sunny as anything. But in the end I’m hardly superstitious, so why not. Tom took these…
I compared statistics from the 2003 Amish Settlements Across America by David Luthy with numbers from the 2012 Raber’s Almanac to come up with a list of 5 fast-growing Amish settlements over the past decade. Past calculations have found the Amish population to double roughly every 18-20 years; these communities would be exceeding that, some by a significant margin. Why “fast-growing” and not “the fastest-growing”? There…
The area of Hicksville, Ohio (Defiance County, is home to an Amish community of just one congregation in size. What makes it interesting is that it is also quite old, being founded in 1914 (making it the 3rd or 4th-oldest Ohio Amish community). Amish settlements come and go. There are over 400 Amish communities today. But there have probably been 150+ which were founded and…
Michigan currently occupies sixth place when it comes to the size of their Amish population. The state is home to nearly 12,000 Amish in 3 dozen communities (see Young Center 2011 Amish statistics). Over one-tenth of the Michigan Amish population is found in St. Joseph County, in a settlement located near the town of Centreville. This group consisted of 11 Amish church districts as of…
We haven’t done one of these in awhile, so here are ten photos from the Adams County, Indiana Amish settlement. As you can see, it was a fairly grey day, so that didn’t help. Which do you think came out best? If you enjoyed these, some other photos: 10 views of Lancaster County Amish 10 views of the northern Indiana (Elkhart-Lagrange) Amish 10 views of Allen…
Michigan Mary, who commented earlier on the Ohio Amish shooting, has shared some photos taken in Holmes County last week. In my neck of the woods we just hit winter–both technically and meteorologically speaking, with the season’s first snowfall yesterday. Looks like they’ve had a bit of the same lately in Ohio. Exotic animal farm. There are a couple of these in Holmes County–the…
Following yesterday’s post on the Ohio Amish shooting, there was some discussion on the group of Amish victim Rachel Yoder belonged to. Rachel was apparently a member of the Andy Weaver Amish, which is colloquially known as the “Dan” Church (thanks to Michigan Mary, who was about a mile away at the time of the shooting Thursday, for filling in some gaps). Rachel’s home community…
Continuing our look at relics of the past, the one-room schoolhouse. I think the country schoolhouse definitely fits the category of cultural items that have come and gone in North America (but for a few pockets here and there). The Amish are probably the most obvious example of a group maintaining the small rural school tradition. I love old one-room school buildings. You still see…
The New Wilmington, PA Amish community numbers 19 church districts, and around 2,500 souls. It is quite a recognizable group by its brown-top buggies and powder-blue doors on everything from homes to schools to milkhouses. I thought I’d share a few photos you might enjoy from last summer’s visit. Which one makes you miss summer most? The New Wilmington Amish community, located an hour north…