Earlier this week we launched a new site design. This is the first update in many years, and probably long overdue. To be frank, I usually never love when sites that I’m used to go and change their design. But in this case, I think the changes should make the site more user-friendly – and I hope more pleasant for you, the readers. The previous…
We recently heard a rendition of the song “On the Winning Side” by a New Order Amish youth group. Here’s another nice Amish singing video by P. Thomas, from that same gathering. It turns out he actually recorded a number of songs from this particular singing (which you can find on his channel). I chose this group’s rendition of “‘Tis Marvelous and Wonderful” to share…
I want to share a set of photos with you today taken by Don Burke in an Amish schoolhouse in Missouri. This great set of shots shows a lot of detail inside a school in a fairly progressive Amish community. Even though I describe the community as “fairly progressive”, much of what you’ll see here has a quite old-fashioned look about it. Amish schools tend…
From time to time I draw attention to the more eyebrow-raising comments we get here on the site, or on the YouTube channel. They might contain very strong and certain claims about the Amish, or shine a light on popular misconceptions. For example, there was “Utterly NOT an Amish Home!“, or “Why are the Amish using plastic packaging? I am so disappointed.” Today’s entry is…
I landed on the adjective “fancy” to describe this home, and I think you’ll see why once we look inside. It’s not the fanciest of all Amish homes we’ve looked at here (that would be this one). But there are a lot of things here which give the home a sumptuous feel (at least by Amish norms). This one is in the Munfordville, Kentucky settlement,…
The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities will soon publish its sixth issue. From time to time, we’ll be sharing interesting findings from articles published in JPAC here at Amish America. This is the first featured post, written by one of its co-editors, Joe Donnermeyer, who was recently a Snowden Fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pieties Studies at Elizabethtown College. ~Erik When No…
In a recent opinion column in the Columbus Dispatch, Cory Anderson takes a critical eye to Ohio House Bill 30, which last June became law requiring flashing lights on animal-drawn vehicles in the state. In it, he raises some interesting points – including on whether the single flashing light actually increases safety – and on how the law came about. The resulting predictable conflict with the…
The Amish use a wide array of health care and wellness solutions, including both “conventional” and “unconventional”. This can vary by the Amish group, community, or family. But generally speaking, natural remedies – those derived from plants, vegetables, herbs, and the like – make up a big part of what many Amish people use to treat common ailments. And this is not necessarily unique or…
Another nice Amish song video today by P. Thomas (video at end of post). This one is from an Amish school in Indiana. The song is called “Our God Is For Us” (or possibly just “God Is For Us”). Amish children don’t have formal religious instruction in their schools (Amish feel that’s not the place for it), but they do have prayer and sing Christian…
So here we have an Amish home-and-store package way up in northern Minnesota. They’re selling both buildings together. I doubt they’re leaving behind the contents of the store. But we can still take a look at what’s inside both the home and store in these photos. There are a cluster of Amish communities in the the top half of the Land of 10,000 Lakes. This one would…