Ben & Rose have put out a live version of the first song they released this year – “On Heaven’s Bright Shore”. It’s a simple song where Rose’s vocals really have space to shine. Ben and producer Conrad Fisher add nice backing vocals and understated guitar. This was recorded in front of an audience at Ragamuffin Hall. As far as I can tell, this is…
In last week’s post on the measles situation, I noted how there has been a lot of coverage dancing around the idea that Amish communities are undergoing measles outbreaks — but with little-to-no direct confirmation that measles was present in Amish communities. This was not really the fault of the news outlets reporting on the matter. In a number of cases, local officials understandably declined…
Earlier today, Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni confirmed that a 6-week-old Amish girl died due to measles. As Anne Garber of LNP | LancasterOnline notes, this is the first confirmed measles death in the US this year, and the first in Pennsylvania since 1991. Diamantoni told LNP | LancasterOnline that the girl was born with a genetic condition called Amish lethal microcephaly. The microcephaly…
An Amish woman was killed and two passengers in her buggy were flown to a Cincinnati hospital after a pickup truck struck the buggy from behind in Highland County, Ohio on Thursday morning. The crash occurred just after 8:30 AM on U.S. Route 50 in Paint Township. From the Wilmington News Journal: According to a preliminary investigation, a horse-drawn carriage operated by Melinda Coblentz, 49,…
Last week, Haley Straw took us to the most recent edition of the Jamesport, Missouri Amish School Auction. She follows that up with a look back at an earlier visit to the same auction – and some of the many and varied things you find at one of these events. “I always get what I want” is one of my personal mantras. Evidence of that…
To generalize for a moment: Amish children tend to leave a positive impression. Visitors come away remarking how well-behaved they are, how respectful they are when around adults, even how they can seem older than they actually are. The explanation you often hear is strictness. There’s something to that. Amish parents use traditional forms of discipline. But that’s not the whole story. There are other…
This Amish home in Conewango Valley, New York was listed in mid-August at $120,000. Two weeks later, the price has dropped into the five figures (current price revealed at the end – as is our custom on these home posts 🙂 ). If that sounds inexpensive, be aware we’re looking at one of the plainest of all Amish groups. That means very basic amenities –…
Here’s another song from the same 2023 New Order Amish youth singing that gave us “When All of God’s Singers Get Home”. This time it’s “Wonderful Grace of Jesus”. The video is by P. Thomas, who has an extensive collection of live recorded music on his channel, both from Amish and other Christian groups. Like in the previous video, the vantage point is from one…
The new Amish population figures are just out from the Young Center, and as we always do, let’s have a look at what’s new in the data. I pulled out 5 noteworthy findings from the new info which we’ll take a look at one-by-one below. But first, just to set the table: the Young Center puts this data out once per year, relying on a…
Stories about measles in places where the Amish live keep popping up on my news feed, at a seemingly increasing pace. They’re showing up in different regions of the country – the East coast, Northeast, Midwest. Some stories have sections suggesting or leaving readers to draw the conclusion that an outbreak may be happening in or around “Amish Country”, but nothing really directly saying “the Amish…