Just a snippet of a story, but one I found amusing. Tourist carriage horses from around Manhattan’s Central Park have been sent to Amish Country. Frank Riccobono, owner of NYC Horse Carriage Rides, explains: In mid-March, the entire industry made a decision to put our horses on furlough, and I sent my eight horses to Lancaster County on March 19. They are on a farm,…
An elderly Amish man with COVID-19 has died in LaGrange County, Indiana. This is the first Amish death associated with coronavirus that I have seen publicly confirmed. Like many of the disease’s victims, this man had other health conditions. From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: LaGrange County Commissioner Larry Miller said the county’s one death was an 80-year-old Amish man with underlying health conditions. He said…
Amish have lived in Pontotoc County, Mississippi for a quarter-century. I made an unplanned visit to this community in late January. It was slightly out of the way, but well worth it. I hope you enjoy these photos and my comments on this Swartzentruber Amish settlement of two church districts. Amish came here in the mid-1990s, mainly from the settlement at Ethridge, Tennessee, and close…
The Amish in Geauga County have been having issues following the state’s “stay-at-home” order – at least to the satisfaction of their neighbors. Now, health officials have gotten involved. First, Amish were reported for holding gatherings in violation of the state’s stay-at-home order. Non-Amish neighbors sent in photos allegedly showing Amish breaking the order’s rules. Health inspectors are now filing a notice of violation against…
Today’s look inside an Amish home comes from Mecosta County, Michigan. This is clearly a plainer Amish dwelling, especially compared to the Kentucky home we saw last week. This farmhouse (listed on Landflip) is set on a large-by-Amish-standards plot of land – 170 acres. There are numerous outbuildings, barns, and even a guest house on this property. Taking a look inside, let’s start again…
The Amish community at Seymour, Iowa has gotten criticism for a large horse auction held on April 2nd. Close to 500 attendees from seven states came to a trotting horse sale. The event was legally permitted at the time, as reported April 2nd by KTVO: According to the state’s current COVID-19 guidelines, Gingerich was well within his legal rights to host the sale. Livestock auctions…
So it looks like a lot of children will be having a short school year this time around, both English and Amish (at least their time physically present in the classroom). But did you know that Amish children traditionally finish school earlier than their English counterparts? In the Lancaster County example, they finish about 3 weeks to a month earlier (mid-to-late May vs. mid-June for…
People living in the Geauga County Amish community area have contacted Cleveland’s FOX8 news channel with reports of Amish “gathering for church and parties,” presumably violating the state’s stay-at-home order. Ohio’s stay-at-home order, prohibiting gatherings above 10 people, was issued March 22, to last from March 23 to April 6. Last week it was extended to last until May 1. Several have sent in photos of…
An update to the story of last week on Amish producing 13,000 homemade masks for medical institutions. The news today is the Amish and others involved are scaling up their production to reach more recipient organizations. From Lancaster Online: At first, the goal was to sew 13,000 masks for health providers and patients at Lancaster Health Center to protect against COVID-19. Now, Sylvan Stoltzfus and…
Iowa has been getting attention as one of the states not officially ordering schools closed during coronavirus. The governor limited it to a recommendation that they close for four weeks, issued mid-March. Here is an article describing it as a “recommendation,” and here is the governor’s own two-minute video statement doing the same. But things have apparently changed in the past several days. Bear with…