Come on down!

Byerik March 22, 2007January 29, 2011

Around 50 Amish families are moving to start a new settlement in southern Illinois, and the natives seem pleased.

The group is moving to Saline County from the Cashton, Wisconsin Amish community.

Local Salinites look forward to having ‘good, safe neighbors’ as well as the boost to the economy they will likely experience.

They’ve even donated a camper for one family as they construct a new home.

I think I’d be happy too if Amish came to town. A bit of horse poop and buggy traffic isn’t too much to put up with.

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Amish Communities

Heading South in Holmes County

Byerik October 27, 2007January 17, 2011

5 Comments

As you venture further south in the Holmes County Amish settlement, towards the Coshocton County line, two things happen. The countryside gets more rugged, and the churches more conservative. The large Amish settlements–Holmes County, Lancaster County, northern Indiana–have their progressive and conservative factions. In Holmes County, the area past Charm and Farmerstown, down around Becks Mills and New Bedford and on into Coshocton County is…

Amish Communities

10 Views of the Ethridge, Tennessee Amish

ByErik Wesner May 24, 2011August 14, 2023

30 Comments

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…

Amish Communities

Minnesota Amish milk

Byerik May 19, 2007December 21, 2011

1 Comment

photo: Jerry Olson/Post-Bulletin Some Amish in Minnesota will need a new outlet for their milk. The last creamery in Minnesota to accept milk in cans–mostly provided by local Amish–no longer does. I guess you call that an end of an era. Milk is an important liquid in Amish America. And surprisingly, a controversial one as well. Some Amish farmers have gotten in trouble for selling raw…

Amish Communities

2023 Amish Population: Five Years & 50,000 More Amish

ByErik Wesner September 7, 2023November 1, 2023

8 Comments

The annual horse-and-buggy Amish population figures have been released by the Young Center at Elizabethtown College. The total Amish population is estimated at 383,565 people. That breaks down to 377,275 in the United States, 6,100 in Canada, and 190 in South America. And of course the count continues to steadily rise. If we look at the numbers from just five years ago, the Amish population…

Amish Communities

How Amish Defuse Conflict By Moving

ByErik Wesner February 23, 2015February 23, 2015

13 Comments

Amish people aren’t afraid to move, and do so for different reasons. One of the main reasons is in response to material progress–or “drift”, a word used by those who frown on too much change happening too quickly. The three Amish congregations at Yoder, Kansas, are rather progressive, permitting technology use other Amish do not, such as driving tractors as part-time road vehicles. An article in…