This is the second of a three-part Thanksgiving series exploring how the Amish express gratitude—not through words, but through action. Author and Amish taxi driver Haley Straw shares an unexpected Amish Thanksgiving experience – and what stayed with her after it was over. And if you missed it, check out part 1 (“How The Amish Say Thank You”) here. A few years ago, my young…
West Virginia has been a “hotspot” Amish state for some time now. Since 2017, a dozen new Amish communities have arisen in the Mountain State. One of them is in Monroe County, WV. The county, in fact, has two very small communities. In one of them, an Amish entrepreneur named Jeff Miller and his family have established a new store – Appalachian Country Store –…
The good news in this buggy accident is that everyone is okay (including the horse). But I’m not quite sure how the buggy ended up where it did. Especially with no injuries to the driver. This story comes to us from Newport, New York (Herkimer County) and happened yesterday evening. There aren’t a lot of details, but this is from the report at WKTV on…
This is one of the more interesting Amish properties I’ve come across – both for the home itself and the land it’s on. It’s a large “shop home” style residence, two stories in fact, located in Wadena County, Minnesota. The area is home to a small Amish community, a little over a decade old, and clearly a plainer Amish group. You can see by the…
I was just contacted about a new effort to support the family of Elmer Borntrager, the 16-year-old Amish boy killed last week in a hit-and-run incident in Clarke County, Iowa. Elmer was buried this past Sunday, November 16th. He is survived by his parents David and Esther Borntrager and family including siblings. You can see the program from his funeral in the photo above, including…
Another tragic farm accident has claimed a young Amish person’s life. A 15-year-old girl in Vernon County, Wisconsin has died after being run over by a wagon loaded with corn. From the Vernon Reporter: WESTBY, Wis. — A 15-year-old Amish girl died Friday, Nov. 14 after being run over by a wagon in a farm-related accident in Vernon County, authorities said. Sheriff Roy Torgerson reported…
Folks this is late news, but there was a recall issued for Goot Essa cheese. It was originally released back in September and affects 60+ pounds of one product – “Der Mutterschaf” sold in retail outlets and restaurants, for potential listeria contamination. It affects cheese sold in New Jersey, Virginia, Connecticut, and Montana via seven outlets. No illnesses have been reported from what I can…
Following up on the recent hit-and-run buggy crash in Clarke County, Iowa, a local station spoke with neighbors of the young man killed in the wreck. One of them provided more details on what happened, and a bit about the young man, Elmer Borntrager. Also, it sounds like there is good news, for lack of a better description: the suspect’s vehicle has been located. However,…
In the lead article for the 10th issue of The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC), three Amish scholars from West Virginia University examined why the Amish are often reluctant to take advantage of vaccines, both now and in the past. The study was conducted by Rachel E. Stein, Katie E. Corcoran and Corey Coyler, from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at West Virginia…
An 19-year-old Amish man has been charged with DUI following a collision involving a motor vehicle. This comes to us from the New Wilmington, Pennsylvania Amish community – no stranger to DUI charges among its buggy drivers (more on that below). As far as this incident, here’s more from New Castle News: An Amish buggy driver involved in an accident reportedly found himself in a…