This week while selling books in Lancaster County, I met ‘Abe’ and ‘Anna Ruth’, an excommunicated Amish couple, kicked out, they said, for promoting the idea of assurance of salvation. While they still attended their local church services, lived and dressed ‘Amish’, they had lost full membership and were presumably under the Bann. Amish believe that all we can do is do our best to…
Today, a small New Order Amish settlement is found in western North Carolina, near the town of Union Grove. Before this settlement came about, (and not counting a short-lived community in the late 50’s), the only other full-fledged attempt to settle in the Tar Heel State occurred in 1918, lasting a full quarter-century before extinction in 1944. The Amish who originally came here, mainly from…
Note: I wrote this way back in 2007 while living for a summer in the Lancaster County Amish community. Snitz pie was a wonderful discovery I made towards the end of my time there. If you’ve never had it, I highly recommend trying it. It’s mainly seen in the Lancaster County Amish (and related churches). It used to mostly only be made by the Amish…
Lancaster County is home to many covered bridges. Around 1500 were built in Pennsylvania during the 19th century. Over 200 remain, more than in any other state. Lancaster has the most of any county in the state. Why the cover? A handy spot to park your buggy during a rainstorm? Sure, but apparently the main purpose is to protect the structure of the bridge and…
I always seem to have neat things happen to me during the week as I’m working. I try to make a note of them for posts like this one. Last week I was treated to a rendition of the Noah’s Ark song (sung to the tune of ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’, by five sisters, ages fifteen to two. I’d heard the Amish sing from…
Just got back from my leisurely Sunday walk through downtown historic Strasburg, the borough where I’m living this summer. Amish buggies go past my window on a regular basis; horse manure lines the streets of stone and brick homes, many of which date from the 1700’s and 1800’s. One of the buggies rolling down main street today was a bit different though–from far off, it…
Most Amish have a fairly healthy attitude toward tourism–and tourists can mean different things to different Amish–a slight annoyance for some, a significant profit source for others, a chance for an interesting conversation for another bunch. Lancaster Amish by far have the most to deal with when it comes to visitors, though if you get out of the heavily-trafficked areas such as Amish tourism capital…
I took my car in to an ‘Amish mechanic’ last week–actually an established alternator and starter repair outfit run by a white-bearded Amishman and two other Amish guys. I’m pretty dumb when it comes to cars. But it still seemed kind of weird when the teenage Amish kid who works there started telling me things about my engine and I had no clue what he…
After three weeks in the county, three more observations from Lancaster: Hair–men’s hairstyles here seem to range from the very short and close cropped to the much more Swartzentruber-esque bob. Women’s hair is arranged a bit differently than midwestern Amish curled in tightly at the sides–almost too tight–but more on that later. Mennonites–the Old Order Mennonite population is significant here, with many ‘buggy Mennonites‘ populating…
Update: below is the back-story of how I came to know the Amish. I’ve been long “retired” from selling books in Amish communities, but starting in 2004, this was my intro to Amish life. Over the next several years, I visited thousands of Amish homes in five states, including the four largest Amish settlements. Inspired by the experience, I started this website as a basic…