Is This The Oldest Amish Bakery?

Is This The Oldest Amish Bakery?

There is a small but longstanding Amish community at Guthrie, Kentucky, right near the Tennessee border. Guthrie is one of the more atypical Amish settlements, as it is an “electric New Order” community. The Amish here permit electricity in the home, and also fully use tractors, even for road transportation. Still they are considered an Amish community, as they dress plain, use Pennsylvania Dutch, and…

Controversial Lancaster County “Oregon Village” Project Approved On 3-2 Vote

Controversial Lancaster County “Oregon Village” Project Approved On 3-2 Vote

It appears that the Lancaster County area will see a second controversial development come to fruition. Following the newly-approved satellite casino in Morgantown (technically in Berks County, on the edge of Lancaster’s Amish region), the Oregon Village housing development has been approved on a 3-2 vote by the Manheim Township Board of Commissioners. The development will bring over 500 new residential units to the rural…

Amish “Hand-Demolish” Historic Tennessee Building

Who to call when you need your building “hand-demolished”? To the general public, “Amish” often equates to handcrafted – meaning hand-milked cows, handmade quilts, hand-built furniture, and the like (whether that perception is always accurate is another question). And in that spirit, one Tennessee city found that an Amish hands-on approach was exactly what they needed to remove a historic structure. The Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle reports that…

Colorado Amish Community To Build Meeting Hall

Colorado Amish Community To Build Meeting Hall

We don’t often hear much on the Amish in Colorado, though there are a handful of Amish in the state, spread across four communities. But a recent snippet in the Conejos County Citizen brings word of the La Jara Amish settlement’s unusual plan…to build a meeting hall for community events: CONEJOS COUNTY — The La Jara Old Order Amish Church received permission for a needed structure…

Lancaster Amish Moving Into Towns & Subdivisions

Lancaster Online reports on an increasingly popular option for housing among Amish in Lancaster County: But as their numbers grow, more Amish want to live in a village, town or suburban development and have a small stable for a horse, just as the non-Amish have garages for cars. “It’s become a trend among the Amish community to live on these smaller residential lots as they…

A First Visit To Amish Pennsylvania (23 Photos)

A First Visit To Amish Pennsylvania (23 Photos)

Earlier this month, Don Burke gave us the story of how he first visited the Amish in Ohio, along with photos from that trip. We left off as he and his wife Pam were about to continue on — for a first visit to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. So let’s rejoin them now for the next portion of the journey… Don: As we ended the previous…

Amish “Music Mystery Supper” (Guess These 14 Food Riddles) [Updated With Winner]

Amish “Music Mystery Supper” (Guess These 14 Food Riddles) [Updated With Winner]

While at the Amish Health & Well-Being Conference, I had a chance to catch up with my friend Mark Curtis. Mark joined the Amish at age 50 and has been a member of the church at Belle Center, Ohio for over 15 years. Some of you might remember Mark’s father Don, who for years commented on this site, often sharing insights on the Amish direct…

Amishman Arrested For Driving Buggy While Intoxicated

An Amishman was arrested for DUI in Kentucky after sideswiping a car with his buggy last week. The 34-year-old man was traveling with his wife and seven children, ages 9 months to 12 years old. He faces 10 felony counts as a result. The man first attempted to claim that one of his children was driving, but the children confirmed it was their father holding…

PA Board Approves Casino On Edge of Lancaster Amish Country

PA Board Approves Casino On Edge of Lancaster Amish Country

Looks like gambling will be coming to the doorstep of Lancaster County’s Amish region after all. Despite protests from residents, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board voted yesterday, unanimously, to approve a new casino project: Pennsylvania regulators on Wednesday approved Penn National Gaming’s proposed satellite casino in Berks County to attract gamblers from Philadelphia’s growing western suburbs, the first of five so-called mini-casinos licensed under a…

A Visit To Campus Ridge Farm Market – Elizabethtown, PA (9 Photos)

A Visit To Campus Ridge Farm Market – Elizabethtown, PA (9 Photos)

The Amish are well-known for not attending higher institutions of learning. That noted, the business I want to share with you today might be the closest thing in America to an “on-campus” Amish operation. But first, a brief recap – I’ve just returned home after the better part of a week on an Amish trip. The centerpiece was attending the Health & Well-Being in Amish…