Bruce Stambaugh describes peak season at the vacation/retirement community at Amish Pinecraft, in Sarasota, Florida: The atmosphere was part family reunion, part auction crowd. Some came to meet and greet. Most were there to watch. Men with white beards and denim pants with suspenders and women in pastel dresses and lacy white coverings predominated the scene. A few children in straw hats and long, plain…
The Bloomfield Amish community is one of the largest in Iowa The Amish community lying north and west of Bloomfield, Iowa is one of the three largest in the state. Like the nearby settlement at Kalona, and the more conservative group found in Buchanan County in the northeast part of the state, Bloomfield is home to roughly 8 church districts, comprising about 175 households. Yet…
Thought this might be a nice out-of-season shot to share, on yet another snowy day in my neck of the woods (and maybe yours, too). Rick offers us a pic from Mercer County, Pennsylvania, near the hamlet of Jackson Center, an hour north of Pittsburgh.  There are at present 3 Amish settlements in Mercer County, the oldest and largest settled in 1942, and having 5…
Amish and Mennonites have been putting on annual auctions for the benefit of people in Haiti for many years now. They take place in various locations across the nation, including communities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Florida, and Illinois. Furniture, quilts and other items are auctioned off at these large events. The Florida auction, held in Sarasota, is in fact taking place this weekend. The photos…
Orange County, Indiana Amish farm photo courtesy of Cindy Seigle. Wintry weather means staying inside, mostly. Is this farmers’ favorite time of year?
Commercial dog breeders (also frequently described as puppy mills) have been in the news a lot lately. Recent changes in Pennsylvania law has made it difficult for breeders to operate, thus forcing many to begin to get out of the business. Opponents, most visibly in the form of activists such as Bill Smith of Main Line Animal Rescue, have made headlines with their sometimes dramatic…
Behalt is the name of a pictorial history of the Anabaptists from the time of European beginnings through their existence in America. Not only is it educational, it has been dubbed “the most exciting cyclorama in America”. Having only visited one cyclorama in America (the other – of the Battle of Raclawice in Poland being non-American and of a decidedly non-pacifist nature) I can’t say…
A week back I wrote about how Amish celebrate Christmas, with a mention of the holiday program that takes place in many Amish schools. Rick shares a photo from a recent visit to the New Wilmington, PA Amish community, taken during the Christmas Eve program at a local one-room school.
North Carolina is my home state, and not one known for having a large Amish population. Amish have attempted to settle NC in the past, however, and today one settlement does exist, at Union Grove, a hamlet lying some miles west of Winston-Salem. Union Grove, which began in 1985 as a spinoff of the Guthrie, Kentucky community, is considered a New Order settlement. Like its…
The Amish settlement at Kokomo, Indiana, founded 1848, is the third-oldest in Indiana. Yet despite having been in existence for over 160 years, Kokomo remains a tiny settlement of just 2 church districts. Meanwhile, other settlements founded in the state at roughly the same time have grown and thrived. The Nappanee and Adams County settlements approach 40 and 50 church districts respectively, while the Elkhart-Lagrange…