If you have Amish friends or acquaintances, you might just have a strong memory of how you met them. I can clearly recall the morning years ago I met one Amish couple who eventually became close family friends. Their oldest child – who was then just a tot in a baby seat perched on the back of a horse-drawn planter – is now out of…
The home we’re going to look at today will probably have some people saying “that’s not an Amish home!” Well, it happens to be one. It’s just one of the more modern-looking homes (at least inside) you’ll see among the Amish. That said, the interior style you’ll see here is becoming increasingly common among Amish in more progressive communities, like Lancaster County, where this home…
Today’s guest post is by Joe Donnermeyer of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities. It is on a topic that we have covered fairly extensively over the past several years – the buggy lighting issue, particularly as it has unfolded in Ohio. The state’s 2022 law requiring flashing lights on buggies predictably brought about conflict with members of the most conservative Amish communities. Joe shares…
Reader Denise Joyal sends a report from a benefit auction which took place in May in Hopkinton, Iowa. While there, Denise purchased a $3 “junk box” – and by the looks of what was inside, she got a great deal! Let’s check out what three Washingtons can get you at an Amish auction these days. First, here’s the newspaper ad for the auction. It was…
In what looks like another affinity fraud scheme targeting Plain Anabaptist people, the Department of Justice is seeking the arrest of a man who collected over $30 million over a decade-long span – telling donors the money was for Bibles and other Christian literature to be distributed in China. Jason Gerald Shenk allegedly got at least some of his money (and perhaps most of it)…
In an age of sophisticated computer software that can calculate a hifalutin statistical outcome which only a few mathematical geniuses can understand, one can forget the value of other ways to knowing about peoples and cultures anywhere in the world. In volume 3, issue 2 of the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC), however, we are reminded of the importance of plain, everyday communication between…
The Amish population is growing fast. It’s been growing fast for decades. And that doesn’t seem to be changing. How large will the Amish population get in our lifetimes? On the recent 1950s Amish film post, Lance left a comment that brought this back to mind: In 1900 there were just 5000 total Amish world wide. By this video’s filming, there were 8000 in just…
What was Amish life like 65 years ago? Last week I came across a documentary called, simply, “The Old Order Amish”. This was filmed in Lancaster County and was just recently uploaded to YouTube. It’s on the Periscope Films channel, a company that preserves rare and obscure old films. It’s a fascinating nugget from the past and I recommend watching (it’s viewable at the end…
We’ve noted a lot of runaway Amish buggy stories over the years (most recently in upstate New York), but I don’t believe we’d seen actual video of one before. Until now. A clip shared on a story at the Edmonson Voice (Brownsville, KY) shows footage recorded by someone in a line of traffic behind the buggy. It also shows the bold soul who eventually brought…
The Amish community in Musselshell County, Montana is one of ten in the state. It is part of a rise in interest by Amish in Montana, one of a half-dozen new settlements created there since 2015. Like most if not all Amish settlements in the Treasure State, this community qualifies as “remote”. It lies near the town of Roundup, so named due to it being…