So another memorable stop from my recent Holmes County trip was at a farm I had first visited a decade earlier. This is a Swartzentruber Amish farm, technically located in Wayne County. They have a creaky signpost by the road displaying whatever it is they have for sale. At the time, the only items on offer were rag rugs. We’ve seen glimpses of this place…
Today’s Q-and-A is a bit different from most previous editions, for two reasons. First, the author is Amish mom Delilah Byler. Delilah kindly answered some questions about her book and family for us today. Second, the book is called Where Are Aldo’s Treasures?, and it is a children’s book. Delilah created this search-and-find book from her own experience as a mother of eight children. I…
Did you know that Amish are heavily involved in building recreational vehicles? We’ve touched on this topic in the past, in posts like Why are Amish building RVs? and 3 Concerns for Amish Working in the RV Industry. The funny thing is that these are really some luxurious vehicles that don’t seem at all to fit an “Amish” way of life. Yet Amish workers are key…
The year 2015 brought news of an investment scam targeting Amish in multiple states. Amish-born Earl D. Miller promised investors double-digit returns, and many Amish people gave Miller their money. Miller eventually gathered over $50 million. Some of this was used to pay back earlier investors promised returns, in typical Ponzi fashion, before the scheme imploded. Amish being victimized by large-scale financial scammers is nothing new,…
It’s become an annual thing – someone films an Amish guy skiing behind a buggy, it gets picked up in the media, and proceeds to go viral. Well, why not. The latest edition in the series comes from Minnesota. Jennifer Staggemeyer shot this snippet in the Harmony, MN community. Jennifer wonders how he kept his hat on: Let’s check out some other examples. Previous videos…
Where was the first Amish community in North America? Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is home to the oldest Amish settlement still around today. But it’s not the first place Amish settled on this side of the Atlantic. That distinction belongs to the Northkill settlement that existed in neighboring Berks County*. It was organized by 1740, predating today’s Lancaster settlement by about two decades. This historical marker,…
78-year-old Carl Cisney is an Amish taxi driving veteran. He’s been providing rides for Amish for over 4 decades – since the time in 1975 he was asked by an Amish neighbor for a ride to a weld shop. Carl has formed deep friendships through his taxi services, even getting invited as the only English guest (along with his wife) to Amish weddings. The work…
It’s always interesting to see international media coverage of the Amish. Attention can come from places you wouldn’t expect. On that note, Taste of Pinecraft author Sherry Gore appeared on a recent episode of the Ukrainian travel program Орёл и Решка (Orel i Reshka). This is a Russian-language program viewed by millions throughout Russian-speaking countries. The gist of the program is that the two celebrity…
Like my visit to Enon Valley, PA in December, I only had a brief time at the Amish community at Halifax County, VA. I was returning home from my multi-state Amish trip after 2000+ miles traveled. And as you’ll see from these photos, it was the end of the day. Still, it was worth the journey, mainly for one family I met while there. The Amish of Halifax…
“Pud” Sam Stoltzfus is a retired Amish farmer and gazebo builder known throughout the Lancaster County community for his outspoken nature. He has been a frequent writer of letters to the local Lancaster paper, an impromptu spokesman for the Amish in some sense. If you get a chance to meet him, you probably won’t forget it. Pud Sam is a historian, grandfather to 51, and…