Four Amish Business Fires Since Mid-January; One Ruled Arson

I don’t how much of an anomaly this might be, but it seems there have been an awful lot of fires striking Amish businesses lately. In the past few weeks, there have been at least four significant Amish business fires: January 14 – Spring Mills, PA (Centre County): Diamond Custom Kitchens burns down (the Amish opted not to call the fire department, for reasons, I…

Amish Church Clothing (8 Photos)

Amish Church Clothing (8 Photos)

What do Amish wear to church? In addition to their many women’s head coverings, the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center also has several items of church clothing on display. The Woman’s Cape & Apron First of all, a woman’s cape and apron: The cape and apron are commonly worn on Sunday across communities (we had a look recently at Amish wedding clothing, showing another example of…

Reader Photos – Amish Clock Shop, William Penn Land Doc, & More

Reader Photos – Amish Clock Shop, William Penn Land Doc, & More

I’ve got some nice photos shared by readers over the past months, which I’ve been wanting to pass along to you. We’ve also got one piece of writing. Here we go! 1. Amish Timepiece Shop – First of all, long-time readers might recall a 2012 post on Mahlon Shetler’s Clock & Watch Shop in Dayton, NY. That post was based on photos and comments from another…

Amish Teen Girl Rescued From Buggy During Flood

Amish Teen Girl Rescued From Buggy During Flood

A 17-year-old Amish girl was rescued Thursday from atop her buggy during a flood in Wayne County, Ohio. From the Massillon Independent: Brewster Fire Department personnel rescued the 17-year-old girl who had been driving the horse-drawn buggy, which had been swept into the high water along the rural roadway. According to Lt. Roger Carpenter of the Brewster Fire Department, the teen was sitting atop the…

Zook’s Bronco Barn: An Amish Auto Restoration Shop?

The vehicles Amos Zook restores, specifically, are Ford Broncos from the “first-gen” era, built from 1966-1977. Zook lives in Lancaster County, where he runs Zook’s Bronco Barn, doing work for clients as far away as Florida, on projects that can exceed six figures. What makes this story unusual is that Zook is Amish. That’s not the only thing unusual about him though, as revealed in…

Amish Butchering Day

Amish Butchering Day

As a people who live close to animals and nature, the Amish still do something that most Americans left behind long ago – that is, butchering and processing their own meat. This might make some us think “yuck”. But it’s the way of things when you’re on Amish farms. Amish have days dedicated to the task – usually in the autumn or winter when the…

Buggy Lanes In Action (11 Photos)

Buggy Lanes In Action (11 Photos)

Why don’t they just build buggy lanes wherever Amish live? People often ask just this, especially when there is a bad buggy accident in the news. Realistically, it’s an idea constrained both by budgets and practicality. But in some limited cases, areas with larger Amish populations have done just that. And some Amish-heavy areas will be adding buggy lanes in the next several years. So…

A Visit to Charm Sweet Shoppe & Pizzeria (11 Photos)

A Visit to Charm Sweet Shoppe & Pizzeria (11 Photos)

One of my favorite stops in Holmes County last month happened while out with my friend Rich Stevick, author of Growing Up Amish: The Rumspringa Years. Rich has lived in Holmes County for several years now. If you know Rich’s warm demeanor you will know how he could be right at home in a place like Holmes County. While out and about visiting some Amish…

Amish News Roundup: Basketball Fans, Deer Poaching & Another Fire

Amish News Roundup: Basketball Fans, Deer Poaching & Another Fire

Today a grab bag of eight Amish news stories from the past days and weeks. Let’s dive right in. 1. Amish Basketball Fans (Topeka, Indiana) – Do Amish follow sports? Some do, particularly youth in some places. Last month I was working on my laptop in a local gas station in Lancaster County, when several Amish teens came in to charge a battery…and as you can…

Comparing Amish Women’s Head Coverings (19 Photos)

Ever noticed how Amish women in different places wear different head coverings? A good example is the heart-shaped Lancaster women’s covering, versus the straight-sided, pleated coverings worn by Amish women in the Midwest. Like other items of Amish clothing, there are quite a few different styles of women’s coverings, and some with rather subtle differences. I stopped in at the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center…