Branch County, Michigan is home to 5 Amish settlements. I visited two of them a couple of days ago. Some photos: On a little red potato treasure hunt. My favorite kind of sky. Tetherball! Can you say sunny. Healthy stuff. While farming is still important to many Amish, others have started small enterprises. Michigan Amish businesses include small stores, carpentry crews, and woodworking shops (read…
I’m off to Indiana this morning. A few highlights of the past week in Ohio: Sitting with an Amish friend one afternoon, we made plans to take my truck up the road to visit his father. “Do you want me to drive?” asked my friend. I turned around and checked with his wife. “Can he drive?” “Well, he can” came her response. “I wasn’t asking…
It was a wonderful day in Holmes County yesterday. Early rain, which meant a lot of laundry under porches. But that went away in a hurry after noon. Here’s the proof:
New York Amish have been in the news a lot lately. We’ve seen stories on vandalism against Amish in Steuben County, new stats showing NY Amish continuing their growth, and of course this week’s tragic accident in which five Amish were killed. The Amish who died in the van wreck also came from Steuben County–the Jasper/Woodhull settlement. The Jasper community, founded 1983, predates the recent…
How big is the Amish population? As of 2011, the total Amish population is 261,150, according to the latest estimates by the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. No new states made the list this year. So the total Amish tally remains at 28 states (and Ontario). I guess we’ll have to wait another year for that Hawaii Amish entry. It makes me…
A full one-third of Delaware’s counties have Amish settlements. Okay, Delaware only has three counties (yep, that kind of sounds like a joke you’d hear an Amish guy make). Delaware’s sole Amish settlement nestles against state capital Dover. Amish have been here almost 100 years. It’s a decent-sized community, actually: 9 church districts, over 1000 people. Amish have been leaving though. Land is expensive next…
Last year I visited the Ethridge, Tennesse Amish community. I was surprised to find that Ethridge is the Amish mecca of the South. For being a conservative Swartzentruber community, the place is crawling with tourists (relatively speaking, of course. Lancaster County, this ain’t). It’s also a charming place to visit. It’s got a rural feel despite the oversized tour wagons rumbling about. I hope you…
This question got a lot of interesting responses on the Amish America Facebook page this weekend. Four years ago, I wrote about my top 5 Amish settlements. Is that post still valid? Since then, I’ve visited around 20 more communities. But I’d say yes–with maybe one or two changes. So what’s your favorite Amish community? For ‘bonus points’, tell us why! NY Amish photo: las-initially
Mention “Ohio Amish”, and most people think of the large settlement at Holmes County, or perhaps Geauga County to its north. But just a short ways down the road from the large Holmes settlement lies an often-overlooked but sizeable Amish community. Amish have lived in Ashland and neighboring Medina County for nearly sixty years. Ashland and Medina County Amish About 2,000 Amish live here, in…
I know it’s a bit late for snowy photos, but I wanted to share one more batch of shots from the Big Valley area of Pennsylvania. Big Valley is home to three Amish groups: Nebraska, Renno, and Byler Amish. If you missed the first set, here are the original 10 views of Big Valley Amish. And…