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…
Lenawee County, Michigan authorities hope to find a compromise with Amish over sewage and water violations in an ongoing conflict in this southern Michigan community. That’s according to a new article in the Daily Telegram. The report contains more details about how waste is handled by the Amish: The health department said it started receiving complaints in 2015 about how the Amish were disposing of…
Amish from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana visited the President and Vice President in the Oval Office Friday, as reported in the Washington Times. This was apparently the first time Amish people have visited the White House in this capacity (with one possible exception, see below). The Amish as a whole are not overtly political, so this type of event gets attention. While relatively few Amish visit…
Like most Americans, the Amish celebrate Christmas (in fact, some celebrate more than one Christmas). Several seasons ago, Rebecca Miller shared five ways Amish spend the Christmas season with us. Rebecca, member of an Ohio Amish church, closed her list with this: “The main focus of the season is still first of all remembering Christ – the true meaning of Christmas, family, gift-giving, and helping…
In August we learned that a Michigan county had deemed Amish homes “unfit for human habitation.” The reason? Outhouses and lack of running water, which created what were described as unsafe living conditions. Photo by Mary Speer/WTOL Eviction loomed, and jail and fines were possible. There was even a threat of the homes being bulldozed. Now the Lenawee County Health Department has been sued by a…
One of the more memorable experiences of my Holmes County visit was an early-morning stop at Indian Trail Harness Shop. Rich Stevick and I were out for a day of visiting. This was our first stop of the day, and a random one (sometimes those are the best). We noticed the place traveling up from Walnut Creek to an Amish acquaintance of Rich’s in Wayne…
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…
In what’s become a winter tradition, another Amish Guy Buggy Skiing video has emerged. This latest one comes from Long Prairie, Minnesota, where we see an Amish fellow skiing by the roadside, pulled by an open carriage. I checked and this is actually our second skiing video of this calendar year. Maybe the incidence of Amish Guys Skiing has increased. Or maybe bystanders are filming…
Car drivers complain about the lack of visibility of Amish buggies, particularly those of the plainest (Swartzentruber) churches. This group of Amish is highly resistant to change. But do Swartzentruber Amish never bend when it comes to making changes to their buggies? We’ve now seen more than one example showing that, in fact, they do. While visiting the North Carolina Swartzentruber settlement two weeks ago,…
Two readers wrote to make sure I didn’t miss this article. Dr. James DeLine has had a remarkable career as the “country doctor” of a small Wisconsin village – spending a good portion of his time treating Amish. The article is a long look at his work and career. I was drawn to this story for his involvement with the Amish, but DeLine’s background story…