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 of this mountainous community. But first: on the way, I…
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 and shops, of which there are many. I recognized some…
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 community in the Hawkeye State, comprising 11 churches in size….
We caught a glimpse of North Carolina’s Swartzentruber Amish settlement when someone interviewed a man from this community as he waited at an Alabama Amtrak station. I also previewed the community auction which was to take place in late November. Amish began moving to the area near Ellenboro, NC (Rutherford County) in 2015. Today this Swartzentruber community sits at about 16 families (apparently two families…
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 ones). My friend Rich Stevick was along with me for…
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 of their origin churches. Today Don Burke looks more closely…
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 hauling home a wringer washer: Yesterday I stopped at Burke’s…
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 those. One difference between now and that 2013 visit: there…
Going back again through some photos, I realized I still had a lot of shots from my last visits to Charlotte County, Virginia. I’ve already written about this community several times – in posts on an “off-the-map” Amish dry goods store, on Amish phone shacks, and on Esh’s Variety Stand, a little two-day-a-week business selling baked goods, canned goods, and more. I though you might…
Half of them are in Indiana. Two apiece in Pennsylvania and Ohio. And one in Illinois. The list of the top 10 largest Amish settlements doesn’t change much from year-to-year. These places generally have similar steady growth. And relatively few people leaving. Update 2024: We do have one change this year, however. Allen County, Indiana falls out of the #10 spot, replaced by another community…